It really depends on your style. Most of the time, the rhythm groove instruments (drums, bass, guitar, keys) are done first then solo/leads, frills, vocals and other ear candy.

You could use a stupid drum machine pattern first then track the Guitars and bass. After that, go back and retrack real drums.
You will probably find that the tempo will be steady this way.
Just a suggestion.
Chris

LittleDogAudio wrote: You could use a stupid drum machine pattern first then track the Guitars and bass. After that, go back and retrack real drums.
You will probably find that the tempo will be steady this way.
Just a suggestion.
Chris

This works well with a good drummer.
in the real world though, I've found that mant drummers just can't drum to a prerecorded track.
If you find one who can, he is worth his weight in gold.

-That's how I tracked my last production, laid down a rough arrangement with drum machine, bass, guitar, scratch vocal.
Then my drummer-who-is-worth-his-weight-in gold laid down his tracks to that and replaced the drum mach. This gave me the advantage of having a solid grid where I could then use some loops for instruments I wouldn't ordinarilly have had access too, like horns, saxes, some exotic keys and lots of percusion.

Bass, drums, guitars, pianos and most keys were played by real players but having everything tight in a grid and being able to use some loops for percussion and sweeteners was a super experience. for me it was like having access to session players way beyond our budget-
I know that in the best of possibe worlds, laying a tight groove with great players to start with, then having real players play everthing and do all the overdubs is absolutely the best.
-but not having that kind of budget, the way we did it brough results that were far beyond what we could have achieve otherwise and I'm just thrilled :D :D

Sorry if am a little over the top but we just finished mixing our :mrgreen: project and am kinda happy right now... :D :D :D

Know what I like to do? If anyone cares...

I decide on a tempo and set up a grid in Pro Tools... kinda' like one would in Acid. I then build drums using un-effected, un-EQd single shots. every drum and cymbal has it's own track, or if stereo, tracks. I have gotten super fast at this. Then I track all the instruments. That way I can go back at any time and change anything I want on the drum tracks without going into another program and I can hear the way the drums affect mix while I am making the changes.

If it is at all possible, I like a drummer to play to a click track at least. It makes it easier to go back in and replace those kicks, for example, where he didn't bang hard enough or the beater made noise, etc. Just grab a good beat and drop it on the grid over the offending beat.

It works pretty well for me... if I only had a clue how to write a good song and get a good guitar tone.

it really depends on music style, ability to manage big recordings, having the right gear...
but in your case i'd suggest to record drums and a scratch guitar first! them build from there!
cause you don't expect professional sound you'll be fine with this way!
if you want to be a little more prefectionist try recording the drums in a real studio and then overdub the other instruments at home

Awesome, thanks guys.

A pointer for replacing machine drums with the real thang:

Don't have the drum machine track use a standard kit or a click. Try a groove based rhythm that uses parts of the frequency spectrum the drummer doesn't use. The idea is the drummer needs to hear the groove but not get confused about which of the flammed snare hits is his(hers) and which is the drum machine's.

This has worked far better for my projects than a drummer trying to replace drum machine while listening to both.