I have been asked to record a band of the friend of mine. They are cool guys but not excellent musicians. It is a 3 piece band.
Leader wants to use 2 drummers to record drum tracks and choose the best takes. One drummer is his buddy, but he can't stay on time 8-(, the other one suppose to be pretty good but i have not heard him and i don't know if he knows songs well. Leader (guitar player and vocalist) will not be able to record songs just to a click track. Bass player might, but i am afraid that he might make a mistake in the arrangement, like play chorus one bar short. so how the hell should i record all this chaos 8-) They already have live demo, but they want more studio quality ep this time.
I was thinking of feeding click to bass player and lead guitarist record bass DI and guitar for scratch track that way... guitarist will guide bass player with arrangements, but bass player will record track with good timing... And if they both will manage to stay on time 8-) than great and i will record drums, and than rerecord guitar and bass.
Comments
They aren't going to get a studio quality recording until they a
They aren't going to get a studio quality recording until they are studio quality musicians, but ...
How about this: Record the trio live in the studio with the bass and guitar direct and no vocals. That is, the only thing getting miced is the drums. Then send everybody home and "fix" the drums. Try a couple of approaches from fairly minimal to full blown quantization. (If you really need the quantization, tell them the hard disk crashed and your computer is allergic to their music.) Anyway, if you can get a good drum track this way, use that as a base and rerecord the other tracks and the vocals.
A second thought - is the live demo good enough to use as a scratch track? If so, record drums and direct bass to that - then fix the new tracks - record guitar - fix - record vocals.
Good luck.
If the only person that knows the song is the guitar player, the
If the only person that knows the song is the guitar player, then start with that. Record a scratch of the guitar and vocals to a click. Then record drums. Tighten the timing and record bass. (If the bass player has better time then do bass then drums) Tighten again, and then remove the scratch and record the guitar and vocals.
By tighten, I mean fix the sloppy bits. Unless it is really bad I would not recommend quantizing. It's best to do this between every take if your musicians are not up to snuff. Timing irregularity quickly snow ball.
[quote=BobRogers]They aren't going to get a studio quality recor
[quote=BobRogers]They aren't going to get a studio quality recording until they are studio quality musicians, but ...
While I often practice scales and practice pieces to a click track I don't really like to record even scratch tracks to a click. What we usually do is have the guitarist (myself or whoever) record DI while playing with the drummer and headphones. That alllows both the drummer and the guitarist to feed off each other creatively. This works especially well since I rarely get to practice with my drummer of over twenty years. We are just used to playing off each other and the piece can get some serious groove going.
If DI doesn't work (for him) put the amp in another room and feed it back in the headphones. During this process we are trying to get the best sounding drum tracks available but whenever you push the the "red" button you never know what you will capture so we are also trying to capture the guitar. What you will end up with is a drum track(s) and a disposable guitar line that the bass player can work from. The guitar can be rerecorded. The best guitar line to use is just something simple that reflects the song (eg: chord vamp, simple riff, etc.) that the guitarist is not reaching for and thus less likely to make a fatal mistake and get thru the whole piece in one or two shots.
The only way you'll get something that sounds professional & coh
The only way you'll get something that sounds professional & cohesive will be when the band plays together. If the band can't get together? Then it's ProTools for sure. And it will likely never have that stick together kind of feel? I mean who really wants to listen to artificially manufactured music? Not I. OK, maybe Steely Dan? But that's different. That's Steely Dan & Skunk Baxter who is a monster guitar player, conservative Republican now working for the Department of Defense in Washington DC. Really. It's true. He created some kind of a "theater defense system" based upon Ageis Cruisers. And here I just thought he was a Doobie Brother? Thanks to Johnny Artis for tossing me that NBC News scoop 10 years ago. I'll have to post that one on You Tube. It was funny & cool. It was a fundraiser to get him to run for Congressman for California. Which he ultimately didn't do. I think he is just blowing people up with guitars? Maybe it's just too loud?
Stratacasters can kill!
Ms. Remy Ann David
if a guitar player cant play his part to a click track.... oh bo
if a guitar player cant play his part to a click track.... oh boy. i don't think i would want to hear them! if he can't do a click track, have the drummer just do a simple beat that is in time, and have the guitar player play to that. often times i do that, and find it much easier.
it sounds like you are basically going to record them for the hell of it, and then just do it all yourself? why not just skip the step and do it all yourself the first time? if they can't play well together though, it's probably just gonna cause you a lot of frustration!