how many tracks does your average project take

[seditz740novaprospect]

i range somewhere between 50-125 avg after tracking, usually bounced down to under 48 if i can during mix prep.sometimes less depending on what console i am working on, itb i try to sick to under 100 bounced tracks to allow my comp some room for plug ins etc...


i had a project the other day that ran upwards of 200 tracks,overproduced new age 80's metal.... the chorus had 12 elec guitar tracks on each side with 3 mics on the cab....

also some rap, R&B joints run that high on the regular as well with tons of vocal stacks


just curious to see what others are experiencing

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

47 at the absolute most.

I'm only counting audio tracks though (no Aux, master etc...). Some get ditched as well (like guitar DI tracks).

 

[Matula]

Right now I'm mixing a Death Metal band from Venezuela with 74 tracks of audio only. By the way, Nick Baker is on drums here. Noctis Imperium is the band. I'll let you know when it's done.

 

[scorpio01169]

52 the most

 

[Temps]

Where do you get all these tracks from? If I put all my Superior tracks on an individual channel, I end up with a grand total of about 25

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yeah I'm a little puzzled as well unless guitars are done in sections with each section on their own track. But anyhow this is me at max:

8 rhythm tracks (2 mics per guitar X 4 takes quad tracked)
4-8 guitar DI tracks (leads rhythm etc...)
2-6 Lead tracks (again 2 mics per take X however many solo parts)
2-10 stereo tracks for synths/keys whatever (if it's even being done)
10-15 vocal tracks usually smashed down to 8-10
19 MAX for drums (never gone that high but in an ideal world) realistically my track count for drums is only 12. There are very few drummers who need a fucking 12 piece drum set with more than a dozen cymbals or can even pull off playing one without being a douche. if you can't play it on a 4 piece then it's time to go back and take some lessons (end rant). The largest kit I have done was a 6 piece and he hit the lowest floor tom a total of 3 times.
2 tracks for bass (one DI one mic), I did just record something that had 4 but that was because there was slap and pick parts and I needed to keep them on their own tracks.

That's it.

 

[seditz740novaprospect]

i try to track to separate tracks and not record audio to the same tracks.also breaking down the quadtracking to parts of the song adds up quick. i feel the edit process goes smoother during mix prep this way . unless i am working on LE and limited to 32 or 48 tracks then im cramming audio wherever i can fit it sometimes...why i dumped PTle at home!


im curious as to what kind of track counts andy gets with some of the highly produced music he mixes

 

[JeffTD]

He mentioned one of the CoF tracks for Thornography had upwards of 180 tracks, IIRC.

 

[Torniojaws]

About 20 - 25

2 - 4 tracks for guitars (2 rhythm + 1 or 2 leads)
6 tracks of drum machine
6 tracks of synths/fx
2 tracks of bass
1 - 2 tracks of vocals
1 - 2 tracks of something random, like a reverse guitar reverb or such

 

[abyssofdreams]

For the average metal mix (2-4 rhythms, leads, bass, drums, vocals) usually around 40 including effects and such.

 

[ze kink]

My latest project, IIRC:
6 tracks of drums (Glyn Johns + 2 room mics)
2 tracks of guitar (sm57 + random condenser further away for more air)
1 track of scratch guitar
1 track of bass
2 bonus tracks (contain some Marshall MS2 micro stack, some background ambient noise made with a delay pedal etc.)

I think I used the scratch guitar track for one intro, and the other room drum mic isn't used at all. This was a post-rock recording though, that's why there's no vocals etc. I still almost always end up with only around 20.

 

[LSD-Studio]

usually like 80-120 tracks (inc. groups and effects)

 

[SpewChunks]

I used to use goldwave back in the day and keep recording into the same track. Good times.

 

[ahjteam]

After editing I usually end up with:

8-17 tracks of drums (1-3 per kick, 1-3 per snare, 1-2 per tom, 2-5 for cymbals, 1-3 for roomsound)
0-8 tracks of triggers (1 per drum)
2-4 tracks of bass (1 di, 1-3 for amp/distortion sound per take)
2-34 tracks of guitars (1 di, 1-4 mics for amp and room per take)
0-8 stereotracks of keyboards (1 stereo per take)
2-10 tracks of vocals (1 per take)
0-20 tracks of random stuff
2-10 stereotracks of effects (2-4 reverbs, 1-2 delays etc)

So ~16-120 tracks of audio


edit: for the last preproduction demo we used
1 track for midi drums
8 tracks for di-guitars to ampsims
1 track for bass
3 tracks of vocals

 

[TheDude]

usually like 80-120 tracks (inc. groups and effects)

+1

 

[lordtech]

8 tracks for drums
4 guitar tracks (2L & 2R)
2 bass tracks
4 vocal tracks (after reducing and cleaning up!)

thts it... 18 tracks using my Sonar

 

[Kazrog]

80-120 tracks here as well.

 

[Machinated]

Again 80-120 (including busses etc).

 

[SoundSpiral]

15 tracks for drums
4 tracks of samples for the drums
3 tracks for bass
4 tracks for rhythm guitars
2 tracks for lead guitars
1 track for solo guitar
4 tracks for vocals
4 tracks for synths
4 tracks for the random stuff

So around 41 tracks of audio. I try to keep the track count as low as I can.
EDIT: This is of course number of the tracks when mixing. During tracking I might have something like 20 more tracks.

 

[Seizure.]

usually like 80-120 tracks (inc. groups and effects)

+1.

Simple hardcore and grindstuff i might have around 60.