How tight should "playing tight" be?

[Harry Hughes]

anything i or the band i'm recording can't play to my liking, i just edit to perfection There is always a way to make it tight with editing.

I don't think it should have to come to that.
It just worries me, a band can't really nail their shit in the studio, what happens when they hit the live stage? It'll be all over the place.
That's why it should be really reinforced, that if you're a musician, ACTUALLY BE ONE and make sure you're shit is up to scratch, otherwise gtfo and consider doing something else with your time.
If a band still can't play their shit well after practicing, they need to learn to write material within their actual abilities.

 

[brianhood]

I don't think it should have to come to that.
It just worries me, a band can't really nail their shit in the studio, what happens when they hit the live stage? It'll be all over the place.
That's why it should be really reinforced, that if you're a musician, ACTUALLY BE ONE and make sure you're shit is up to scratch, otherwise gtfo and consider doing something else with your time.
If a band still can't play their shit well after practicing, they need to learn to write material within their actual abilities.

Very true, but to be honest, when a band pays me to record them, i dont really care how they sound live. I deal with some absolutely dreadful musicians, and I want my recordings as flawless as possible, so if the band is paying me to record them, i'm going to do whatever methods necessary to achieve this. Luckily ive been able to stay fairly busy on musically competent bands lately, but occasionally i record crap bands just to fill in gaps in my schedule and make money.

I know this has been argued on this forum FAR too many times, but basically it comes down to this: What happens in the studio is my problem. What happens on stage is their problem.

 

[slayercannibalsuffohead]

How tight you ask? AS TIGHT AS A FISH'S ARSE!

 

[Harry Hughes]

I've been playing regularly to a metronome for almost 4 years now, after that amount of time it just drills good timing into ya really.
There's been mentions of drum loops in this thread, but I tend to think the most difficult thing is being able to just keep up with nothing but a single click, so I prefer the metronome approach.
Well these days I don't have to do all that metronome practice as much as I used to , but it helps in the more formative stages certainly.

 

[The Unavoidable]

one that REALLY bugs me is when people bend notes/chords out of tune when they play them.

Or when doing vibrato, they bend the string slightly before shaking it. God it sounds so bad.

 

[Sacha]

Don't say 'fuck it', that's lame. You are on the right path with identifying weaknesses and striving to improve them. Keep practicing and re-recording until you can listen back to it and hate it as little as possible.

 

[kramer1309]

sort of in a similar situation.. dunno whether to practice to a midi of the song's drums or to a metronome.. with one, i can lock into a groove better (sometimes the metronome and the drums differ in feel) but with a metronome, i guess with a straight riff, it sounds cleaner (maybe)

 

[colonel kurtz]

ok, bypassing all the metronome talk, i consider 2 takes to be tight enough to really use when you can put them both in mono and not really tell there's 2 takes playing back

 

[nex666]

ok, bypassing all the metronome talk, i consider 2 takes to be tight enough to really use when you can put them both in mono and not really tell there's 2 takes playing back

Uh yeah but what about the rest of the band?

 

[colonel kurtz]

what about it?

wasn't the OP asking about tightness in regards to his guitar tracks?

edit: i didn't notice before he was asking about tightness in relation to the drums and stuff...all you can do there is keep practicing!!

 

[Taurean]

This may sound strange, but try practicing or recording using quarter notes on the metronome. Suggested few times in studios to guitarists and it helped them.

 

[Tommy Gun]

This may sound strange, but try practicing or recording using quarter notes on the metronome. Suggested few times in studios to guitarists and it helped them.

Pretty sure he's already playing to Quarter notes... that's usually the standard output for a metronome anyway... but trying Eighth notes might not be such a bad idea... depends on the riffs really. I generally adjust the click track between Quarter and Eighth notes for the person tracking, depending on the intricacy of the riff/drum beat, and what they are most comfortable with.

 

[Taurean]

brain fart ... meant 1/8th notes. It can really help though

 

[crazykarl]

your playing should hang like sleeve of wizard