Pros/Cons of recording an album in one session

[NSGUITAR]

Hey dudes.


Lately I've been recording things in one single project file.. So far I've only done EP's and such, and have had no problems with it!


I'm doing a full length starting today, and was just curious if it's a bad Idea to do 11 songs in single project file?

 

[RevoltStudios]

Never had a problem in Nuendo. Just bounce your drum edits so you don't have a million edit points...that slows everything to a crawl.

 

[JeffTD]

Bounce edits whenever possible, separate into different projects for mixing.

 

[botus99]

Bounce edits whenever possible, separate into different projects for mixing.

+1

I like to add basic EQ before bouncing to a mixing session. That will save some CPU power and get everything a little closer to the final product off the bat. You'll want to save compression for the mixing sessions or else you may have to automate attack and release settings for each song... maybe even every tempo change

 

[JeffTD]

Realistically speaking, I only do 3-4 track demos in the same project. For full albums, I've found it's much easier to just leave it all in separate folders and do the import XML data thing or whatever your DAW's method of transferring session data happens to be.

Over the course of an album, you just get too many "oh there's a weird guitar thing here," "we want the vocals to have this crazy effect here," and "this part we don't actually play music - we just blow each other and see what happens" sort of parts going on. I used to do 'core' tracks in one session (drums, bass, rhythm gtrs, main vox), but I found it to slow the machine down quite a bit and was easier to lose myself in. Much easier to stay focused when your session length is limited to 4-5 bars before/after the length of the song itself and nothing else is visible on the screen!

 

[Emdprodukt]

I'm working on my bands full length (12 tracks) right now and I do it in one project with Cubase 5. You have to look out for the tempomap, if you need to change anything later it can actually mess up your project. I save and bounce a lot and I think it's worth it because I hated to open every song on it's own to change one little thing. It's also much easier to provide the band with updates in my opinion.

 

[Trevoire520]

I like to do it all as one session until you get to the final bits of automation/song specific mixes etc.

 

[Fragle]

used to do it in single sessions, nowadays i'm using one for the whole project.

i like it that way because you can jump between tracks easier, and all adjustments are global which makes for a more consistent sounding album imho.
if you take care of your edits etc and have a decent machine the performance won't be an issue either. right now i'm finishing a 10 track album, all in one session, and it's smooth as fuck.
just make sure everythings organized nicely so you can stay focused.

 

[amarshism]

New danza?

 

[jimwilbourne]

I separate. I have to do it this way. I'm too anal to keep it in one file.
It leaves too much room for error.

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

I can't see doing mutiple songs on one project file, unless your producing a CD for someone like Social Distortion or some punk band that doesn't have alot of diverse material between each song. I'm working on 24 songs right now, and every one has a different style/orchestration/guitar type, not to mention the tempos and time sigs are all over the place. Ii think I'll stick with the seperate project file system.

 

[NSGUITAR]

New danza?

yup

Can't wait for you guys to hear it.

 

[LeSedna]

I'll do one project file for my whole EP, which will be 4/5 tracks and will last around 30mn. The core of the sounds will stay the same (guitar bass drums) and only around it will be fitted orchestrations or synths or noises or random stuff, so I bet it'll be okay. It will definitely save me time in the end if I'm well organized, and the mastering process will be flawless.

 

[drope934]

for my band I'll use separate tracks, save the "effects chain" after the first core mix then recall it after to not loose the feel of it in the rest of the album.

Never tough about doing it in a unique file, seems weird to me but it can work if your album is very "straight forward" with the sames settings and kind of sounds.

 

[topsoul182]

import XML data thing or whatever your DAW's method of transferring session data happens to be.

Could you explain more what that means? I've seen it in Cubase but never touched It

 

[aortizjr]

I find I pick and choose depending on what is going on. But I also try and hit a rehearsal or something before having the band come in.

If the instrumentation is all pretty much the same, then I will do the tracking in one Session. If the mix is pretty static and basic I will mix it that way too. But I will save each song as its own session even with all the files in there.

But I almost always break it all out for any serious mixing in their own folders and such. I use the Play Order Track (whole song a single part, make it its own list, then flatten, save project to new folder, undo flatten, repeat for rest of songs) in Cubase which keeps all the settings for me.

But I am with JeffTD. There are just too many variables all in one session. How do you guys handle automation? Tempo tracks would be a bitch too but doable.

Also when changing mixes to individual songs, how do you keep all that straight? I do a Save-As with every song, but say the guitar tone needs more highs, then I still have to import that track info to every single Saved-As instance.

 

[Trevoire520]

Get your eq, comp and rough levels together, this should transfer well to most of the songs if all the instrumentation is the same.

Save a copy of the session for each song, deleting whatever audio regions and tracks you don't need anymore.

Do any song specific effects and automation within these copies.

Simples!