Sort of a weird one, but I'm wondering if most bands play the entire track all the way through or punch in each riff/section? Is the best way to punch in to just make a separate track, record the part, then glue it onto the main guitar waveform?
Question about tracking (Guitars)
- Thread starter Cacoph0ny
- Start date
whatever allows the musician to get the best performance. Usually i try and get them to do the song at once and ignore mistakes just in case they really nail another riff later in the performance. then go back and redo other parts. some technical parts may require having full energy to really NAIL them
I usually tell people to break it down is small segments like intro/verse/chorus/bridge/ect... I think you can get a better performance this way and it's sometimes better than going through 10 five-minute-long takes.
the goal, from my perspective, is always to nail the song all the way through in 1 take
of course that's in a perfect world...sometimes the player will do a take through the whole thing, and have just a couple of punch-ins on certain spots, other times it'll be just a single passage at a time. in the end, it depends on the player and the composition, along with how much time is available.
of course that's in a perfect world...sometimes the player will do a take through the whole thing, and have just a couple of punch-ins on certain spots, other times it'll be just a single passage at a time. in the end, it depends on the player and the composition, along with how much time is available.
Charvelguy
Member
... the software may have a consideration there also. I use Riffworks as a DAW. The way its laid out, is I can build the song riff by riff or, I import Rex drum file and record the whole thing at once by extending the layers out by altering the time signature to increase the length, or I can also do a solo layer.
MetallyGuitarded
He whom thou art not
Sounds kinda awkward. Maybe you should try a different recording app? Ableton Live 7 supports REX files and ReWire and loops as well as anything I've ever seen. I've been using it for a while and it's real easy/powerful. It's not Pro Tools but it gets the job done without compromises or strange adaptations to any limitations.
Charvelguy
Member
well, its probably designed in a way so that people get used to writing in a structured way. After all, it came packaged with guitarport. However, it does allow me to have online jams with people all over the world and collab on songs or ideas posted on their servers. So it is a fluid 4 track where I can write with anyone, anywhere, anytime as long as they have the same DAW, the server is up and the program doesn't boot me. I have Sonar LE, Ableton lite, Cool Edit pro, Guitar Tracks, Guitar Pro 3, Gigastudio and a few others, I just hardly use them right now.
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
I think you'll find that most people here do it riff-by-riff, to keep it as tight and clean as possible.
"Evil" Aidy
Mörti Viventi
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
Depends on what works. For me I kind of like playing the sections one time tight and copy pasting them through the song. This doesn't always work though.
Zack Uidl
Member
Wow,I feel so much better knowing alot of people do this.I always wonderd how bands played so tight. I didnt know there was so much use (abuse) of copy and paste. My first EP I did I played every song straight thru cause I thought I was cheating if I stopped after every riff.Needles to say its not very tight.
AdamWathan
Member
I like to record the whole song in one-take, trying to avoid punch-ins completely as well, at least when I'm tracking myself. With other people though you sort of just have to go with whatever is going to get you the best results with the least amount of frustration.
James-Doolan
Member
How come people feel like they are cheating by punching in? Any ways i punch like a mofo just figured out how to punch single 16th notes in cubase which made my life way easier 
ah the way i see it unless you are a god on guitar you will always make some minor mistake in a long take which is fine for some people but why settle when you can have it super tight by punching?
Note: I am talking about tracking super tight tech metal only i would look at it differently for other styles like sometimes the little flaws and mistakes add to a song.
ah the way i see it unless you are a god on guitar you will always make some minor mistake in a long take which is fine for some people but why settle when you can have it super tight by punching?
Note: I am talking about tracking super tight tech metal only i would look at it differently for other styles like sometimes the little flaws and mistakes add to a song.
I tend to play the whole song through, being pretty new to recording, but I think ill start doing snippets, seems to work for all u guys.
Also when you record a track, do you copy and paste it into another track, then pan it totally opposite?
Also when you record a track, do you copy and paste it into another track, then pan it totally opposite?
Zuranthus
Member
- Feb 13, 2008
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when you do that it tends to sound like a mono track, which is why generally it's not done, or the track is altered to make it distinguishable from the other
scorpio01169
Member
I also do the song all the way through then patching things up as i go along. specially drums. because it's hard for drummers to do punch-ins i try to get them to do it all the way through by takes
do you ever play live? if so, how do you play the entire song if you can't do it in the studio?
the way i see it, a guitarist should be able to play a song most of the way through without problem...i'm not going to say that there aren't going to be spots that are a little off and that require attention, but i still like to see people bust out a whole track straight through. i even tell people that if they make a mistake to just keep going, and we'll go back and fix it in a few.
Zuranthus
Member
- Feb 13, 2008
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i can play the songs all the way through, but that it will be 100% free of error i can't grantee
as for playing live, i haven't done that in about 3 years...i never played anything as difficult as what i'm doing now either; a home project with a bud since we're both fed up with local musicians
it's just so much easier to digest a 6 minute song in chunks, why torture yourself
& i'm sure that things would have to be revised if we played it live, there are just physical limitations involved when transitioning for a sitting position to a standing position. hell even Michael Romeo had to make some arrangements to his studio songs & that guy's a machine...i already had to change the tempo of a song cause i couldn't keep up with the one my bud had set, twiddling fingers isn't the same as twiddling a plectrum (he plays bass)
