Rec, Editing and mixdown - Your process?

[dubbingmixer]

Hi there,

Just wondering how you guys go about the recording and production process. Will many of you record takes and edit your audio on the fly? Ie (Edit timing of Guitar, replace drum sounds etc) Or do you prefer to edit after the bands recorded?

This also goes for mixing. Will you leave the faders untouched, and save til the end or will you mix as you go along?

 

[Machinated]

Edits I tend to do while the band is here, or at least after they have left for the day, so that any further tracking takes the changes into account. Some edits I'll do before/during mixing if its bits of noise or tidying things up. With mixing, I normally have at least one song thats a bit further ahead than the others so I'll use that as a starting point come mix time, and start shaping things together. I tend to do the tracking in the tracking phase, and mix afterwards. I'll make sure that when their tracks its at least bearable to listen to, but its not my main concern. Also sometimes if there is more complicated automation that needs doing, I'll do it while they are here in the tracking phase to make sure its done right.

Im curious as to how you Logic guys do your mix templates when you have one song set up - I have found its a pain to get the mixer settings over. I have to save a template, then copy out the tempo track, and copy and paste things in and then move them about so they are on the right tracks. Saving the channel strips works for the odd thing, but its too much of a hassle considering the way I have things routed on my tracks.

 

[gorath23]

I have a tendency to mix as I go primarily because I am not confident in my mic'ing techniques to know that the source material is good, and my ears aren't good enough (yet) to know without any processing that things sound as they should. So by mixing as I go I can tell what is working and what isn't and re-track if necessary. I find that getting a good drum-sound can really enhance the way that you then react when tracking guitars. I also find it less daunting not coming to a big raw fizzy mess of a song and then have to start mixing it all at once. Either way you will find yourself going back and forth between instruments tweaking here and there, so it all ends up the same anyway.

 

[dubbingmixer]

Also not to steer this topic of course, but howabouts with drum replacement?

Will you leave that to mixdown or editing, or even on the fly? If rerecording drums isnt possible?

Just curious

 

[scorpio01169]

i'll track, edit, then mix...helps keep things in order. but during tracking i take notes on where edits need to be done. have a member of the band the designation pen and pad man, and have he keep the notes you tell him while tracking
and these help

 

[Tommy Gun]

Yeah, I keep a chart as well, but I also use the last hour of every tracking session to make editing or punch notes for the following day. We'll just sit down and listen to everything done that day and take notes on it. It's good to keep soloing things out and listening to performances at a very in-depth level as you go along. It will keep you from having to stick a band-aid on something later, when you could have just fixed the problem at the source. Then, I like to do an editing session with the "head" songwriter in the group, to get the majority of the edits taken care of. After that, I'll bring the rest of the band in for a "polishing" session, where they usually pick up on the last couple of little things that may need fixing. Once the editing is done, I mix ALONE.

 

[006]

I prefer to do most editing and all mixing without the band around. This keeps things simple and less of a hassle. I will edit out everything that I understand should not be there. Non-destructively, of course, in the case that I may have sliced off some stupid little noise that they "really wanted to keep." Mixing, again, I like to do alone. I work a LOT faster and also the end result is better when I do it that way. Then I invite the client back and show them the mix, and then we discuss what they like/don't like and also any changes or things they want to hear. Often times The bands are happy with it as-is, but occasionally someone will want a different sound here or there.

I am also guilty of mixing while tracking. This is mainly to save time. I'll have a rough mix for them by the time we are done for the first session, which bands are always happy to receive. I will mix while actually tracking, and edit in between takes or while they take breaks n shit. So far my workflow is doing well for me but I'm always trying different angles and shit to see if I can make it any more efficient, etc.

Drum replacement I try to get setup before tracking. This way when they are monitoring during tracking or at least when listening back after tracking they will hear a closer rendition of a "mix." Then again, I try to avoid replacement as much as possible. However I do have apTrigga setup on the track and have the threshold, hold time and all that good stuff setup so all I have to do is decide on the sample(s) in the case that I want to replace or blend anything in.

~006

 

[scorpio01169]

hey 006...when do you have some free time?

 

[006]

Whenever I'm not working, haha. My day job is over by 7pm every day, including weekends...so free pretty much after that every day

~006

 

[scorpio01169]

Whenever I'm not working, haha. My day job is over by 7pm every day, including weekends...so free pretty much after that every day

~006

can you pm me your number wanna talk to you about tracking some drums

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I have bands do a guitar scratch track real quick while the drummer is setting up, then I track drums and do all the drum edits so the guitars will have the proper drums to track to, then bass, then vocals. I get a rough mix going while tracking so it's not much work after the band leaves.

Pretty straightforward.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i usually sit there and do my tracking...i set up a really quick mix to use for the tracking session, but it changes constantly. i'll also do some simple edits between takes or in any downtime while tracking, but i like to take notes and then do the edits later on. then when i'm comfortable with all the editing, i'll really get busy on the mix...

 

[beyond dead]

Im curious as to how you Logic guys do your mix templates when you have one song set up - I have found its a pain to get the mixer settings over. I have to save a template, then copy out the tempo track, and copy and paste things in and then move them about so they are on the right tracks. Saving the channel strips works for the odd thing, but its too much of a hassle considering the way I have things routed on my tracks.

in logic, i set up a template customized to the band recording and how many pieces on the kit they have, how many vocalists ( i usually record low/ high vocals on different tracks) ect. i add the tempo track to the template and track. i don`t bother with channel strip settings till after tracking, (no plugs = no latency) get a rough mix happening without any plugs so that the musicians can tell whats going on. if it sounds good at this point (which it should if you track properly) then your golden. try not to overdo the effects if ya can, cause the mix should sound pretty good without them.

while mixing i save channel strips for bass, bass drum guitars, vocals ect. based on the sounds and mix i got on the first track i mixed, and change them as necessary ( att. release times ect.)

 

[006]

Ah, I also set up a template for the project. I usually speak with each member of the band (drummer, guitarists and bassist) quite a bit ahead of the booking for a couple of reasons. One, to assess the savvy-ness of each musician regarding equipment, experience, etc. Two, so that I know what I will be recording of theirs and determine if we need to use my equipment (guitars, amps) or borrow something, depending on the sound they want to have. Three, to figure out how many tracks I will need to have set up. This way I'm more than prepared when they arrive. I have my template setup with all the tracks I should need, I have all the mics ready and plugged in, on stands, etc., I have all the inputs routed, all busses created and tracks routed in Cubase. Just...everything. And actually there should be a thread I made a while back asking if I was being too prepared for sessions and I described everything I had setup for a band before they showed up. If you're interested just search for it or I can find it and link to it.

~006

 

[006]

Here is the thread I was talking about.

~006

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I edit as little as possible during recording. Usually the only exception is something like if the singer can't nail something I'll stretch it to make it fit. Or autotune or other effects. Just so they can hear it and okay it before I take it home and edit.

 

[aramism]

Im curious as to how you Logic guys do your mix templates when you have one song set up - I have found its a pain to get the mixer settings over. I have to save a template, then copy out the tempo track, and copy and paste things in and then move them about so they are on the right tracks. Saving the channel strips works for the odd thing, but its too much of a hassle considering the way I have things routed on my tracks.

well the way i do it is like an above poster said i will just have a template for the tracks and stuff which is the easy part but the tricky part is for mixing i will have to manually save each bus and track strip as a preset and then manually load it up on each track. but it can get quite tedios when you have a project that has a high track count with a lot of routing and stuff. and the annoying thing is that those strip presets do not include outputs, panning, volume which is a huge pain in my ass.

i think there has to be a way which i need to learn to make this easier but we'll see. for some reason i suspect the environment settings are totally saveable and that would include all my routing so i'm going to check it out.