what do you physically do when tracking?

[evolutions_end]

Bizzare question, but ive seen alot of engineers do alot of different things...

My question, in more detail:

When recording a guitarist and he is sitting the same same room as you, what are you physically doing? Are you constantly looking at levels of inputs/outputs/pre amps, sitting there with your hands in your lap looking at the screen? Watching the guitarist?

The reason i ask, is that i found myself in a bizzare situation the other day. I had a bass player here, laying down his tracks and i didnt know where to put my hands or where to look. no point looking at the screen, nothing i need to know there. no point keeping the hands on the keyboard or mouse, a accidental push and i could loose the best take yet. pre-amps are set and forget.

i got anxious and i literally didnt know what to do. no one else in the room knew i felt akward, but i just felt really...bizzare. what do you do to pass time when things are all set up and time is relying on the artist?

 

[colonel kurtz]

for the first few minutes i watch the screen/meters/whatever and make sure nothing's hitting in the red, or setting off any other alarms

then i'll usually sit there actively listening...occasionally with my eyes closed, and making notes about what needs to be either re-tracked or edited

 

[joeymusicguy]

i record in peices, a couple of seconds at a time

so i really never have time to just sit there.

lots of trimming, moving, copying, pasting, slipping, stretching, fading, bouncing....

etc. etc.

 

[Ermz]

If it's a full take we're doing then I'm usually alternating between looking away from the screen and just plainly listening, and looking at the screen to make sure I haven't missed any clips, glitches or whatever else may have come up. Mentally, I'm considering how many punch-ins need doing and also whether it's worth keeping the entire take, or just ditching it and going for the 'few bars at a time' approach, which I loathe (but do most often to overcome most peoples' inability to play their instruments).

 

[nwright]

I usually always keep my eyes on the screen, monitoring levels, watching the waveforms, taking mental notes, etc. I don't really think about it I guess.

 

[musickey]

Pull up porn on my iphone, Do a lil pocket jackin.

 

[-J-]

Knitting

 

[Brandon E.]

Pull up porn on my iphone, Do a lil pocket jackin.

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

nothing wrong with pocket pool....just make sure you dont play any away games

 

[ahjteam]

If the material allows, I just stare at the screen blankly, try to bop my head along the music and listen if it sucks.

 

[AudioPhile777]

the 'few bars at a time' approach... (but do most often to overcome most peoples' inability to play their instruments).

This.

 

[Force666]

Bong hits, texting and a lot of staring at the screen.

 

[crosstalk]

I watch the screen making sure there isn't some random clipping happening or some crazy error. I keep a note pad and listen carefully. If I hear a bad note or something questionable I jot down the measure to make sure it gets a second look. I generally bob my head to the beat. Sometimes I really get into it, but not so much as you see Machine does on the Sacrifice DVD. I don't stare at or watch the player the whole time. It's one thing to be in front of a crowd, but having one person watching your every move can make you tense and screw up more.

If all else fails, pretend to be busy.

 

[tgs]

I got a lava lamp recently and I have it next to the screens. I find myself staring at it a lot. I don't know at all but I think the people I work with do the same.

 

[A Midnight Requiem]

I'll generally watch the screen like a lot of people have said, making sure there isn't any clipping and taking note of any parts that might need redone. Also a lot of the times I find myself muting down unused strings while the player is playing, as long as it doesn't make them uncomfortable. Some players, for whatever reason, CANNOT play any octave intervals with proper muting of the string in between.

 

[updog]

Sometimes I stare at them to make them fuck up.

 

[Jind]

I concentrate on what I'm playing since I'm the only one in the room - I only record my music so it just works out that way The life of a lonely musician/hobbyist engineer.

 

[Kazrog]

If possible, I like to capture guitar and bass tracks in a single pass for a better "vibe" through a song, so I make mental note of any small fuck-ups for later punch-in spots (verse 1, chorus 3, bar 89, that kind of thing.) I always set my levels ahead of time with maximum picking attack, etc., so there's no need to look for clipping, and I'll shut my eyes or stare at my lava lamps if I am bored (usually that means the guitarist is doing a great job.)

If the guitarist sucks, I'll go riff by riff, sometimes literally getting a 4 bar phrase comped and then looping it, but I try to avoid those kinds of projects.

 

[JeffTD]

Honestly, I play along with my right hand. For some reason, I've found with guitarists, if I hold a pick and 'strum' or 'pick' on the table the same pattern they're doing, it helps most people play tighter and closer to the click.

 

[Jaymz]

Honestly, I play along with my right hand. For some reason, I've found with guitarists, if I hold a pick and 'strum' or 'pick' on the table the same pattern they're doing, it helps most people play tighter and closer to the click.

Bullshit, you apply you ballapowder in those situations!