what do you physically do when tracking?

[narcossintese]

I close my eyes and listen to the performance, trying to identify mistakes. But when the musician is great I just:

 

[mick thompson]

i tend to have a sly wank under the desk while the musicians are tracking

 

[GarethSE]

i tend to have a sly wank under the desk while the musicians are tracking

im not even that sly about it
but that would explain all the letters about restraining orders that have been coming through my door recently..


ha, anyway. in all seriousness, back when i was still tracking the shit i was mixing, i like to constantly take an active approach while tracking. constantly getting them to try different shit or being audio hitler and getting them to constantly re-do shit or punch in or blah blah blah so I never really had a spare moment to sit and beat off.

 

[StoneLord]

Point and laugh.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Good topic.
For long takes I honestly don't know what to do. Don't want to look at them and distract them and don't want to look like I'm not paying attention.

 

[Metaltastic]

Sitting and just zoning out staring at the screen works for me, but I guess years of riding the subway in NYC taught me the "neutral stare"

 

[jval]

along with joey this isn't a thought because takes are so short. For me I'm also recording a few seconds at a time and cutting / nudging / copying etc after every take. A lot of the time I'm also holding unused strings or watching the player's hands or busy punching in and out. I even watch the tuner every time they tune to make sure it's right, and spend a lot of time actually tuning the guitar while the player holds a chord etc etc...
guitar tracking sucks.

 

[Charlie E.]

I usually look towards the screen but necessarily always straight at it. I feel like I can hear the takes better through the monitors when sitting in the sweet spot and being attentive.
However today when my drummer recorded a demo with his electric kit I just surfed the internet and chatted on AIM

 

[Harry Hughes]

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.

Same here really

 

[GarethSE]

Good topic.
For long takes I honestly don't know what to do. Don't want to look at them and distract them and don't want to look like I'm not paying attention.

keep sneap forum open, read a topic as intently as possible to make it look like you're really concentrating on something that matters, then occaisionally look their way and nod or something
musicians arent clever creatues jon, just gotta play some simple MIND GAEMZ

 

[Force666]

What about the ole, can't laugh, can't look disgusted stare, with the "oh my god, this is brutal" going through your mind. When you just can't believe how bad it is.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

What about the ole, can't laugh, can't look disgusted stare, with the "oh my god, this is brutal" going through your mind. When you just can't believe how bad it is.

This one?
Singer was in the booth behind me and it was pretty brutal.

 

[Metaltastic]

No need to ask which band that was Jon

 

[Force666]

Totally haha

 

[-J-]

along with joey this isn't a thought because takes are so short. For me I'm also recording a few seconds at a time and cutting / nudging / copying etc after every take. A lot of the time I'm also holding unused strings or watching the player's hands or busy punching in and out. I even watch the tuner every time they tune to make sure it's right, and spend a lot of time actually tuning the guitar while the player holds a chord etc etc...
guitar tracking sucks.

what does this mean...recording a few seconds at a time? a guitarist will play for a few seconds and stop? I'm not trying to be funny here, I really don't know. Just wondering what can happen in the span of a few seconds that would cause someone to need to stop playing. after several minutes or halfway through the song, sure, but a few seconds?

 

[jval]

what does this mean...recording a few seconds at a time? a guitarist will play for a few seconds and stop? I'm not trying to be funny here, I really don't know. Just wondering what can happen in the span of a few seconds that would cause someone to need to stop playing. after several minutes or halfway through the song, sure, but a few seconds?

it means splitting up riffs into tiny sections, 2 or 3 notes at a time. it's to avoid string noise and get super tight tracks. not to mention tuning in between every one, and tuning chords and punching one at a time etc.

 

[jipchen]

Normally i just stare at the screen or my desk, sometimes i close my eyes because i want to hear the mistakes during the performance.
If i know the guitarist/bassist i sometimes watch his hands (or the face expressions - very funny! ) while he's playing, but some people get nervous then, so i do not try it very often.

And if it's a hot chick i don't listen and i don't look at the screen, i just sit there drooling myself while looking at her boobs (happened twice )

 

[cloy26]

it means splitting up riffs into tiny sections, 2 or 3 notes at a time. it's to avoid string noise and get super tight tracks. not to mention tuning in between every one, and tuning chords and punching one at a time etc.

This seems like it would render a terrible song and terrible flow... Any tutorials or more advice on this subject?

 

[B36arin]

I'm interested in the same thing as cloy26. I've never split tracking up into that short bits, because my gut feeling says that there wouldn't be any flow in the guitar playing.

 

[cloy26]

I get worried enough with drum overheads doing one punch section... A whole song would absolutely kill me. lol