what do you physically do when tracking?

[B36arin]

I don't think that it's feasible to do a whole song in lots of takes with drums, but it seems to be a common technique with bad guitarists and bassists. I assume that you then use the direct track and reamp it?

 

[cloy26]

Well, then you have to decipher what's too short to punch and do by takes... Like is it common practice for drums to be down as a whole take, or as verse/chorus/verse etc... There comes a point when it is too short for drums... But guitars on the other hand seem to be endless. lol.

And yah, it seems like reamping it would be the best idea.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Facebook mobile does the trick for me.

 

[jval]

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.

In modern technical metal music it's not about flow, it's about precision. If you listen to the major label records being done today, the guitars are totally flawless. If you want guitars to sound 'pro', every note has to be in tune, every note cleanly played, and no extra string noise whatsoever... doing tiny sections at a time is the only way to accomplish this. Unless you're dealing with incredible players which we all know is rare these days.

 

[Force666]

In modern technical metal music it's not about flow, it's about precision. If you listen to the major label records being done today, the guitars are totally flawless. If you want guitars to sound 'pro', every note has to be in tune, every note cleanly played, and no extra string noise whatsoever... doing tiny sections at a time is the only way to accomplish this. Unless you're dealing with incredible players which we all know is rare these days.

Totally NOT true. If you listen to Blood Oath (Suffo) as one example, the low-end is a million times huger than anyone around here would usually approve of and if you really focus on the guitars they are nice and squeeky and alot of "noises". Especially the right side guitar.

Now if you're talking about trendy crabcore bullshit....I'll agree.

 

[jval]

ok, sure there are great exceptions, but for the vast majority what I said is true.

 

[Ermz]

Just because something is commonplace doesn't make it the 'best' way to roll. Surely some of you must feel that in this last decade we have been repeating the mistakes of the 80s and absolutely producing music into the ground? Am I the only one who can't stand to listen to the radio because he's fed up with hearing the rampant autotune abuse, attempting to cloud what is largely horrid music?

Flow or perfection, whatever does it for you and your clients. Just NEVER set your clock by what the major labels do. They run the business end of the industry; it's our job to retain the artistry.

 

[jval]

Just because something is commonplace doesn't make it the 'best' way to roll. Surely some of you must feel that in this last decade we have been repeating the mistakes of the 80s and absolutely producing music into the ground? Am I the only one who can't stand to listen to the radio because he's fed up with hearing the rampant autotune abuse, attempting to cloud what is largely horrid music?

Flow or perfection, whatever does it for you and your clients. Just NEVER set your clock by what the major labels do. They run the business end of the industry; it's our job to retain the artistry.

Valid points... but you also gotta do what you gotta do to make a living if you're doing this full time... which means keeping up with the trends and delivering those results

 

[scorpio01169]

I listen to the guitarist scratch track while tracking drums, then when Im actually tracking guitars I kinda move into engineer/producer mode.

 

[Let it burn...]

i stare at the screen, watching for the occasional clip. After that's over, i just do some active listening and smile a lot if it's a great / tight player.

I'm never that bored really...

 

[greyskull]

im partial to this pose

 

[AStacy2]

Text messaging helps me pass the time, haha. It works out really well, you can do it with one hand, hide the phone near the side of the chair so no band members can see it, and if the band sucks you can text someone how bad they are without the band knowing and sometimes it'll help you feel better. Just kidding about that last part, I would never do that.

 

[joeymusicguy]

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.

some people dont write music that has a "flow"
its more of a technical stamp, or execution of precision

sometimes this very thing creates it's own flow

see "fear factory"

 

[joeymusicguy]

im partial to this pose

+1

 

[greyskull]

haha
good to know joey. its means i can concentrate on just using my ears

 

[cloy26]

some people dont write music that has a "flow"
its more of a technical stamp, or execution of precision

sometimes this very thing creates it's own flow

see "fear factory"

I don't think he meant flow from a creative one. I mean, cutting up a song 100 times when you track guitar, it doesn't seem like it would sound like 1 track of guitar played in one sitting... But then again like you said, the nature of the bands that you are doing are very "precise".

 

[joeymusicguy]

I don't think he meant flow from a creative one. I mean, cutting up a song 100 times when you track guitar, it doesn't seem like it would sound like 1 track of guitar played in one sitting... But then again like you said, the nature of the bands that you are doing are very "precise".

actually it can sound natural

unless you have no clue how to edit a guitar track, then it wont at all

id say 50% of my time is spent on this very thing, while guitar tracking. i dont always achieve a perfect result when shooting for perfection, ironic enough.

 

[joeymusicguy]

haha
good to know joey. its means i can concentrate on just using my ears

someone should make a master bus plugin that just has a giant display of colors / visual frequency output

i'd experiment with the results of playing in front of how the display interacts with the live audio output while tracking.

there's something to chew on....

 

[greyskull]

you obviously havent seen masseys Listen plugin.
free.
get it sense of humour required