For those of you who track a lot of real drums, how many good takes do you try and get? I am working on a project where it looks like I am going to need to do a lot of punching in. Does it make sense to just try and get one totally perfect take or try and do more for options when comping?
When tracking live drums, how many good takes?
- Thread starter demirichris
- Start date
AudioPhile777
Mathew Cohen
Track it until it you get a good take for all sections, listen back to see what bars you need to punch/fly-in an alt take, when the whole song works you're done.
I've never really followed this "track a whole bunch of stuff, then wade through it later" philosophy. It's too much work. Track a quality take, fix the stuff that doesn't work, do a safety-take if you're feeling uneasy, then call it a day. I'm convinced that this comping-lust comes from studios wanting to decrease the efficiency of their workflow to make up for the increased-efficiency of working digitally. Gotta tag on the hours somewhere.
I've never really followed this "track a whole bunch of stuff, then wade through it later" philosophy. It's too much work. Track a quality take, fix the stuff that doesn't work, do a safety-take if you're feeling uneasy, then call it a day. I'm convinced that this comping-lust comes from studios wanting to decrease the efficiency of their workflow to make up for the increased-efficiency of working digitally. Gotta tag on the hours somewhere.
i usually let the drummer play 1-5 takes. if he/she isn´t able to nail it then he/she won´t be able to do it in the other 50 takes.
so editing is your friend.
so editing is your friend.
joeymusicguy
Member
its true, trying to comp a take from hundreds of takes is hard
sometimes the results are amazing
but most of the time, it takes way too much time
save that method for the ten's of thousands of dollars for budget
if anything lower, just get the part right, and fix later.
sometimes the results are amazing
but most of the time, it takes way too much time
save that method for the ten's of thousands of dollars for budget
if anything lower, just get the part right, and fix later.
Fredrik-Ablaze
Member
Jarkko Mattheiszen
The FU guy.
I've learned from one of my teachers that you should never settle for one good take and have a smoke or anything, but rather take another one instantly after that. Quite often the second one is even better than the first one, and then you can give the poor drummer a break 
Trevoire520
Member
I normally get it either all in one take, or I do it in 2-3 sections per song, punching in at pauses within the song.
I NEVER just do a load of takes and chop them up later, or do things bar by bar like some people on here seem to do regularly. I don't know how you guys can be bothered doing that shit. We seem to be quite fortunate in that bands over here can actually half play their own songs.
I NEVER just do a load of takes and chop them up later, or do things bar by bar like some people on here seem to do regularly. I don't know how you guys can be bothered doing that shit. We seem to be quite fortunate in that bands over here can actually half play their own songs.
Spencer159
New Metal Member
- May 7, 2009
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HandsOfDespair
Member
Last time I tracked drum I recorded 3 takes of each songs and choose the best parts in each songs. The drummer was quite good though, we did 5 long songs in an afternoon. Most songs he was tight like in this video: [ame]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=64252823[/ame] . Not perfect, but far from bad.
Trevoire520
Member
Uhh ohh i Sense another large debate in the making...
Not looking for a debate. If people want to spend hours/days/weeks editing absolute shit performances to death to make them sound passable then more power to them, as long as you're getting paid hourly for it.
Just personally if the band aren't going to make the effort then I don't see why I should unless I am getting some serious coin for it.
KeithRT99
BOOSH.
sometimes it's easier just to play each section piece by piece, punch by punch. Other times we just do a few takes, see whats best then punch any mistakes.
ahjteam
Anssi Tenhunen
depends in the songmaterial. If it's really easy, then 2-3 takes. If not, then 2-20 takes, but 20 takes is pretty much the max because after that the drummer needs to go practice.
Melodeath
Moonbow
Have to say I usually go through a full take, see whats good whats not and either go for another full take if it seems like they might be able to nail it. If they can't then we'll go through it section by section punching in where it needs it on the best full take.
I find doing loads of drum takes makes for a very messy session, I'm not mad into doing a ton of editing either. I'd a band that couldn't play at all so we punched it section by section till he got the best he could play it in each section and then we went with that. They weren't able to play to a click and I wasn't gonna kill myself for trying to make it sound like they could.
I find doing loads of drum takes makes for a very messy session, I'm not mad into doing a ton of editing either. I'd a band that couldn't play at all so we punched it section by section till he got the best he could play it in each section and then we went with that. They weren't able to play to a click and I wasn't gonna kill myself for trying to make it sound like they could.
1st) Get them to go through the whole song once
2nd) Go back through the song and punch in sections that need to be redone (don't do more work than you have to is the idea)
3rd) Delete audio and program by hand because drummers fucking suck anyway.
2nd) Go back through the song and punch in sections that need to be redone (don't do more work than you have to is the idea)
3rd) Delete audio and program by hand because drummers fucking suck anyway.
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
Find breaks/pauses in the drum parts if possible, make markers and keep note of them. I usually have the drummer 'warm up' by tracking to the chorus since they tend to get in the mood better, and then record until he fucks up; punch in and continue on.
I don't like the idea of getting 3-4 takes and comping later, especially since I'm gonna be editing the drums by hand for the most part regardless.
I don't like the idea of getting 3-4 takes and comping later, especially since I'm gonna be editing the drums by hand for the most part regardless.
Well heres the main question, is this guy playing to a click track? If Yes then fuck it, just track a couple takes and choose the semi best one and quantize the shit out of it. No need to get a "perfect" one because your going to have to edit and quantize it anyways....That is if your doing modern metal.....
Heres what ive noticed about drummers:
You got drummers that nail it in the first two and only get worse from there
Drummers that take fuckin 2 hours to nail one song and get better as they go
and Drummers that just fucking suck and you end up having to have them not play their feet and you the ENGINEER start making their kick tracks for the whole record. Usually these guys are like "what is that beeping noise you put in my headphones?" and then I say"THE CLICK TRACK" drummer goes "Whats a click tracker?" I go " A METRONOME TO KEEP TIME, THE REASON DRUMS WERE EVEN FUCKIN INVENTED WAS TO KEEP TIME" Drummer "O well I can do it live though....just not in the studio"
And thats why people have now began to program drums....because 1 out of 50 drummers cant play for shit! At least in the metal genre LoL Fuck it I may just start programming drums....itd be easier then quantizing a super shitty drummer
Heres what ive noticed about drummers:
You got drummers that nail it in the first two and only get worse from there
Drummers that take fuckin 2 hours to nail one song and get better as they go
and Drummers that just fucking suck and you end up having to have them not play their feet and you the ENGINEER start making their kick tracks for the whole record. Usually these guys are like "what is that beeping noise you put in my headphones?" and then I say"THE CLICK TRACK" drummer goes "Whats a click tracker?" I go " A METRONOME TO KEEP TIME, THE REASON DRUMS WERE EVEN FUCKIN INVENTED WAS TO KEEP TIME" Drummer "O well I can do it live though....just not in the studio"
And thats why people have now began to program drums....because 1 out of 50 drummers cant play for shit! At least in the metal genre LoL Fuck it I may just start programming drums....itd be easier then quantizing a super shitty drummer
