I’m going to be
recording my band’s new album and it’s my first big project, so I’d like
a bit of advice. It’s a rhythm & blues band consisting of drums,
rhythm guitar, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar and lead and
backing vocals. I have a limited number of mics, so I’ll be recording
sources separately. The question is: in what order do I do this? The
band are pretty tight, but I don’t think the drummer would like playing
to a click track with no reference to the song itself. I seem to get
mixed views on this: I know the normal way is drums first, but what
would be best for this band?
Via SOS web site
SOS
Editor In Chief Paul White replies:
It always gives the best feel if
the band play together, even if it’s only drums plus a rough mix as a
guide of the other instruments and a vocal, recorded down one mic, as
these can be replaced later. Of course, you also need to minimise spill,
so using POD-style devices and headphones for guitars and bass can help
in getting the guide parts down and avoids the need for a mic, though
you may need a small mixer. Otherwise, put the drums in a different
room from the guitar amps. Some people manage by recording just the
drums and bass together, but trying to do the drums on their own is
asking for problems, as the feel will never be quite right.
If
the music is of a type where the drummer is happy to play to a click
track, you could always record the separate parts to a click or guide
drum loop, then have the drummer put the drums on last. But, again, you
could lose all your feel that way.
SOS Reviews
Editor Matt Houghton adds:
With a genre like rhythm & blues, the
feel of the playing is so critical to getting a good result. There are
plenty of great recordings where most parts were played with everyone in
the room to get a good vibe. As Paul suggests, you need the rhythm
section, in particular, to be really hitting the groove, and with that
in mind, I would certainly want to track at least the drums and bass
together as a starting point. You could have both playing in the same
room, using a solid gobo or two to provide separation between the kit
and the bass amp, with the amp separated from the kit, but with the
bassist standing in a position where he and the drummer have good
visual communication. Alternatively, put the bassist in the room, but DI
his bass, perhaps running it through an amp simulator for monitoring
purposes. If you get an amazing take, it would be simple enough to use a
good amp simulator such as IK’s Ampeg SVX or Softube’s Vintage Bass
Room, or re-amping, to make it fit in the mix, but you also have the
opportunity of laying a new bass part over the drums.
While
you could take the ‘playing together’ principle further, and put
guitars, keys, vocalists and whatever else you wish in the same room,
you’ll often find that achieving acceptable separation becomes
problematic, and maybe even a problem that outweighs the benefits of
having everyone perform together. In my experience, you’re better off
having a vocalist and guitarist either in a different room than the
drums, or in the control room, with the guitar DI’d and/or run through
an amp simulator, so that the whole group is doing a live take into the
monitor mix. You can always track those parts, in case you get a
moment of magic — with the guitars, as with the bass, amp simulations or
re-amping are valid approaches here — but you’ll still have the option
to overdub those parts later, and many musicians will be glad of the
chance to try a few different takes.
What else
you record in what order will depend on the other musicians. Does the
vocalist want to hear the other parts? Do other musicians take their cue
off the vocals? If you make sure you record the guide parts as you go,
those questions become less of an issue, and while I often advocate
starting with vocals (or other primary elements) when mixing, I don’t
usually find that it makes such a difference when recording.
Recording
the various instruments in a band in the right order is important, as
it will affect the feel of the track. Photo: Richard Ecclestone
When it comes to tempo and click tracks, your
approach will depend very much on the band in question. When you say
‘tight’, that might mean that the drummer can keep a rock-solid tempo,
or it might just mean that all the musicians can keep in good time with
each other. In my experience, some bands that sound tight can actually
accelerate and slow down considerably during a track, which may or may
not be a good thing. The one thing that I would say, though, is that
the thresholdsfor what seems acceptable when playing live is different
than when listening to a record that gets played again and again. So
having a click track or guide track for the drummer might be useful.
Really, the best advice I can give is to discuss this with the drummer,
go with what they feel comfortable with and simply be alert to any
problems.
If you do choose to use a click
track, my advice would be to feed it to the drummer alone, and then have
everyone else lock in with him or her, which is what a good live band
will usually do, after all. And do make sure that the headphones don’t
leak that sound into the overhead mics, which is something I hear a
lot on material sent in to SOS!
Of course, it’s
perfectly possible to overdub drum parts, but I invariably find that
when doing this you lose almost all of the magical glue that holds a
track together. In this style, more than most, that will probably prove
unacceptable. In fact, I can only recall one occasion where I’ve done
it and obtained a satisfactory result.
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