THE MUSICIAN’S RESOURCE RECORDING GUIDE pt1 PERFORMER’S GUIDE TO RECORDING mixing - tracking - EQ - compression - dubbing - mastering Full Band Takes vs. Individual Tracking Part 1 of 2 www.performermag.com • RECORDING One fundamental question we get asked ABOUT THE AUTHORS frequently in the studio is whether to record a Zac Cataldo is a band live or to record each instrument sepa- musician and owner/ rately. Tracking one instrument at a time allows producer at Night for perfect isolation and the ability to focus Train Studios, a everyone’s attention on getting that part recorded recording studio in perfectly. So why not build every song this Westford, MA. He is [email protected] way? Why not have the drummer play to a click also co-owner of Black track, then lay each instrument over that sepa- Cloud Productions, rately until you’re done? Well, hang on – we kinda a music publishing do that in the studio, but not exactly. We strongly company. Reach him at recommend in a typical band situation (drums, zac@nighttrainstu- bass, guitar, keys and vocals), that the rhythm dios.com. section record live together - including a scratch vocal take from the singer. We do it this way Brent Godin is a bassist/guitarist and 617.627.9930 because bands are used to performing together and we aim to capture great performances. engineer/producer at fax: Night Train Studios. • Share a Room He is also a talent Here at Night Train Studios, even though scout at Black Cloud we have four iso rooms, we have learned that it Productions. Reach Somerville, MA 02143 • often works best to have the drummer and bassist him at brent@black- share the same room. These two are the rhythmic cloudproductions.com. core of the band and even though they are wear- 617.627.9919 ing headphones with individual mixes, bassists digitally. If the drummer hasn’t “nailed it” after there are still times when capturing more than often perform better when they can also “feel” about two or three takes, we worry about the per- one performance simultaneously is the way to formance becoming stale, so if we have identified go. For instance, horn sections, vocal harmonies PO BOX 348 phone: the drums during a take. If the drummer is able to play to a click (and in our experience, very few isolated drum/timing mistakes, we typically and string arrangements fit into this category. are) we can feed a click track into just his/her have three options: 1) Do another take from the While it is easy enough to record these headphone mix, which will help keep the band in top (but now the drummer is extra nervous and instruments individually, these performers are time and makes for cleaner overdubbing later on. more likely to be tense) 2) If it was a flubbed drum accustomed to playing with one another and In other iso rooms we’ll setup the guitarist roll or transition, the drummer can overdub you can get some strange results if you don’t do it and keyboardist with their own headphone mixes that part only or 3) Have the band go back in and together. Take a typical horn section; say tenor and good sightlines to the bass/drum room. If record starting from the flubbed part until the sax, trumpet and trombone. The simplest way to everything goes well, after a take or two we’ll end of the song. capture their overdub performance might be to have captured all the rhythm instruments per- It is very important to fix any drum mistakes set up the players in a room with two microphones forming live together. After everyone comes back before moving on to your other overdubs. Any in a stereo X-Y or mid-side configuration and hit into the control room and we pick the “keeper” awkwardness in the rhythm of a track can throw record. But what if the trumpet is too loud? You can take, we can then fix any mistakes. Flubbed off your other overdubs later, and you don’t want try moving the trumpet player back further, but this bass, guitar or keyboard notes are relatively easy to end up spending entire subsequent sessions usually causes more problems than it solves. to fix. Once identified, the musician goes back working on past drum mistakes (we speak from At this point you could ditch the stereo mics into the iso room and before any mics have been experience here!). and individually mic each player. But what if moved or amp settings changed, they play along the sax player is a bit sloppy on his timing? We’ll to the section with the mistake and overdub the Overdubs: Horn Sections usually go to Plan B at this point. Putting each corrected part. Once we have captured a great rhythm per- player in a separate room with their own mics formance, we now have what is analogous to gives you the best of both worlds – isolation so Fix the Sticks a well-built building foundation – solid, well you can fix things later and adjust levels inde- Fixing drums is a different story. They are the designed, square and plumb. From here we can pendently – with the benefit of everyone hearing backbone of the song and because any flubs are focus on individual performances – layered what they’re used to hearing while playing live. picked up by multiple microphones, it is very dif- rhythm guitar overdubs, guitar solos, lead vocals, [Editor’s note – read Part 2 in the next print 2 ficult and time consuming to fix the performance backing vocals, horns, percussion, etc. That said, issue and online at performermag.com] APRIL 2013 PERFORMER MAGAZINE 51 PERFORMER’S GUIDE TO RECORDING mixing - tracking - EQ - compression - dubbing - mastering Part Full Band Takes vs. Individual Tracking 2 of 2 www.performermag.com • ABOUT THE AUTHORS Zac Cataldo is a Brent Godin is a musician and owner/ bassist/guitarist producer at Night and engineer/pro- RECORDING Train Studios, a ducer at Night Train recording studio in Studios. He is also a Westford, MA. He is talent scout at Black also co-owner of Black Cloud Productions. Cloud Productions, Reach him at brent@ a music publishing blackcloudproduc- company. Reach him tions.com. at zac@nighttrainstu- dios.com. [email protected] SINGER/SONGWRITERS Acoustic guitarists/singers often pose a unique problem in the recording studio. Because they are creating two distinct performances simultaneously, it is very hard to isolate the tracks after they are recorded. Many performers simply cannot perform the guitar part of the song 617.627.9930 without also singing out loud and still be happy photobyTim Hoyt with the performance. Our first choice (usually) fax: is to use the acoustic guitar’s pickup (if it has one) • a One fundamental question we get asked face each other). If one of them is louder than the instead of miking it. This gives you a clean guitar frequently in the studio is whether to record a other you can position Mr. Loudy further away track with no vocal bleed. Unfortunately you will band live or to record each instrument sepa- from the mic. But what if one of them has a slight still have guitar bleeding onto the vocal track, so Somerville, MA 02143 • rately. Tracking one instrument at a time allows pitch problem? Again, you’ll want to mic them up you will need to re-track the vocal. But this can for perfect isolation and the ability to focus in separate rooms and have them perform live and be a good thing because now the singer can focus everyone’s attention on getting that part recorded record to separate tracks so that you can tweak on delivering a strong vocal performance. But 617.627.9919 perfectly. So why not build every song this their parts individually. So whenever you are in what if the guitar doesn’t have a pickup or you are way? Why not have the drummer play to a click doubt about what you should do, mic separately! unhappy with it sonically once it’s recorded? You PO BOX 348 phone: track, then lay each instrument over that sepa- can mic the acoustic guitar and try having them rately until you’re done? Well, hang on – we kinda OVERDUBS: PERCUSSION “sing” only in their head to capture a clean guitar do that in the studio, but not exactly. We strongly Adding some percussion instruments to track. If the musician has practiced doing this in recommend in a typical band situation (drums, your mix can really round out the overall sound the past then it usually works, but if they’ve never bass, guitar, keys and vocals), that the rhythm of a song and make a track feel more dynamic. tried it before, it’s usually a waste of time. Your section record live together - including a scratch Unlike some the other overdubs, though, we final choice may be to record both simultaneously vocal take from the singer. We do it this way would not recommend recording multiple per- and do your best to position microphones so as because bands are used to performing together cussion instruments on one mic. There are to minimize bleed (which you won’t be able to do and we aim to capture great performances. numerous percussion instruments including completely, no matter how hard you try). You’ll [Editor’s note – read Part 1 in last month’s issue tambourine, wood block and maracas, all of only have minimal control later over volume, pan- and online at performermag.com] which vary widely in dynamic range.