Going into the studio... Again

[Allmanfan456]

Hey TBers. My band went into the studio last week and needless to say it was a disaster. My guitarists guitars were humming too much so we couldent do his parts, my hands were acting up that day and we were just generally off that day. Except our drummer. He nailed all his parts already. But anyway because the producer knew it was our first time hes allowing us back for 6 more hours.

I'm really frickin nervous about going back because I'm used to a live environment. I improvise off what my drummer and guitarist are doing so my basslines never do the same thing twice. So because I cant see or feel my drummer Im afraid ill go off timing when I have to play with the drums and click track at the same time. I try and stay in time with the click and listen to what the drummer is doing at the same time and i end up getting thrown off because were a metal band and have some complicated material. I know how to play the stuff but when it comes to playing it with a drummer and click I cant do it!

The producer told us to go home and practice with a metronome. I did so and I could play the parts perfectly! I don't get what Im doing thats f*ckin me up and stressing me out. Any pointers on all this? Im sorry for the giant wall of text!

[::::BASSIST::::]

Its probably the stress of the recording itself. My band recorded an album and man, I found it stressful. When you're on the clock its puts on the pressure to perform perfectly.

I would take the advice of the producer. If you have a live recording, or any kind of recording, write out the parts and practice to those recordings.

Practice practice practice. Once you have it down to where your fingers automatically know where to go, the stress wont have *as much as* an effect.

If you REALLY know your stuff, it will be easier to get a good recording.

[Allmanfan456]

Originally Posted by ::::BASSIST::::

Its probably the stress of the recording itself. My band recorded an album and man, I found it stressful. When you're on the clock its puts on the pressure to perform perfectly.

I would take the advice of the producer. If you have a live recording, or any kind of recording, write out the parts and practice to those recordings.

Practice practice practice. Once you have it down to where your fingers automatically know where to go, the stress wont have *as much as* an effect.

If you REALLY know your stuff, it will be easier to get a good recording.

I wish we could do a live recording but the producer doesent want to do that for some reason. I know 2/4 songs really well but the other two are odd and difficult. Like quick tempo/feel changes. Hopefully tomorrw at practice i can get my stuff at least somewhat better at doing them alone.

[Kirkowitz]

I really don't see why you should have to listen to a click track and the drums at the same time-if the drum parts are already recorded. I would just ask the producer to turn off the click and groove to the drummer the way you usually do. As your producer has suggested, there's no substitute for practice and preparation, but it also sucks to end up with a recording that sounds awkward because you just can't relax and groove.

[Allmanfan456]

Everything went very well actually! I guess I was just freaking out last minute.

[mrufino1]

When you record it tells you what is REALLY going on, and it is always a challenge when the "recording light" is on. My advice- do it a lot. Get a simple recording setup and record yourselves every chance you get. When you get used to hearing yourselves back, identifying mistakes, and correcting them or tightening things up, it will go a long way.

[Kirkowitz]

Cool. Glad to hear it went well.

[dmusic148]

Glad it worked out. Here's a tip for next time: I also prefer to not hear a click if the drums are final, but some material will have long drum pauses where you need one to keep time. In this case, have the click loud enough to hear, but quiet enough that the drums drown it out when they come back in. Works for me.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Glad it went well.

What I was going to say is if you could have gotten a copy of the drum tracks and practiced along with those. I have to agree with the other guys that I dont see why you would need the click & the drum track.

[Allmanfan456]

I guess he wants it to be as tight as possible. But whatever. I learned alot and now I know what to do next time I go into the studio.