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Do you prefer ?

Chris cook

Chris cook

Inactive
Sep 28, 2021
391
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#1
Your band is In studio
#1) Do you lay it down playing the song (LIVE)
meaning drums , bass , rhythm guitars
some Vocals maybe , lead guitar when their ready lol
Or recording
#2 ) Each band member
Drums , bass , rhythm, leads , vocals, keys , etc
each recorded Separately in studio, with your entire band watching you from behind the glass. ?

U only have 2 choices
The decision is yours to make
#1 ?
#2 ?
 
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#2
I have only ever recorded with my band 40 years ago and these days, by myself.

Obviously, recording by myself necessitates tracking everything.

My preference would be doing it live. It's how my band did it, lo those many years ago, but we were incredibly tight. There was a lot of mojo with that band.

So, I choose #1
 
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#7
Chris cook said:
U only have 2 choices...The decision is yours to make #1? #2?
Click to expand...

i choose both.

i've recorded both ways, and 'hybrids' of the two choices. if a click is involved = no need for everyone to be in the room, most of the time --- one advantage of click tracks! OTOH, most of the jazz recordings i've done required everyone at once (although many tunes had overdub tracks, second solo takes, etc.).

IME/IMO, it depends on the music (primarily, IMO), the production style (who's in charge?), the personnel, the facility, the budget --- lots of things.
 
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#12
Because of out limited recording equipment back in the day which meant bouncing tracks, we had a hybrid situation. The whole band would play live but we would only record bass and drums the first time. After that was done, the drummer and I would just watch while guitar, vocal and keboard tracks were layed down seperately.
 
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#15
Chris cook said:
Your band is In studio
#1) Do you lay it down playing the song (LIVE)
meaning drums , bass , rhythm guitars
some Vocals maybe , lead guitar when their ready lol
Or recording
#2 ) Each band member
Drums , bass , rhythm, leads , vocals, keys , etc
each recorded Separately in studio, with your entire band watching you from behind the glass. ?

U only have 2 choices
The decision is yours to make
#1 ?
#2 ?
Click to expand...
For my cover bands it's always been #1, studio live demo for marketing and booking purposes. We make sure potential new clients understand this is what we really sound like.

For originals it's always been a variation of #2. Sometimes the whole band, sometimes drummer and myself first then guitars and vocals record later or on a different night.
 
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#16
Chris cook said:
Your band is In studio
#1) Do you lay it down playing the song (LIVE)
meaning drums , bass , rhythm guitars
some Vocals maybe , lead guitar when their ready lol
Or recording
#2 ) Each band member
Drums , bass , rhythm, leads , vocals, keys , etc
each recorded Separately in studio, with your entire band watching you from behind the glass. ?

U only have 2 choices
The decision is yours to make
#1 ?
#2 ?
Click to expand...
1
 
#17
1

Drums in the big room, bass via DI, gtr amps in their own rooms (or at least baffled), singer in the control room. You can punch in and fix anything later—or replace entire parts wholesale—but you end up working with a core take that has the push/pull (dynamically, temporally, emotionally) of a band playing together. Ideally, you're going for a good take of the rhythm tracks. It's a keeper when the feel is right (individual gaffes be damned).
 
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#18
The artist that asked me to write bass parts and play on his songs for his second and third I'll say album, as offered in 3 formats,
The first one I did was #2. Took a lot of time to get the songs together, rehearse them, then cut each track. Fun I guess but some songs I took like 7 or 8 runs at it. "Can you do better ?" Was what I heard thru the talk back.
The last one was #1. I was given the basic outline of the song on Sunday afternoon, made my notes and had my recording on my phone of the scratch guitar. Then on Tues night the drummer and I went in ( with guitar ) and he learned the song at that time and we ran thru it a couple of times. Then with the guitar as a "guide" we put down the bass and drums.
So, #1 was very fast for our tracks and much more fun for sure. We didn't know how the final tracks would sound as we and the songwriter didn't know what else was going to be on it except his guitars and the lead guitar. So after it was at pre master, we all got together for any last min changes that could happen easy and fast.
# 1 again was more fun but our parts were it after we left each Tues night.
#2 was more laid back and my parts had time to change some during each take.
I'll leave it at that. RnFnR
 
#19
I've done both, and the answer is "it depends". Some tunes just need the energy of a live full-band situation, and some benefit from a layer-by-layer approach. Of course, even in a "live" recording, all the engineer ever really seemed most concerned about was getting solid drum and bass tracks because everything else could be fixed later.
 
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#20
Chris cook said:
Your band is In studio
#1) Do you lay it down playing the song (LIVE)
meaning drums , bass , rhythm guitars
some Vocals maybe , lead guitar when their ready lol
Or recording
#2 ) Each band member
Drums , bass , rhythm, leads , vocals, keys , etc
each recorded Separately in studio, with your entire band watching you from behind the glass. ?

U only have 2 choices
The decision is yours to make
#1 ?
#2 ?
Click to expand...
#1
You get the best take playing all together, then fix any problem areas as time and money allow.
 
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