Tip of the week 10: Practice before recording

[Support]

Practice before recording

Today's recording technology gives you a lot of editing power. That's cool of course, but there's a downside: many people spend most of their time correcting mistakes. No need to learn the parts, you can fix all the mistakes later on, can't you?

Now how much fun is that? Wouldn't you have had much more fun if you'd spent the last 15 minutes playing that bass track instead of making these sloppy tracks you've recorded acceptable?
Doesn't a well-performed track add more to the song than the result of your editing efforts? Aren't you doing this because you like playing music? Then do so: practice your tracks until you can play them. Then record them and correct a handful of small mistakes if necessary.


Giel Bremmers

[sinbad]

Not many replies to that tip Giel Maybe we should take a poll on how often and how long everone practices

[Support]

Not many replies to that tip Giel

I guess they're all practicing

[Mac]

Dunno about the rest, but I practice all the time, a lifelong habit and a good one.

I prefer the "one take jake" approach myself.


Don't always get that, but my corrections and punchins are few.


One thing I do is to make several full takes of each part from front to back, on separate tracks.

Then I go back and find the best parts from each track and edit them together, using crossfades mostly but not always, into one compilation track that works.

This is called, "Comping" in the biz, or making a compilation track from several.

Try it on a lead vocal as well as your playing sometime.



--Mac

[Robomusic]

I alway record like that Mac, especially on lead vocals. Many times i like a chorus on one better or a phrasing better on the other. I might breath wrong or miss a word. But out of three tracks there is usually at least one version of each passage that i like. MTS cut and paste ability makes this a breeze.

[Mac]

MTS cut and paste ability makes this a breeze.

Ain't that a natural fact.


Sometimes I have to just sit and marvel over the difference between MTS and all the other recording softwares I've used over the years.



--Mac

[Mac]

BTW -- When Comping, you can highlight any area in one track and simply drag it to a new track.

Hold down the Shift key to keep it exactly where it is supposed to be on the timeline.

Makes Comping a snap, literally.


--Mac

[Robomusic]

Great tip, i will use that next time.

This software is head and shoulders above most of the others. The sampler alone is worth the price of admission.

Being a very old Cakewalk guy (Home studio 3.0 midi only on floppy disk) I everynow and again do a project in Cakewalk, but it never seems to get the job done like MTS does, especially with turning midi into decent audio!

[Mac]

I still will use the mature Cakewalk Midi Engine when sequencing midi, I like a lot of the features available, the notation, pianoroll edit, etc. too, but at some point the thing gets exported as a Midi file and into MTS for the finish.

But then I still keep an Atari going so I can sequence using the venerable old Bars 'n Pipes midi program, too, so what do I know? Seems that one of the first of the Midi Sequencers is still the most powerful, and it isn't even alive and supported anymore for years.


I have never found one software that does everything well and have finally accepted the fact that it is unobtanium.

Everybody has to get their own workflow going to get what they want or need out of this stuff, I think.


--Mac

[meveridge]

You mean you gotta practice. Now I know what's wrong with those tracks I made.

Hey, this is still one of the best studios I've used.


Cheers,

Mike