How to start a song recording

Recording a new song is an exciting process but sometimes getting started is the hardest part. Today I would like to take some time and share with you some techniques I have used to get started. Let’s jump in and get started on your new song!

Live or tracked?

First you will need to decide if you are going to be doing a live take recording, where each instrument is mic’ed up and the song is recorded as a whole, or record the song track by track. The live take technique requires a lot of microphones, mic stands, and a mixing board with enough channels to capture all the instruments. Tracking is much cheaper and requires little more than a computer and a couple mics.

Live Recording

Live take recording has many challenges. The biggest draw back for live track recording in my opinion is the need for the entire band. It requires coordinating a lot of time where the whole band is in the same room together for hours. Some musicians’ expectations for how long a recording should take aren’t conducive for getting the best take possible either. Sometimes you’ll know a take isn’t good enough but someone in the band is bored, busy, frustrated, and just wants to be done with it.

Recording in this way also means that the experimentation phase is over. Everyone should be playing the exact same thing every time as a performance rather than exploring new ways to add to the music. This is something I dislike about live recording. Sometimes great new ideas get discovered during recording songs track by track because you have the freedom to experiment. This simply isn’t possible with live recording.

It also requires a space that is large enough or isolated enough so that noise bleed isn’t an issue. Whenever multiple microphones are involved in the same room noise bleed from other instruments will occur and can muddy up the mix when it’s time for mixing the finished track. Rock music might not suffer as much because the added noise can add to the sonic wall of sound that can give the song some edge. Other forms of music might not want so much noise in the mix and will require each instrument to be fully isolated in its own recording space. If you are doing live takes I highly recommend at least recording the vocals in an isolated spot or not singing at all during the performance and dubbing them over afterwards. This will prevent noise bleed on the most important track being recorded and will allow the mixer to make the voice shine without all the muddiness beneath it.

There are some benefits to live take recording. A live take just has that extra energy to it once completed. It “feels” like a live performance and can really capture the essence of a band’s sound when done properly. It’s not as boring as recording track by track because the whole room is alive with the music.

You can also avoid playing with a metronome this way. Some musicians struggle to play with a metronome and would rather just play with the drummer. The drummer may not be able to play with a metronome either and in this case will most likely fluctuate tempos during the song. This may or may not be an issue but generally isn’t a big deal as long as the rest of the band follows along with accuracy.

If you have the band, the gear, the studio, the time, and a recording engineer to push all the buttons, live recording is for you. Otherwise, recording songs one track at a time is going to be the path of least resistance.

Tracking

Recording one track at a time has a lot of benefits. It allows the artist recording as much time and freedom to get their part just right which is especially helpful when a singer is belting a note, or a guitar player is shredding a solo. It also allows a lot of editing of the music. If each track is played to a metronome you can do all kinds of fun stuff to tracks during the editing process. Cut, copy, paste, loop, or move sections as you please.

Another huge benefit is the quality of the recordings. Without noise bleed from multiple instruments in the room you can get crisp and clear recordings without any muddying of the mix. This will make the mixing process much easier and will help get the sound just right on the final version of the recording.

The biggest drawback to tracking is playing to a metronome. It’s hard for some musicians to do because it just isn’t practiced as much as it should be. The metronome is tight, clicking with precision. It’s unforgiving and will make it very clear to you when you are even just a little off with your timing. The problem is music played live is never exactly on time, usually it will be just ahead of the click or just behind which is what gives music a certain “feel”. To replicate this playing one track at a time and without the other musicians playing with you is a real challenge sometimes. It basically takes the natural instincts of a live jam away and forces one to play with less feel and more rigidity.

Where to start

The big question is how do you start piecing together a song if you are recording one track at a time? In a perfect world your drummer comes along, throws on the headset and plays the song from start to finish to a metronome, first try, with an abundance of energy and feel for the groove. This will likely never be the case. You want your song to have life and most of that life is going to come from vocals and the drums. To get life out of your drums, they will need to play along with music not a metronome.

What has worked for me in the past is to start with “scratch” tracks. Recordings of simpler pieces of the song like the rhythm guitar or bass line to a metronome. A recording that is nearly perfect with a click track and isn’t something that will require lots of effort to get started with. Once you have the rhythm guitar and bass line recorded to a metronome add in a quick vocal track. Don’t spend too much time on any of these recording because they are just “scratch” tracks, meaning we are throwing these away later!

The purpose of recording scratch tracks is actually just to get something with some life for your drummer to play along with rather than playing along with a metronome. This is how you get life out of the recording. Now your drummer is basically playing along with the band instead of a click track and can get into the music rather than just be a drum machine working to a click.

Once you have a drum track that is consistent in timing, has life and great feel to it you are good to go on recording the rest of the song as you please. Ditch those scratch tracks and start recording everything to the drums instead of the metronome. This will make sure the rest of the tracks sound lifelike and have feel to them.

It is crucial when recording to really take your time with takes. Don’t ever leave a track saying, “That’s good enough.” It is imperative that you get the best take possible for a recording because that is what you and the listeners will hear forever. You want to make the best possible music you can and never leave any thoughts left over for what could of been.

Last words

Hopefully I have provided some useful thoughts on different recording approaches and starting points for a recording session. There are many ways to go about it and every time you get into a recording session circumstances will be different. There will always be something to learn, a different way to approach it, and different musicians with different abilities to work around. That is part of what makes it so interesting to me. Lastly, recording can be an incredibly fun, rewarding experience and while it can seem boring at times, the results will leave you elated with what you have accomplished.