Home made scratch track?
 

For those of you who have experience in a recording studio...

Five of my friends and I (2 background vocalists, 1 bass, 1 lead guitar, 1 cajon, me doing lead vocals and rhythm guitar) will be recording an EP in the fall. We're practicing for a two day recording session.

Day 1 (10 hours)
- I create scratch tracks on rhythm guitar and vocals
- Cajon/percussion is recorded using scratch tracks as foundation
- Bass is recorded using scratch tracks as foundation
- Lead guitar is recorded using scratch tracks as foundation

Day 2 (10 hours)
- Rhythm guitar is rerecorded
- Instrument overdubs are recorded
- Lead vocals are rerecorded
- Background vocals are recorded

My question is whether it might be possible to speed up the process by recording the scratch track myself? I have a metronome/drum machine and I was thinking I'd simply use my digital recorder to get my playing and singing down. Am I missing something? Should I make sure that I do or don't do something specific?

Thanks for any comments.

David

So first to clarify, how are you doing your practice sessions at different times using dubbing or altogether live style ? If the latter and the studio can facilitate it both logistically and expertise wise. And the band is consistently nailing good performances You may want to try to do complete takes right from the get go understanding that some parts leads, vocals may be in fact be dubbed or specific sections of any of the instruments may be punched in.


If that is not an option at the particular studio then

There are actually both pros and cons. First it may not actually make much difference time wise. Because the nature of a scratch track is such that it should be a usable as a scratch take in in one or two passes. If you know and have practiced the material enough. Which means it really only adds the time of the length of song to process. And sometimes (rarely) it can be used in the actual final mix.

AS far as pre doing it. It depends on two things basically what kind of file your "digital" recorder is able to export. So the file can be imported into the DAW of the recording studio. Or if the output and file format from the digital recorder can be routed directly into the interface at the studio.

Thank you! Very good input. I have an appointment to talk with the engineer tomorrow. :)

I'd say that trying to lay the cajon and percussion against a rythm guitar track is harder to do than the opposite.

If you can do a scratch track at home, I think that it's a good idea. Especially if you can give it to the band a week or two ahead to practice with. But....it has to be a good scratch track.

So if I were the boss, here's how I'd approach it.

Either

A) do all the scratch tracks at home ahead of time, distribute them to band to practice with. They have to be very good scratch tracks though if they are to provide the foundation for the entire recording...very good.

B) record the cajon, bass and rhythm guitar together. A rhythm section that plays together is more likely to keep itself in line. Bass can go DI and so can acoustic from the control room for the scratch if there is only one recording room. I would be trying to get the cajon down first. If the DI bass is killer, or if there is a way to get your bass tracks down to your tone/performance satisfaction at the same time as the cajon, I'd do that. Then break it down and micro perform the other stuff...

I'd do the re-record of the rhythm guitar BEFORE any lead guitar. If ALL of the rhythm section (and guitar) aren't solid it'll be hard to dovetail in the lead guitar tracks.

If you have the option I'd record the entire band as a scratch track if you're looking to match the feel of what you can do live. Everyone else throwing down to try and match your solo scratch tracks might be problematic.

In the end it really depends on the individual musicians though.

Thanks again for the input. Here's a slight update. I'll know more after talking with the recording engineer.

Pre studio
- I practice with metronome - A LOT :)
- I record metronome, rhythm guitar and vocals and distribute to band as practice material

Day 1 (10 hours)
- Rhythm guitar is recorded using click track supplied by studio (4 hours)
- The cajon/percussion and bass are recorded (4 hours)
- A couple songs worth of vocals are recorded (2 hours)

Day 2 (10 hours)
- Vocals are recorded for remaining songs (6 hours)
- Lead guitar and coloration overdubs are recorded (4 hours)

How many tracks are you actually recording? How many singers? No one singer is going to sound good doing 6 hours of singing in one day!

I sing with two gals. We're recording a total of seven tracks.

Thanks for the comment. I'll need to plan for "stamina" limitations. :)

The only sure thing is that it won't go like you planned. That's not a bad thing because you'll probably hear stuff you can change for the good. This is almost always worth more time.

It is very common for bands to come in with a plan but discover they can hear so much more once they have something to work with. Listening back you'll hear things you want to change - tempo can be improved, slight key change, better arrangement.

The best thing you can do to prepare is to rehearse a lot and be ready to cut as much live as you possibly can.

You shouldn't need 4 hours to record a scratch track of what - 30 minutes? of songs? It's a scratch track, meaning a track to use as a guide to where you are in the song. If there are a lot of tempo changes in any of the songs, this changes things as you need to record the scratch track at a steady tempo, go back in, pick out the tempo change locations than re-record the scratch guitar.
I don't think there is any reason you can't do this at home, bring your scratch track into the studio as a WAV file - make it stereo with the click on one side and the guitar on the other. then the studio can insert that file into it's project file and you are good to go.
20 hours (total) is probably enough to do all 7 songs, assuming everyone knows their parts and the engineer/mixer is going to comp takes (take the best pieces of each and combine). If you are aiming for straight-through no-mistake takes from each instrument and voice that's a whole 'nother ballgame.

OK, I now feel really good. I met with a producer this evening who introduced me to a recording engineer at MetCom Studios. We discussed lots of details about the band and the feel and so on, and I’m convinced that we’ll be recording this essentially “live” (everybody in the pool).

The producer is now suggesting that we just practice the heck out of the tunes using a click track and that we come in expecting about 1.5hours per tune, and some amount of additional time for “coloration overdubs” (mandolin/violin/shakers/etc).

I’m super excited. Thank you for your comments.

Peace,
David

Make sure everyone practices their parts, then get together and practice even more!
Good luck!

Thank, Mike. My thoughts exactly. :)

Don't forget to have fun!

Absolutely! This is all gravy.