# takes // where or when to fix things
 

morning all,

roughly and generally - how many takes do you capture before choosing one or comping together?

fixing things: how do determine what's fixable where? Do I punch in and re-record or do I handle it downstream with compression/whatever tool?

Example: say fingerpicking acoustic and an alternating bass note is too loud or it's too quiet or slight misfret.

Thanks!

JB

Best bet is to play the tune several times through during recording. You will need to maintain tempo throughout if you intend to punch in.
Or you could play and immediately go back a measure or two and replay errors, but you can lose the feel for the piece if you do that too
much during the recording. For a too loud or quiet note you could tweak post recording with the volume envelope - too much of this quickly
become tedious however.

Good luck in your recording endeavors.

Comping can be quite time-consuming. I do it but really only because of poor guitar skills. It's probably better - and a lot more fun - to spend that time practicing so you don't need to comp so much.

As many as it takes to get a clean one. I've done one and I've done twenty.
Loudness control of a note is a function of your audio Jedi skills. If you have the skill to go in and surgically automate one loud note down and know it, you can leave it for later. A misfret is sometimes harder. Try to fix it while you are still in the playing zone unless there's another iteration of the same note somewhere that you can surgically copy to cover the glitch. However, don't get lost in trying to make an edit sound natural when punching in a replacement for the note or passage could be easier. UNLESS you love to learn, don't get frustrated by learning by doing, and are willing to back out and re-perform the passage if it doesn't work. ;)

Bob

very wise words, bob!!

I tend to record guitar and vocals seperately. I often have 12 to 15 guitar takes and 3 or 4 vocal takes.

I'm never happy with the guitar but I realise I should worry about the bits I'm singing over!

When it comes to instrumentals I can do 20 takes and them almost always scrap them as being terrible :-)

I have to agree with Bob...

Generally you approach takes in 1 of 2 ways

old school: keep going until you have a "keeper"...a complete take in a single pass that you're happy with.

more common: keep going until you have enough takes that you have each section as perfect as its going to get & then comp. them into 1 "perfect" take.

And what Bob said about the editing is spot on. I think most DAWs these days have region/bite/clip volume adjustments that allow for sure precise control over smoothing out volume differences in parts before you drop on a compressor (if you're going that route). I routinely do this in Digital Performer & Pro Tools. I'd be surprised if other DAWs don't have a similar feature.

Keep in mind that these tasks will take a lot of time in the beginning and then will become quick & second nature as you do them more. It's all about familiarity.

I say jump in and go for it. You'll learn a ton along the way.

I'm definitely "old school" but, then again,....I'm old!;)

I like the prospect of doing a live take all in one shot and feel it helps the overall feel of the instrumental to be consistent and "in the moment". I also know there's a limit to my skill with a DAW and that factors in as well, but the former is really the reason for my approach. Like folks have said, it could be several or "many" takes..5 or 25.......If I'm off, I'll pick things up the following day or when the additional practice takes hold for another shot.

If you know you're going to have to get a full clean take on a song, it raises the bar and allows you to really trust that each take will be one you'll knock out of the park. Doesn't happen often for me, but I approach each effort as though it will be "the one".

I usually do it a third way, as do a number of fingerstyle players I know. Do as many takes as necessary to get one solid complete performance that's overall good, but more importantly, feels as good as possible, with maybe a note here or there there that needs patched. Then fix those spots. It preserves the feel and integrity of a complete pass, while allowing you to fix small spot errors. Often, just knowing you can do this relieves the pressure to the point that you don't need many (if any) edits. Fixing small spots here and there (like maybe even a single note), avoids the issues you sometimes get into when gluing different takes together of getting tonal or stereo image shifts, or playing at different tempos, or different volumes.

When I record I often experiment with variations of how I play something and use the ones I like best.

There is getting a recording of the playing I am satisfied with, and then there is getting a recorded sound I am satisfied with. I will record a playing session two, three, or four times, just to get the mikes in the position I like the resulting sound of.

Yep! Recording is often a learning process. Sometimes I even change an arrangement, or a guitar, or strings, or mics, or even dump the tune :( after hearing it back on recording. It's all part of the process. to me, recording is not a documentary, it's a creative process.

Definitely different guitars can be tried out, though I would usually do that on a different day. Sometimes I will revisit (as far as recording again) some tune months, or even years later. Maybe I have changed the tune, or think over time I have developed a more nuanced feel for it, or I have a different guitar on hand (was lots of that during the forum's guitar road-trip days), or I just think I can do a better recording job. Right now I am planning to record my tune "Acorn Alchemy" again (last recording eight years ago) for some of the reasons I mentioned above.

Guitar - I'll do takes of hte ocmplete song, at least 2 even if I htink the first on is good. When it comes time to comp, I will try to stay with one main take, and ust comp in sections that need improvement.

EQ and compression should only be done after the comping to "polish" the track and make it sit well in the overall mix.