why would I need 8 tracks

[banjar]

I play guitar, banjo, harmonica (not enough fiddle to mention), and sing. I like simple music and simple arrangements. Is there any conceivable reason I would need or want an 8 tracks for recording my songs, which are basically folk and folk-rock stuff?

[Bob Womack]

There are two good reasons:

1. Guitar (stereo, 2 mics, 2 channels to sound full), harmonica fills, lead voice, bg voices in a group (stereo, 2 mics, 2 channels). There. You've filled six. Mmmm... How about a drum machine? Two more tracks and you are full. Now where am I going to put the bass?
2. These days, the smallest track configuration a full-featured stand-alone workstation is available in is eight. When I talk about full featured I mean having all the tools on board to finish the job.

Always buy more tracks than you think you'll need. You'd be surprised how quickly making things spread across the stereo field will fill up tracks.

Bob

[Bob1131]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

There are two good reasons:

1. Guitar (stereo, 2 mics, 2 channels to sound full), harmonica fills, lead voice, bg voices in a group (stereo, 2 mics, 2 channels). There. You've filled six. Mmmm... How about a drum machine? Two more tracks and you are full. Now where am I going to put the bass?
2. These days, the smallest track configuration a full-featured stand-alone workstation is available in is eight. When I talk about full featured I mean having all the tools on board to finish the job.

Always buy more tracks than you think you'll need. You'd be surprised how quickly making things spread across the stereo field will fill up tracks.

Bob

Now add 2 stereo tracks for mix down and 2 more for mastering (if you do it on the recorder). As Bob Womack pointed out, a nice, sparse folk song with just a guitar or two, maybe some harmonies, and a little harmonica (forget bass and drums) can chew up 8 tracks in no time! I have a Boss BR-864 digital recorder that can only record 2 channels at a time and playback 8 channels. However, I can mix and bounce virtual channels up to 8 levels giving me 64 usable tracks! Because I mix and master on the BOSS (it comes with some acceptable and useble pre-programed mastering algorhythms) I typically utilize 16 to 24 tracks for a simple recording: for example, two vocals (4 tracks for stereo), guitar (2 tracks), bass (2 tracks), drums/percussion (2 tracks), strings or other instrument for emphasis and color (2 tracks), mix down/bounce (4 tracks), and master (2 tracks).

The prices for digital recorders have come down so much, there is no reason NOT to have the capability of more than 8 tracks!

[TylerS]

Well there is always the chance you may want to add somethings. If you ever decide to dump the tracks into a daw such as pro tools so you can add some midi tracks or add percussion loops or if you want to add a piano or something.

and you may want backing vocals or more than one guitar track. id say get something with AT LEAST 12 tracks. and you may also want to consider getting a audio interface for you computer so you can have unlimited tracks and the added plus of having a visual view of you song to fix timing issues or whatever. And you can get one of those for the same if not less than a 12 track recorder.

i suggest something out of digidesign's mbox series.(mbox pro, mbox, or mbox mini). they all currently ship with pro tools le 7.4 which i personlly prefer and suggest. and they come with a buch of extra bundled software as well as a instructional DVD.


thats what i would suggest. especially since alot of the compressors and eqs on the external recording devices are hard to use anyways. they are hard to mix on.

[banjar]

I just want to mention that I already have an 8 track. I've had an 8 track casette recorder for a couple years and never used more than 3 tracks (didnt really know what to use them FOR, as I'm pretty new at this). A friend just gave me a brand new 8 track digital recorder, and I've been feeling rather uncomfortable about it because I just didnt see the need. He likes much different music than I do, and its just seemed like overkill.