Recording - October 2014 - 22

Both can have a big impact on the musicality of the finished recording. There are no right or wrong answers, but these issues will rear their
heads at some point, and it's worth spending time considering them.
Later we'll go over the usual technical considerations, like setup and
monitoring, but let's start with these issues of overall approach first.
When is a band not a band?
Ever since the introduction of multitrack recording, the option to
use overdubbing-recording a song piecemeal, one track at a
time, as opposed to capturing all the performers playing
together-has presented artists and producers with some
thorny decisions. There are pros and cons to both methods, of
course, so let's pick up there.
The traditional way to record an ensemble of musicians was
always to set them up in a room, mike everybody up, and
record the group's performance(s) as they played, preserving
all the nuances of their musical interactions. There's still no better way to capture a group performance (and we devoted an
entire issue to it in August 2014), but it's not always a viable
option for a variety of musical and technical reasons.
There may not be a suitable space available or affordable; there may not be enough musicians available for the
session(s); the arrangements may not be finalized at the
time the recording process begins; the equipment (mics,
console, headphones) may not be sufficient; artists talented enough to record themselves as a one-man band may
prefer to perform all the parts; and the many artists and
songwriters on a tight budget may simply need to do as
much as possible by themselves. Despite all these good
reasons to use part-by-part overdubbing in place of the live
ensemble approach, very often the goal is still for the finished
recording to sound like a live performance. And with a little
care, it can, as we'll discuss below.
Overdubbing track-by-track offers its own advantages. Zeroing
in on just one instrument at a time (or two, as in the case of simultaneously tracking drums and bass) allows the artist and producer to
focus without distraction, with attention to detail, both musical and technical, that can add that subtle something extra to the finished product.
Since there'll be little or no leakage on overdubbed tracks, it'll be
easier to edit or comp together the recordings later. And, of course,
that's another advantage-other than using closed-ear headphones,
there's little need to deal with leakage, allowing for better control
when processing the tracks in the mix.
Overdubbing allows artist, performer, and producer to work
together more closely, which can enhance communication, and sometimes offer a more friendly (read: less intimidating) environment for
some performers. Everybody may feel more free to offer opinions and
suggestions than they would in front of a larger group of players. On
the other side of the coin, if a part isn't happening, sometimes musical interaction with other performers may pull a better idea or performance out of a struggling player.

By Joe Albano
Before you spend long hours in front of your DAW clicking on plug-ins and editing tools, you have to capture the
sounds that make up your arrangement. Tracking is mainly done "out of the box;" while there are modern considerations in computer rigs, many aspects of tracking haven't
changed in decades. Let's take a look at what comes into
play during that all-important first stage.
The big questions
Every recordist will have to deal with certain issues
regarding tracking, no matter how large or small the studio. The two biggest ones, at least to my mind, are:
~ To record all-at-once, or track-by-track (overdub)?
~ To use a click track, or not?
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RECORDING October 2014

Mixing it up
In practice, it's logical and common to combine the two approaches. An initial ensemble recording is done, with anything from just the
core rhythm section-drums, bass, rhythm guitar/keyboard-to the
full ensemble, sometimes including a vocal (or at least a scratch
vocal, to give the other players a better musical context). But then
many of the parts are replaced by overdubs, one by one, to fine-tune
the arrangement and fuss over details in a way that they can't be in
a live, all-in take. It's not uncommon for the focus of the initial live session to be getting just the drums (and maybe bass) down as "keepers", with the assumption that everything else will be replayed piecemeal. This is a kind of "best of both worlds" approach-get a good
ensemble feel for that all-important rhythm section, and then add in
the additional arrangement elements around it.
This comes back to my earlier comment that there are ways to make
even a recording of track-by-track overdubs still sound like a live
ensemble. Getting an actual live performance from the key rhythmic

Recording - October 2014

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