Recording - July 2018 - 58

STUDIO 101

PART 7

Cutting
Tracks!

n our last article, we set up our DAW, created a project, and hit the Record button. We also talked about a
few of the setup procedures you will need to keep in mind-procedures that will ease the process of organizing your sessions in the future. But, unless you happen to have a band immediately at hand-and they

are infinitely patient about you gaining some recording chops-you're going to have to spend time doing
tracking on your own.
BY DARWIN GROSSE

The modern project studio has allowed many of us to
become solo artists. If you are a singer or a wicked guitar
player, you probably already have a ton of ideas that you
want to lay down as tracks. However, there are plenty of
people interested in recording that would be hard pressed
to play a tuning fork-but they still need to practice recording.
For them, finding a collaborator is going to be the way to
move forward.
Tracking, for the solo artist, is the process of creating
songs by building up instruments and voices one-at-a-time.
This is the most common approach to programming tracks,
and is the basis of a lot of the music you hear on the radio,
on TV, and in films. It is also a convenient way to learn
about the process of recording, including dealing with
timing, monitoring, microphone technique, multi-take
compositing, and more.
To include a variety of perspectives, I've asked for input
from a trio of amazing individuals:
* Matt Lange (mattlange.net) is an artist/producer based
out of Hollywood who releases his own music on the
mau5trap Recordings label as well as his own isoRhythm
label. He works in both electronic and rock-leaning genres,
and wields a guitar as often as a mouse.
* Stefon BIONIK Taylor (bionikmusic.com) creates music
in many different genres, with a lot of focus in the hip hop
genre. He teaches at Slam Academy in Minneapolis, and is
constantly pushing both the sonic and technical envelope.
* Erin Barra (erin-barra.squarespace.com) is an Associate
Professor at Berklee College of Music, a solo artist, and music
tech consultant. She has introduced hundreds of people to the
intricacies of recording, and has worked with artists of many

RECORDING July 2018

stripes. As you will see, each of these people provides unique
insights on tracking their projects.

Setting up your session (continued)
In last month's article, we talked about the use of templates
to create an efficient startup workflow for your recording
sessions. However, not all the people I talked to were sold on
the idea. Stefon Taylor pointed out, "Templates can be helpful,
because you are left with a lot fewer questions about how
to start with a sound that you are looking for. However, for
myself, I don't want to create too similar an environment for
every song that I'm tracking."
Matt Lange agreed: "My personal workflow is pretty much
a blank template. I work with traditional instruments most of
the time, so I just pick up a guitar, or sit down at the piano,
and play. The nature of my solo work doesn't really lend itself
to a template."
When you are tracking, you'll usually start by setting up a
timing standard. By having a stable (or at least consistent) timing
system in place, you will make sure that your 20th take is locked
in just as well as the first. Most often, this means that you will need
to set up the built-in timing system as provided by your DAW.
To set up the timing system, you will have to set the base
tempo of your project-normally something you can change
directly in the transport of the DAW.
Things can get a little more complicated if you need to
change tempo, or if you are going to change time signatures.
But doing proper setup of the session's tempo system will
provide several benefits. First, you will be able to use the
built-in metronome systems available from within the software,
and your song will stay locked to the tempo and signature

http://www.mattlange.net http://bionikmusic.com/ http://erin-barra.squarespace.com

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