Recording - July 2018 - 59

changes, or any changes you make in the future. Second,
any effects (like phasers or delays) that can follow the project
tempo will stay locked in as well.
But is a metronome the best tool for timing? While some
people choose to use basic drum loops for a timing source,
Erin Barra warns, "I don't tend to put drum loops down because, if it has a groove to it, then it could influence the vocal
or instrumental take. Then if you put another drum track under
it, it might not work right."
Stefon Taylor adds, "Sometimes it's nice to have a swinging,
abstract loop that you're playing off of, since it might spark
an interesting idea. However, if you start laying tracks down
against a click, soon you realize that if you're hearing it
correctly in your head, and are able to translate that through
to your hands, then the click is just
a timekeeper."

Doing monitoring right

recorded dry, then effects are gonna make it sound 20%
better... and I don't want people (or myself) to get a
skewed perception of how good their performance was.
If you can make them say 'wow' when it's dry, then
you know you have something that's worth keeping."
This is an area where the performer may dictate your
final choice; if they need reverb, give it to them in the
headphones... but don't track with it, as you may want
to replace it later with something different.

Doing your mic/instrument setup
Whenever you talk to experienced recording engineers
about mic technique, they will have opinions about mic selection and location. But if you press them, most will admit that
a good rule of thumb is to move
around until you hear a good
sound... then put a microphone
there!
This may seem simplistic, and
in future articles we will cover
many details about specific
instrument recording techniques.
But there is a lot to be said about
being flexible. Erin Barra says,
"If there are hard and fast mic
placement rules, I never learned
them. I know the general ideas
of pointing a mic at the 12th
fret of a guitar, but mostly I just
try to listen. If something sounds
weird, I move the mic until it
sounds better."
Another area of interest is in isolating the voice or instrument that
you are working on from other
sounds-and even from the sound of the room. Erin says that
she uses one of the vocal shields made by sE Electronics; this
provides adequate isolation from room tone, and keeps things
under control. Stefon Taylor has gone so far as to build an
isolation booth (a miniature room designed for isolation from
outside noises) that he uses for vocal and instrument recording!
But he also says, "There are times where I just set my laptop,
a Neumann microphone, and an ATI mic preamp right in the
room next to me. It's just a really expedient way to do it, to be
right in front of the gear and with the artist, or with yourself,
focused on recording without any pauses. And the results can
be great."

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.

Having a timing base in important, but if you can't hear your
tracks-the tracks already recorded,
the metronome, and your voice
or instrument-nothing else will
matter. Opinions vary about how
to monitor during recording, with
some people emphasizing the
freedom of working in the room
with monitor speakers, while others
demand the separation provided
by headphones. Matt Lange points
out that, with a lot of instruments,
there isn't much concern: "My
working setup depends on the instrument. For electric guitar, I don't
need headphones. However, if it's
a vocal or anything that I'm actually recording with a microphone, I'll mute everything and just work on headphones."
Another area where there are differences of opinion is
with monitoring effects-especially when recording vocals.
Matt also points out the benefits when he says, "Something
I learned a long time ago is that when you're tracking vocals, it's good to monitor with a reverb, because it can
actually help people stay in tune. They will hear the decay
of their voice, and it becomes a way for them to self-monitor
their pitch."
But Stefon Taylor points out: "In some cases, I prefer to
monitor as dry as possible. Because if it sounds good when

Recording takes for comping
One of the chores of recording is the process of doing multiple
takes in preparation for "comping" (compositing)-selecting
individual sections of different performances, and compiling
them into a master performance track. Doing multiple takes
can be a grind; Stefon talked about the process when he
worked in traditional studios.
RECORDING July 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2018