your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

[everdrone]

reamping?
editing after a take? click tracks?
does guitarist need to be in room with amp when recording?
does band need to be together in room doing song to get the true feel and interaction?
digital plugins?
melodyne and pitch correct software?


lol I wonder where each persons 'line in the sand' is with recording an album...


get rid of all these soft spots here, I need originality, warts and all :beerchug:

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I don't have a line. I have a very simple decision making process:

Q: Are we satisfied with the recording?

If yes, great!

If no, fix it!

How you go about fixing it isn't as important as the results.

By the way, I have done, and am comfortable with, everything listed in the poll and more. They're all just tools, and are only as good or bad as the person using them.

 

[jtees4]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I don't have a problem with anything except overly using Autotune for vocals...a bit of correction when needed is fine. I do have a problem with most of the list if it is supposed to be a live recording though. I mean, go back to The Beatles....the technology did not even exist for them to play live the stuff they recorded (in their later years). Same with Hendrix, used some studio fx that couldn't be done live. Nothing wrong with using whatever is available IMHO. But I will also say this, using say Elvis as an example...I have a lot of respect for recording the entire band and singer live with zero after EQ or FX as was done in the early recordings. I could never do that myself.

 

[Toe-Knee]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I draw the line at editing takes to fix issues & autotune.

If it isn't good enough just retrack it. It's usually quicker too.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I draw the line at editing takes to fix issues & autotune.

If it isn't good enough just retrack it. It's usually quicker too.

What if you finished tracking three months ago, and you just found a single bad note in your perfect take?

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

What if you finished tracking three months ago, and you just found a single bad note in your perfect take?

it becomes the new perfect take, or you git up on dat horse and ride again.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

it becomes the new perfect take, or you git up on dat horse and ride again.

I guess you have a lot more free time and money than I do.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

End result is all that matters - how you get there? I could care less...

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I am okay with digital "capture" and mastering only, for the most part. I'm not okay with digital manipulation. I view digital as nothing but another form of capturing sound, not as a tool that lets you "get away with" anything. It shouldn't make you lazy, or make you okay with avoiding properly planning, arranging, and performing during the recording process.

What I mean is, recording into digital format is fine by me. It's just another method of capturing sound. But I'm not okay with making sounds in the computer after the fact that were not made by a person during the recording. I'm not okay with digital effects, and I'm not okay with the "correction" of flaws using methods that involve nothing but moving pre-existing information around. If you are going to correct a flaw, do it by playing over it "correctly" in time, not by taking something from somewhere else and pasting it there.

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I'm not a fan of fixing anything "in the mix." Get the goods while tracking and don't keep saving everything "just in case." If you have the goods "on tape" some compression, EQ and maybe some time based effects are all you really need for the average song.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

digital is how things are done these days. It works fine. I was working in a recording studio in the days of tape and there is good reason everyone switched to digital.
Digital is not the enemy. Its just a tool. Creativity and emotion comes from within.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

The band i'm in now we use all of those but you can't substitute good arranging and composition and performance of a song no matter if your using digital or analog. I will say digital makes writing and recording a hell of a lot easier though.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

As much as possible I will practice like hell before & try and do the whole thing in one take. If there are multiple tones/pedals used I just stomp on my pedals so I don't lose the "flow" (I'm pretty quick/accurate to stomp haha) ...if there's an issue with a pedal (does'nt switch cleanly/pops etc) or a mess-up I just punch-in/do a retake. I'm not familiar/comfortable with computer recording & prefer my old stand-alone Zoom multi-track recorder...it serves me well

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I have no absolute line in the sand about digital versus analogue, live ensemble versus overdubbing or corrective editing versus audio verité.

Think of the Bob Dylan song, "I Want You". The Mighty Zimm fluffs the lyrics but the take has a vitality that warrants it making it to the finished album.

A case is often made for there being something spirited in first or second takes that diminishes with every subsequent attempt. I would argue that it is often smarter to put in some effort on tidying up a lively take than making numerous passes to get a flawless but also, possibly, soulless "perfect" take.

Remember, the majority of people who hear recorded music will neither know nor care whether the rhythm guitar part low in your mix is a single, real time take or the same couple o' sections, cut and pasted ad nauseam.

From a compositional perspective, "the same couple o' sections, repeated ad nauseam" is precisely the intention.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

^ Everything you said is true...

But if you ever try editing tracks on one of those stand-alone digital multi-track recorders ...you'll know why getting it right in one go is so much more preferable/easy :lmao:

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I understand. I like to be able to see what I am doing when I edit. Chinagraph pencil and splicing block or "power user" DAW, I don't mind.

 

[uOpt]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

The listener are all spoiled by singers always being on key. If you release anything without pitch correction they instantly think it must be bad, or free.

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

There are a lot of dudes with absolutely no idea what they're talking about in this thread and it's only 18 posts deep.

The only thing I'm a big stickler about is that I hate working with fake cymbals. They're just so damn hard to mix and get excited about. Programmed shells and real cymbals? Sure. Cymbals+shells tracked separately from kicks? I do this ALL the time. Cymbals and shells entirely separate from eachother but still real? If the drummer can hack it and the style calls for it then it can be ideal. Programmed cymbals just don't sit right to me.

As for everything else... do it all the time and used to do it every day. Tools are tools. Use them well and they'll give you good results.

 

[DankStar]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

I draw the line at digital hand claps. I mean jesus h, just throw a mic in front of your meathooks!

 

[chadd]

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Re: your 'line in the sand' or attitude on "digital" with recording an album?

Any of them used in moderation is fine, the problem is when the music is made by the engineer and not by the musicians. It's not math, it's music. My preference is to go with a great live take with the band playing together as much as possible. Only punching in for solos or vocals. Maybe I'm unusual, but I really feel the flow of the music better when I'm in a room with other people and we're all playing together.