Funny recording experience

My rock band is working on some new music and we started recording drums a few weeks ago. I thought I flubbed the tempo on one track because I fell off the click a bit at one point, so we played it back to hear how it sounded. During playback, the drums sounded to me like they were rushing near the intro. The songwriter who was doing the recording didn't hear it.

So we put it up on the grid and things lined up really well. There were a couple notes that were just slightly off, but it didn't seem like enough to explain what I was hearing. Just to appease me, he edited a couple parts but it still sounded off to me.

By now, I think I'm going crazy. The visual evidence shows everything lining up perfectly, so what am I hearing?

Suddenly, he notices something. We had been experimenting with different tempos before finally settling on 115 bpm. But for one bar—just one bar—the tempo was set at 120 bpm! This was the part that sounded rushed on playback. It was a subtle enough change that it wasn't smack-you-in-the-face obvious during recording, but enough to make me think I messed up.

So my ears and my sanity were confirmed. For one more day, anyway. We fixed the click track and re-recorded the part.

It's funny how we put absolute faith in the technology, but it only works when you don't make a mistake with how you use it!

Whats really interesting about this is how at very slightly different tempos one instrument can still sound fine but another rushed. Tempo she is a funny old mistress!

Nice Laz. We can sense when it's right - sometimes.

One time my old band recorded a song with a djembe drum track. We did two takes and added vocals. I felt the djembe wasn't quite right but the two takes lined up within one second, much to my shock. But it sounded like it was dragging and the whole thing wasn't gelling as it should.

Then our singer noticed a line at the start that he rushed so the engineer pulled it back. Then the next line. After that our singer said "might as well pull back the whole thing" and suddenly the song was sitting right.

Just a minuscule misalignment of one track can completely ruin the total effect, and it's less easy to pick up when your brain's turned to mush after multiple playbacks.

Apologies in advance, I am an old f**t, but all this talk of clicks and grids just makes me cringe.

If it feels and sounds good keep it, if not do it again till it does.

mikel said:

Apologies in advance, I am an old f**t, but all this talk of clicks and grids just makes me cringe.

If it feels and sounds good keep it, if not do it again till it does.

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I'm in the same boat, but am taking a couple weeks to try to embrace the new recording tools, techniques, and workflow. I'm pretty convinced that the grid is a tool, just like any other (metronome, tuner, etc). It can be used effectively, it can be over used, or it can be used improperly. It's appears to be a godsend for those wanting quick and flexible composition. Need another verse? Copy paste. Need a longer chorus? Command-T and drag it. Want to record 20 different versions of an intro and select the one you like best or record an almost technically impossible fill? Record-loop. Flub a single note but didn't notice until your gear was broken down? Flex.

If you have some how recording gear and a Mac, I'd recommend giving it a try. I really wish I'd possessed some of this new tech in my formative years.

KamaK said:

I'm in the same boat, but am taking a couple weeks to try to embrace the new recording tools, techniques, and workflow. I'm pretty convinced that the grid is a tool, just like any other (metronome, tuner, etc). It can be used effectively, it can be over used, or it can be used improperly. It's appears to be a godsend for those wanting quick and flexible composition. Need another verse? Copy paste. Need a longer chorus? Command-T and drag it. Want to record 20 different versions of an intro and select the one you like best or record an almost technically impossible fill? Record-loop. Flub a single note but didn't notice until your gear was broken down? Flex.

If you have some how recording gear and a Mac, I'd recommend giving it a try. I really wish I'd possessed some of this new tech in my formative years.

Click to expand...

Dont get me wrong I am not against technology, but If I am in a band and want to record said band then a performance recording, as much as possible, always sounds better to me, with overdubs.

There are obvious advantages to using new technology when recording music.

However, to me the big disadvantage is; when you hear a recorded song, and you like it, you can't be sure just how good the musicians are.

About a year ago I heard a recording of a local band and it sounded great. When I went to see them play live, they were not very good.

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I have moved a snare hit or two in my days of recording. It is so much cleaner than re-recording an entire part for one hit. Unless you are recording live in a non-iso situation where your snare hit is heard through the mics on the other instruments. Then you either suck it up and live with it or redo everything. I am a big fan of technology but there is something to be said for a band that can just go in and bang out songs. That is where the real art lies.