Taken from Talkbass.com http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f43/going-studio-weekend-770215/
My band of the last 10 years is going back into the studio, built by our drummer and guitarist's son in their garage. We've done three studio albums but only one with the current line-up. The last pro-studio session did not give us the results we were hoping for so we are doing it ourselves. This weekend we are going to track 5 songs (from our 50 available songs) - one brand new song and four songs previously recorded with either other members or at the last studio where we were unhappy.
We're going in to this session really prepared, only practicing the five songs we're recording and not using vocals to guide us.
My perceptions are really different about this session because I'm not feeling like "this is my chance to capture all my skill and abilities as a bass player" but more of an opportunity to really work with the band to record solid tracks that we have been working hard on. My playing has become more simple, more locked in with the bass drum and more relaxed in general, which gives my playing a laid back pocket-oriented groove that I'm really excited to hear translated in recording.
We'll split the bass between micing my GK backline and 210 avatar rig and going straight in to the board. Playing a custom Heidrich bass with Fender pickups and some old nickle round wound strings.
Just wanted to get the post started and will update over the weekend with progress and hopefully pix.
Rock on!
We're going in to this session really prepared, only practicing the five songs we're recording and not using vocals to guide us.
My perceptions are really different about this session because I'm not feeling like "this is my chance to capture all my skill and abilities as a bass player" but more of an opportunity to really work with the band to record solid tracks that we have been working hard on. My playing has become more simple, more locked in with the bass drum and more relaxed in general, which gives my playing a laid back pocket-oriented groove that I'm really excited to hear translated in recording.
We'll split the bass between micing my GK backline and 210 avatar rig and going straight in to the board. Playing a custom Heidrich bass with Fender pickups and some old nickle round wound strings.
Just wanted to get the post started and will update over the weekend with progress and hopefully pix.
Rock on!
Sounds like you've got the right mental approach going into this. It's amazing how that awesome-line-you-play-that-just-rules-live can suddenly sound busy and out of sync when you hear it in the context of a recording. Keep it simple and locked in without being sterile, it's harder to do than it sounds. Play the part that best serves the song, not the part that best serves the player. Best of luck with it all! |
May I throw in a suggestion? Since it's your studio, built by you guys I reccoment making a rough demo recording of the five songs. You know, a real quickie. Then listen to the demo tracks in your Ipods, your car stereo's and computers for a couple of weeks and then go do it for real. Instead of wondering how the five songs are going to sound with new players and reworked parts, you'll know! You won't have that "If only we had......................." |
Whay are bass players the only ones who ever say "serve the song"? Music would be so much better if everybody seved the song! You never hear a guitarist saying this. BTW serving the song doesn't necessarily mean playing simpler lines with little flash. It could mean reeling it in or it could also mean ramping it up! (assuming it improves the song). I'd like to hear somebody else serve the song!!!!!!!! Just a random thought |
It's true about bass players getting more of the burden. I think it's becuause guitarists and vocalists are expected to add the flashy bits, whereas the bass player and drummer are "supposed" to lay the foundation upon which the window dressing is hung. I've got an amazing drummer to work with who has a killer right foot and this time for the first time we are actually using a click track for at least the basic tracks. We're recording today and tomorrow today I think we'll just throw them down and see if our arrangements are tight. it's so much more relaxing using our own space than somewhere where we can see the dollar signs ticking away on the wall. Even though we are using PT we deffinately do not have a "we'll fix it in the mix" mentality, which will help us get through these songs. Thanks for the input so far. Last night i was up late playing with my gear, wrapping and labeling cables, changing batteries and adjusting straps, had to do a little work on the nut of the pbass. Today I did final setup and intonation adjustments on the basses and now it's just getting everything together. The tools:  |
Well four hours today. had some problems with the Protools interface. M-audio Octane 8 was generating these random popping and cracking noises which might have something to do with clock synching or some damn thing. We had planned on tracking the band live. Anyway we had another 8 channel pre-amp filled up with drum input so our drummer tracked all of our songs, unaccompanied to a click. It was an amazing performance. Tomorrow we'll lay down the bass and I'm a little intimidated because I'm not sure I'm ready to lay down tracks without the band but I know the songs just have to let it come. end of the day we had 5 incredibly solid drum tracks that will be fun to play too even if it's not what we had initially planned. Didn't get any rig/room shots but did grab this one for fun.  |
| blipndub | 05-16-2011 08:35 AM |
Went in for a five hour session yesterday and tracked the bass parts for all the songs we're doing in this session.
We planned on working on five songs at a time so that we can really concentrate on smaller bites of all the songs we want to record. I highly recommend this approach. We identified the five song we wanted to track months ago and basically that's all we've practiced on a weekly basis. What it means is that we can track an instrument (or band if tek was working) for all of the songs in one half day session. Took us about two hours to track the drums and I needed about 3.5 hours to lay down five bass tracks. And now when we lay down the guitars, acoustics and vocals we'll have a tight set for mixing right on the spot rather than waiting until we record the other 5 or 6 songs before listening back to something we tracked a month ago.
The other thing that was really interesting and different from working in a professional studio is that since we are engineering ourselves it really changes the dynamic between the engineer and performer in a positive way. Our drummer (who is also a certified pilot btw if that give you an idea of his precise mind) is running the DAW. Since a bandmate knows the songs as well as you do the whole punching in issue becomes a whole lot easier, because we can be really precise about where the punch in needs to occur. There isn't some random rewinding and asking "is this the place?" I think some would argue that it's good to have a neutral individual running the board, but we didn't find that to be true. If a bandmate is running the board they have an investment in you doing the best you can and can tell you if what you are playing is or isn't going to fit into the context of the whole song. It saved us time and confusion.
For tracking the bass we used a Sennheiser 421 on the 210 cab as well as a DI into the board. The 421 is kind of an interesting choice. But since it was designed to be used on toms it really captures the full range of the cab. The DI or the miced signal alone didn't sound very good but together they brought a rich, snarly and fat tone that settles in with the mix so far really well. The DI get's the spank and detail and the cab gives it the girth and chunk plus a little grit from the powered speaker. I used a GK backline set to flat with the contour rolled back to about 9 o clock and the master at 12 with the pre up to about 7 and with the -10 pad engaged which prevents spikes from hard right hand technique.
Performance-wise I should have rearranged the session - I hit the most challenging song second in the queue which I thought would be good to play when I was fresh, but I think i'll end up retracking that one because by the end of the session I felt really warmed up and confident and think i could have done a better job on the most bass-intensive number.
The other thing I recommend is the use of a click track. Protools has it's built in metronome and I can't emphasize how useful this tool has become for us. Regarding intros and breaks it's critical especially when tracking piecemeal.
We got two guitar tracks down at the end of the day and they sounded huge. A JCM900 into a mesa 210 cab in stereo with an Orange 30 watt combo. Miced close with the 421 and a Sennheiser 609 and long with a 57 and another AT dynamic mic. the ambient mics just added a little more depth to the sound even though they have a very tight frequency range and the 421 and 609 is a no brainer on getting a tight brawny tone. Killer amps and great playing didn't hurt!
Although we're a little behind schedule due to the first day tek problems the tracks so far sound tight and not at all like individually tracked pieces. Next we'll finish the rhythm guitars and probably move on to acoustics and keys and then vocals and finally lay the guitar solos. So nice to not be watching the clock and seeing the dollars evaporate before our eyes!
Thanks for reading, will update as events unfold.
We planned on working on five songs at a time so that we can really concentrate on smaller bites of all the songs we want to record. I highly recommend this approach. We identified the five song we wanted to track months ago and basically that's all we've practiced on a weekly basis. What it means is that we can track an instrument (or band if tek was working) for all of the songs in one half day session. Took us about two hours to track the drums and I needed about 3.5 hours to lay down five bass tracks. And now when we lay down the guitars, acoustics and vocals we'll have a tight set for mixing right on the spot rather than waiting until we record the other 5 or 6 songs before listening back to something we tracked a month ago.
The other thing that was really interesting and different from working in a professional studio is that since we are engineering ourselves it really changes the dynamic between the engineer and performer in a positive way. Our drummer (who is also a certified pilot btw if that give you an idea of his precise mind) is running the DAW. Since a bandmate knows the songs as well as you do the whole punching in issue becomes a whole lot easier, because we can be really precise about where the punch in needs to occur. There isn't some random rewinding and asking "is this the place?" I think some would argue that it's good to have a neutral individual running the board, but we didn't find that to be true. If a bandmate is running the board they have an investment in you doing the best you can and can tell you if what you are playing is or isn't going to fit into the context of the whole song. It saved us time and confusion.
For tracking the bass we used a Sennheiser 421 on the 210 cab as well as a DI into the board. The 421 is kind of an interesting choice. But since it was designed to be used on toms it really captures the full range of the cab. The DI or the miced signal alone didn't sound very good but together they brought a rich, snarly and fat tone that settles in with the mix so far really well. The DI get's the spank and detail and the cab gives it the girth and chunk plus a little grit from the powered speaker. I used a GK backline set to flat with the contour rolled back to about 9 o clock and the master at 12 with the pre up to about 7 and with the -10 pad engaged which prevents spikes from hard right hand technique.
Performance-wise I should have rearranged the session - I hit the most challenging song second in the queue which I thought would be good to play when I was fresh, but I think i'll end up retracking that one because by the end of the session I felt really warmed up and confident and think i could have done a better job on the most bass-intensive number.
The other thing I recommend is the use of a click track. Protools has it's built in metronome and I can't emphasize how useful this tool has become for us. Regarding intros and breaks it's critical especially when tracking piecemeal.
We got two guitar tracks down at the end of the day and they sounded huge. A JCM900 into a mesa 210 cab in stereo with an Orange 30 watt combo. Miced close with the 421 and a Sennheiser 609 and long with a 57 and another AT dynamic mic. the ambient mics just added a little more depth to the sound even though they have a very tight frequency range and the 421 and 609 is a no brainer on getting a tight brawny tone. Killer amps and great playing didn't hurt!
Although we're a little behind schedule due to the first day tek problems the tracks so far sound tight and not at all like individually tracked pieces. Next we'll finish the rhythm guitars and probably move on to acoustics and keys and then vocals and finally lay the guitar solos. So nice to not be watching the clock and seeing the dollars evaporate before our eyes!
Thanks for reading, will update as events unfold.
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