Ron
Well-known member
we just spent 5 hours recording two songs. First time I've ever done anything like that. Man, I take my hat off to anyone who has put together a whole album. I'm knackered!
recording
- Thread starter Ron
- Start date
Ukuleleblues
Well-known member
I hate doing recording sessions, I'd much rather record it live and live with it. I get so anal when I am playing specifically for a recording. Almost every time we play a gig I'll record it and with all the imperfections and mistakes it sounds better than any recorded session I've done. I know what you mean about taking time. After about 20 minutes you have progressed to the point you can't even start the song without screwing up. When you are live you have to live with it and roll with the punches. I could not imagine what it would be like with 4 or 5 people in a band an obsessing about a recording, must take them years.
Brad Bordessa
Well-known member
I get a kick out of recording. Sure, it gets old after a while, but if you can pull it off so that there is something "clever" about it, I'm stoked all day.
recording can be challenging!
I used a Tascam 8 track digital mixer to get my CDs
for this www.pekelosbooks.com project, but there was a lot of
learning curve involved!
Each CD has about almost 70 tracks!
Then it seems that a good recording studio is needed for mastering -omg!!
pekelo
I used a Tascam 8 track digital mixer to get my CDs
for this www.pekelosbooks.com project, but there was a lot of
learning curve involved!
Each CD has about almost 70 tracks!
Then it seems that a good recording studio is needed for mastering -omg!!
pekelo
OP
OP
Ron
Well-known member
I quite liked the process. Just all new is all. And long.
I did like being able to tweak the tone; add a bit of reverb to vocals, drop in a fiddly bit here and there - that sort of thing.
I'm lucky that Terry is like me - he's happy to let little mistakes that add colour stay on the recording. We screw up all the time when we play but of course a live audience (and us) only hear it once and forget they even heard it.
I will get a decent recording set up to one of our gigs sometime and see what that sounds like.
All in all a bit like comparing movies toi the book. Not much point really because they're different things.
I did like being able to tweak the tone; add a bit of reverb to vocals, drop in a fiddly bit here and there - that sort of thing.
I'm lucky that Terry is like me - he's happy to let little mistakes that add colour stay on the recording. We screw up all the time when we play but of course a live audience (and us) only hear it once and forget they even heard it.
I will get a decent recording set up to one of our gigs sometime and see what that sounds like.
All in all a bit like comparing movies toi the book. Not much point really because they're different things.
H
Hippie Dribble
Guest
Hey Ron
Frustrating but fantastic, eh! Look forward to hearing the songs mate.
I recorded an album about 10 years back; a proper studio recording with some session players. It took, on and off, 1 & 1/2 years. By the time it was finished I lost love for many of the songs. It just felt like we weren't gonna get there. But it evolved in that time because I had so much time to write more songs and change the theme and arrangements accordingly. It ended up costing a little over 5000 bucks. Got me some gigs and sold a few so it paid back some of the costs.
But after that experience, I swore I'd never do that again, so I bought a little digital 8track Zoom mixing desk and a good mic. It has been so much more simple and fun ever since. Only cost about 1400 and I've used it now for seven years. For me I just find that if you know the song really well and have a feel for it it can be really quick, once you get used to the mastering tools. Also knowing your limitations helps. I enjoy that, with home recording, there's heaps of room to play around with some extra instruments and arrange it exactly how you want to.
Last year I had a bunch of songs to record, so I spent most of the weekend playing them. Was about 30hours straight and I got 15 finished songs out of it. Had a ball but was exhausting. I find I get a bit obsessed these days whenever I start recording a bunch of songs, to the point where I can't sleep unless they're finished. But it's SO MUCH FUN!!!
Frustrating but fantastic, eh! Look forward to hearing the songs mate.
I recorded an album about 10 years back; a proper studio recording with some session players. It took, on and off, 1 & 1/2 years. By the time it was finished I lost love for many of the songs. It just felt like we weren't gonna get there. But it evolved in that time because I had so much time to write more songs and change the theme and arrangements accordingly. It ended up costing a little over 5000 bucks. Got me some gigs and sold a few so it paid back some of the costs.
But after that experience, I swore I'd never do that again, so I bought a little digital 8track Zoom mixing desk and a good mic. It has been so much more simple and fun ever since. Only cost about 1400 and I've used it now for seven years. For me I just find that if you know the song really well and have a feel for it it can be really quick, once you get used to the mastering tools. Also knowing your limitations helps. I enjoy that, with home recording, there's heaps of room to play around with some extra instruments and arrange it exactly how you want to.
Last year I had a bunch of songs to record, so I spent most of the weekend playing them. Was about 30hours straight and I got 15 finished songs out of it. Had a ball but was exhausting. I find I get a bit obsessed these days whenever I start recording a bunch of songs, to the point where I can't sleep unless they're finished. But it's SO MUCH FUN!!!
OP
OP
Ron
Well-known member
Yeah - I'm think 1 and a half years is a bit long for us. Anyway - we only have about 5 originals.
Yes - the chap who recorded us - Mike Lipscombe has a place here called the Rimu Room - has just that. A mic, a small mixing desk and a lap top with a $100 programme on it. It was ample. He's recorded four piece acoustiuc stuff - fiddle guitars bass etc and it's sounds great. He's kinda learning the process too so we felt like we were all in it together.
For the UoH we laid a guide track by just playing the song and recording the whole thing live. Then we went back and recorded rhythm, then vocals then solos and then messed around with some harmonies and a couple of little twinkles to fill a gap or two.
On one song in which we alternately sing verses and share the chorus we just sang the whole thing through together over the rhythm track and got a great performance out of each other and didn't need to go back and tweak any of the vocals except to add some overdub harmonies that just wouldn't be there in a live performance.
Interesting part of the process was each of hearing what the other one was doing in a bit more detail. When we play together we generally just develop our parts as we go - try things, make mistakes, try something else. And because we're concetrating on the whole package it was fun to hear things "I hadn't noticed you doing double time on that section before!" or "That's a sweet harmony - when did you sdtart doing that!?" - that sort of thing.
I don't solo so I didn't have that pressure of getting it right. But as I say Terry would have a crack, maybe try a second one and we'd look at each other and say "close enough for cowboys" and leave it as it was. I'll be interested to see if all I hear on the final mix is the mistakes. I know THAT would drive me crazy and COULD make the next session a lot more painful ;-). But I think I'll just be excited to finally get a good quality recording of the Ukes of Hazard. Mike said they'd be done today but the mp3s haven't turned up in my in box yet......................................
Yes - the chap who recorded us - Mike Lipscombe has a place here called the Rimu Room - has just that. A mic, a small mixing desk and a lap top with a $100 programme on it. It was ample. He's recorded four piece acoustiuc stuff - fiddle guitars bass etc and it's sounds great. He's kinda learning the process too so we felt like we were all in it together.
For the UoH we laid a guide track by just playing the song and recording the whole thing live. Then we went back and recorded rhythm, then vocals then solos and then messed around with some harmonies and a couple of little twinkles to fill a gap or two.
On one song in which we alternately sing verses and share the chorus we just sang the whole thing through together over the rhythm track and got a great performance out of each other and didn't need to go back and tweak any of the vocals except to add some overdub harmonies that just wouldn't be there in a live performance.
Interesting part of the process was each of hearing what the other one was doing in a bit more detail. When we play together we generally just develop our parts as we go - try things, make mistakes, try something else. And because we're concetrating on the whole package it was fun to hear things "I hadn't noticed you doing double time on that section before!" or "That's a sweet harmony - when did you sdtart doing that!?" - that sort of thing.
I don't solo so I didn't have that pressure of getting it right. But as I say Terry would have a crack, maybe try a second one and we'd look at each other and say "close enough for cowboys" and leave it as it was. I'll be interested to see if all I hear on the final mix is the mistakes. I know THAT would drive me crazy and COULD make the next session a lot more painful ;-). But I think I'll just be excited to finally get a good quality recording of the Ukes of Hazard. Mike said they'd be done today but the mp3s haven't turned up in my in box yet......................................
OP
OP
