Start With A Simple Drum Beat
- This is a great feature for a solo artist who does not have the luxury of
a drummer to record with. This will keep your recording in time or on
beat. Most recorders now offer their systems with editable drum beats
and loops. So when purchasing a Multi Track Portable Recorder or
computer recording software look for the feature of editable drum beats.
Try Putting Down A Guitar Track First.
Try recording what ever instrument is the main source of music in the
recording. Once you get a solid guitar track down or bass track down,
it will be easier to sing with the recording.
Adjust Your Record Volume -
This is done so that your avoiding any digital distortion in your
recordings. For example, most digital home recorders show the volume
level going to red when your in a digital distortion range. Avoid this
by turning down your record volume so that you will have a smooth recording.
Doubling Vocals - Doubling Guitars
- If your recordings are sounding thin and unprofessional yet you have good
equipment, try doubling your guitar and vocals. Your Recordings will
sound much improved using the doubling technique. Here's how it's
done. In order to double vocals successfully it takes a little patience.
Basically, sing the exactly the same as you did the 1st time around and use
a separate track on your digital recorder. Use the same vocal style,
effect, and inflections in your voice to achieve a doubled vocal that sounds
like only one person is doing it. The vocal will now sound fuller,
professional, and the vocal volume should increase. Doubling Guitars
is basically the same concept. Play the same line as you did the first
time around in the recording. Try to use the same amp settings, record
settings, and play the same notes / chords as well. Do this on a
separate track. You will be surprised how much more professional your
recordings will sound. Some professional bands triple or quadruple
their guitar sounds and add different guitars playing different lines in
certain parts. Of course, there is no specific way to do this, but the
basics are described above.
Harmonize - Try harmonizing
vocals and or guitars in order to add texture to your digital home
recordings. Harmonies are the same notes your playing but played at a
higher octave. I'm sure you have heard vocal harmonies on recordings
etc. So, in order to accomplish a vocal harmony, use a separate track
and sing higher or even lower octave notes on this track. Just
practice, practice, and practice. This technique is a trial and error
process. Guitars can be harmonized as well.
Panning - Panning is
basically a fancy term for adjusting the speaker volume for a track.
Maybe you want track 1 to be in the left speaker and track 2 in the right.
Any tracks that you have doubled (Guitars or Vocals etc.) can be panned to
give the stereo effect to your recordings. So maybe try panning your
1st guitar track all the way to the left, and your second doubled guitar
track all the way to the right. So on playback you will hear the 1st
guitar in the left speaker and the second guitar in the right speaker.
Sometimes you can blend the pan so it's not all the way in stereo.
This is a good idea if you hear a slight mistake on one guitar, you can try
to blend the sounds together, and it will help a bit. Try panning
vocals, keyboard, or whatever you want to give a stereo effect to your
recordings.
Mark Function - Most
Portable Multi Track Recorders have a Mark function. If you have
recorded before you know what a pain it is to have to fast forward and
rewind all the time to get where you need to be in the song. This is
where the mark function comes in. Play the song and try to mark the
parts of the songs where you will need to stop and record or re-record
parts. This usually happen at a chorus or measure change in a song.
Mark the places you will need to stop and the machine will usually give a
number for each mark. Use the Mark Forward or Backward function to
skip to the places in the song where you want to be. Great function to
save time while recording.
Undo Function - The Undo
function is a must for digital recording in the the home. It's almost
impossible to get every take right the 1st time, so the undo function gets
rid of that bad take you just did. Plus you are not taking up recording
memory on your system by rewinding and recording over the bad take.
Remember you don't want to clutter your recordings with a ton of bad takes
so Use the UNDO function.
Equalization - After you
have finished your song try using equalization to make your tracks sound a
little more professional. Add Treble to guitars, Bass to Drums or Bass
Guitars, or try adding mid's or treble to vocals. Experiment with
equalization on every song. Sometimes you may have a track with a
little digital distortion. If you want to keep the track try some
equalization and see if this helps.
Reverb - Add Reverb to your
drums. This makes your recordings sound more professional as well.
Reverb can be used on vocals and guitar as well, but use it sparingly here
since it may drown out the vocals and guitar a bit if too much is used.
Effects - Most digital
recorders let you add effects to your track recordings while your recording.
Try adding distortion to guitars, delay to your guitar solos, or chorus to
vocals. Just remember a little goes a long way with effects. If
you use to much or too many your recordings may not come out the way you
expected.
Post - Effects - Some home
recording systems allow you to add effects after you have recorded the
track. So you can add lets say reverb to your drums after they are
recorded or chorus to a guitar that may have gone slightly out of tune
during recording.
Again, your recorder may have these functions we talk about above and it may
not, but if your shopping for a digital multi track recorder it's a good idea to
make sure your getting the functions that you will need most at a good price as
well. The technology has improved tremendously in the last few years.
You can find digital multi track recorders that burn CD's, have 30gb of memory
or higher, include effects (pre / post), drum tracks, and hundreds of effects
for under $1,000 today. Roland, Boss, Foster, Tascam etc. all sell pretty
decent models in that price range. Most vary with the number of tracks and
number of effects. So look around and find the best value for the price.
Try our link to Musician's Friend below and type in Multi Track Recorders in the
search bar. Good Luck
