Members TonyCrazyMan Posted August 18, 2005 Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Everybody talk about tracking everywhere, but to be honest I don't have a good picture of what that term means and what the process looks like. How do you do a "successful" tracking? My best guess is that tracking is a process during which the session musicians/music producer/keyboardist record each instrument onto different tracks in Nuendo/Pro Tools/Cubase/Cakewalk and try to record them with the best possible sound quality. The sum of it is an arrangement. Is this correct? As a tracking engineer, what kind of effect procedure is going on with the tracks once they have been recorded? Or are you more focusing on mic choice, mic placement and stuff like that and don't mind about applying any effects? Does the producer contribute to tracking and mixing or only one of them? Are these tracks exported as 24-bit audio or do you just save the project and then the mixer starts mixing on it directly? Can anybody please describe what makes tracking such an important phase in the recording process? When thinking of recording as tracking - mixing - mastering, in terms of getting the best possible final result, which one of these is the most critical? What does a tracking engineer focus the most on? What's most important? Is there any editing phase between tracking and mixing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted August 18, 2005 Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Tracking is capturing the performance of an artist. The arrangement should be planned prior to the tracking session to avoid getting into mixing and realizing that the song is too fast or a bunch of stuff needs to be re-recorded and/or overdubbed. Communication with the engineer is essential to ensure the end goal sound is taken into account when setting up mics and/or determining which mics to use. Typically, no effects are added during tracking as if its added in tracking you can't take it back off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted August 18, 2005 Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan How do you do a "successful" tracking? Hire great musicians and stand back. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan My best guess is that tracking is a process during which the session musicians/music producer/keyboardist record each instrument onto different tracks in Nuendo/Pro Tools/Cubase/Cakewalk and try to record them with the best possible sound quality. The sum of it is an arrangement. Is this correct? Essentially, but you forgot the possibility of using tape instead of digital. Again Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan As a tracking engineer, what kind of effect procedure is going on with the tracks once they have been recorded? Usually effects are avoided during tracking. An exception would be when the performance itself depends on the effects, like Robert Fripp contructing echo loops. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan Or are you more focusing on mic choice, mic placement and stuff like that and don't mind about applying any effects? See above. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan Does the producer contribute to tracking and mixing or only one of them? The producer should be there from A to Z in my opinion. Part of the job is to encourage the best performances during the tracking, and help find the parts that make the arrangement. The producer should also be there for mixing, to steer the project to a satisfying whole, more than the sum of the parts. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan Are these tracks exported as 24-bit audio or do you just save the project and then the mixer starts mixing on it directly? Depends on preference, I suppose. I mix from the raw tracks and do any conversion to the mix. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan Can anybody please describe what makes tracking such an important phase in the recording process? You are capturing the actual performance of music, not trying to polish something already recorded. If the tracks aren't captured right, no amount of mixing and effects will make it right. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan When thinking of recording as tracking - mixing - mastering, in terms of getting the best possible final result, which one of these is the most critical? That's a lot of opinion. A mastering guy will tell you he makes the difference between {censored} and shinola, the mixer will tell you it started to take shape under his fingers, but in my opinion, If the tracks aren't captured right, no amount of mixing and effects will make it right. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan What does a tracking engineer focus the most on? What's most important? Engineering, technical excellence is the most important thing. The producer however will be focused on getting the most impactful performance. The engineer has to be ready to capture the best performance when it happens. You can't get a do-over if the musician just played something miraculous, but the engineer was still working out phase cancellation issues or something. Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan Is there any editing phase between tracking and mixing? Digitally, I always trim the samples to get rid of most extraneous noises from the pre-roll or roll-out. This also the time to start sorting out various takes of the same part to find the best ones to use when mixing begins in earnest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TonyCrazyMan Posted August 18, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Originally posted by wbcsound Tracking is capturing the performance of an artist. The arrangement should be planned prior to the tracking session to avoid getting into mixing and realizing that the song is too fast or a bunch of stuff needs to be re-recorded and/or overdubbed. Communication with the engineer is essential to ensure the end goal sound is taken into account when setting up mics and/or determining which mics to use. Typically, no effects are added during tracking as if its added in tracking you can't take it back off. Ok thanks for the reply, so now I got a much better picture of what tracking really is. I guess tracking is rather good then to simplify the whole process and have the complexity of the total production split into separate phases where the tracking engineer has the role of getting the best sound tracked of those sound sources. You also choose instruments during the tracking phase. When it comes to choosing instruments on the mix it seems like different session musicians bring with them their own instruments to choose from. Probably the session artist, the producer and the tracking engineer all discuss what instruments can/should be used in order to be able to produce a beautiful sounding final song and get the production towards a certain goal. I am interested in the tracking of keyboards where they have the role of immitating another instrument. Are these tracked the way the real instrument would be tracked? Often, especially in R&B, much of the music is actually keyboard and synth based, yet very realistic and clear. Since I am doing keyboard and synth recordings I want to track as close to the original instrument as possible. What is usually the approach to this in the studios during the tracking phase? For instance my Yamaha Tyros keyboard has sampled sounds and a mixer that changes according to the selected preset. This has been done by Yamaha to immitate the real instrument as far as possible. When tracking, what should my approach to this be? Should I always track completely dry? Should I use room accoustics + good mics instead of recording directly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the russ Posted August 18, 2005 Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan I am interested in the tracking of keyboards where they have the role of immitating another instrument. Are these tracked the way the real instrument would be tracked? actually, in that situation they would be tracked BACKWARDS. it's tricky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted August 18, 2005 Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan ...I am interested in the tracking of keyboards where they have the role of immitating another instrument. Are these tracked the way the real instrument would be tracked? Often, especially in R&B, much of the music is actually keyboard and synth based, yet very realistic and clear. Since I am doing keyboard and synth recordings I want to track as close to the original instrument as possible...When tracking, what should my approach to this be? Should I always track completely dry? Should I use room accoustics + good mics instead of recording directly? 1. Think of how you want your project to sound. Are there albums out there that you think sound good? If so (and there better be) disect them. Is the overall sound full of reverb or dry? Is there a lot of low frequency energy in the mix or more in the mids? Individually miced drums? This is the planning stage and asking yourself these types of questions can create a much more efficient session. 2. Since you mention R&B (if you're referring to the modern popular definition with lots of hip hop crossover) it's very clear to me that 90% of the instruments are synths, samples, and loops. I would bet the only mic used on a session would be for vocals. When using a nicely sampled instrument, the creator of the sample miced it up correctly and hopefully captured it in a nice yet subtle environment, there's not much point to re-mic it if you're going for the sound of the instrument. On the other hand, running a sampled piano through a guitar amp and micing it might be interesting, which leads me to... 3. Experiment until it sounds right. Personally, anything I can get a good sound recording direct I won't mic as any good reverb plugin will sound better than the untreated room I use to record. When I do mic, I typically close mic to reduce room sound. Using convolution plugs such as SIR allow you to virtually place the instrument into a sampled real space which seals the deal for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TonyCrazyMan Posted August 18, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2005 Thanks to all for your great answers to my questions and your suggestions! I learned a lot of new stuff and realised I've jumped over one phase in the recording process: Tracking! No seriously, selecting those takes I am sure will have a great impact in my future productions and really even simplify the recording process too!! All of your suggestions were really interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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