recorded first song for RPM'08

[Janx]

Me and a friend decided to take up the Record Production Month Challenge this year. We're newbies. Fairly unskilled. It's gonna be tough. Under normal circumstances, we would not attempt this.

 

Well, we just finished recording and getting a rough mix for our first song.

 

No, I'm not going to ask you to listen to it. It's not posted up, and it won't be going up until RPM Challenge hosts it when we finish the CD before the 1st of March. It's also chockful of reasons we're not ready for primetime.

 

Mostly, I thought I'd post how we did so far, and see if folks can give us some tips (besides go practice more, we don't have time for that kind of practical idea).

 

We're recording at a home studio the father of my partner has. He's got a Mac, with Garageband, a miked up drumkit, and some other doo-hickies. I have Pod XT Live, which we didn't use yet.

 

We recorded a scratch track with me on a clean guitar and my partner mumbling the first verse and chorus (so I could keep track where I was).

 

Then my partner looped it, and worked out the drums (this song did not exist in audible format before today). Then he recorded his track. Took about 3 tries, doing the whole song.

 

Then I did the bass track. Tooke me about 4 tries, with the last best one having 1 screw-up at the end. Kinda like playing Guitar Hero with only 1 missed note. We decided to keep it, and try to patch over it. (later, we decided it was harder to patch over it, and since the guitar got it right, it was hardly noticeable compared to our other problems).

 

Then we did the vocal track. I got into the chorus and lost my place. My partner gave it ago, and with a few more takes, got a decent track worth keeping. Long story short, I can't sing.

 

We got a mix that was decent, though the drums were too low. When we dumped it to MP3, the vocals ended up being too low as well.

 

What I learned:

getting the levels right on all tracks is tricky, and what you hear is not always what Garageband will turn out as MP3.

 

Staying on time is hard, especially when you record the scratch track with no drum/time keeper. Bad idea. Also, do a count-off on the recording, so you know when to start, while playing along with it.

 

My lead skills (aka soloing) are pretty weak. So we skipped an intro and bridge. Our song was 2:26 minutes. We need 35 minutes total for the CD. It's a bad idea to skip those things.

 

My inclination is to fix the song when we finish the other songs (which many have yet to be written even). Our quality bar is lower than what should be for a "serious" album.

 

One thing I'm considering, is recording our pieces in fragments, rather than in one long take (which was hard to patch over in a middle spot). Basically, I can record a riff, and then have GB loop it X times. Assuming they join well, how bad would it suck?

 

The reason I'm thinking of trying this (besides not being talented enough to play a brand new unrehearsed song perfectly) is that I can probably nail a riff perfect in 1-2 takes. Having to nail it perfect everytime it shows up in the song, because it's all one take is a lot harder.

 

It might also help us build up a scratch track that the drummer can invent a beat to, where the music itself stays on time.

 

Or we could invent the beat first. Or use something standard. Who knows, we're new to playing and writing music.

 

I don't think we'll have an awesome CD that will impress peopl, but I do think I'll be better at playing, writing, and recording than I was in January. And that's my main goal. It also gets my friend up and at it, which gives me somebody to play with, rather than just learning by myself.

 

I have to go back tomorrow, so we can record the next song. Need to write a bridge and intro before then, so we can burn enough time (in a quality fashion). I was hoping to record 2-3 songs today. Takes a bit longer than I thought...