Recording a new demo

[Droplaw621]

My band needs a new demo for summer shows. We have all the recording gear to do it with Protools, but we think we want to do a live recording with the whole band playing.

 

Have any of you guys done this before? We know an engineer that will do the recording for us with his stuff, very top gear. Do you think we should do it? Or do it by tracking the different instruments by themselves?

[ToeJamFootball]

definatley multi-track, you will be more pleased with the sound.

[Droplaw621]

 

Originally posted by ToeJamFootball definatley multi-track, you will be more pleased with the sound.

 

 

I'm not talking about just sticking one mic in the middle of the room. Every cab and drum, cymbal will be miced. We just want a good live sounding demo.

[ToeJamFootball]

Originally posted by Droplaw621 I'm not talking about just sticking one mic in the middle of the room. Every cab and drum, cymbal will be miced. We just want a good live sounding demo.

 

yeah duh,

 

depends, if you are confident laying down individual tracks, then do it, if you want to play together to have that feel, then do that, what do you want me to say?"

 

EDIT: my band records all our rehearsals this way (live) it works fine, so either way will be alright, just depends on what you prefer.

[zomawia]

It can be achieved.

 

Just practice, practice, practice until you guys get your songs down tight as possible. Then practice some more.

[Ace Of Bass]

I always much prefer to record the instruments seperately. Doing it that way, it also takes me about 10 trys to get a track that is perfect--when you listen to it, you notice things you wouldn't otherwise notice, and I think that is what makes the recording sound polished.

That said, the other way is a lot faster and thus cheaper.

But whatever you do, make sure you all wear headphones and play to a click track--speeding up/down is the biggest problem with doing "live" recordings.

[Droplaw621]

Originally posted by zomawia It can be achieved. Just practice, practice, practice until you guys get your songs down tight as possible. Then practice some more.

 

We have been playing together for over 2 years, needless to say we are very tight. We have a proffesional demo, but like I said we want a live CD.

 

Although no one can practice too much:)

 

Yes we would play with a click track and headphones. The engineer is a professional, he has recorded bands such as floater, glassjaw, the dandie warhols or however you spell that. He has very top of the line gear, very far into the thousands and thousands guys a freak.

 

Has anyone done a live CD professionaly, I'm not talking about recording a band practice.

 

Thanks for your input so far though.

[Kid Vicious]

 

Originally posted by Ace Of Bass But whatever you do, make sure you all wear headphones and play to a click track--speeding up/down is the biggest problem with doing "live" recordings.

 

 

Excerpt from Iron Maiden's "Death on the Road" DVD:

 

Janick Gers (guitarist): "We record a bit differently from other musicians, in that we like to get a live performance sound in the studio. First of all, what a lot of bands out there do, is they put a click track down--"

 

Nicko McBrain (drummer): "Aye!!! Aye??! What's that?!"

 

Janick Gers: "Exactly. When you record a song live the music lives, it has gaps and breathes, and when you start with a click track it kills all of that. And the feeling of a live performance is what we're all about."

 

That states my opinion on the matter quite nicely.