Recording drums, need help.

Me and my guitarist are trying to record a few of your songs. I have a korg d1600. Like morons, we tried recording his guitar first, and then the drums. Well that came out horrible, it was off time like you wouldn't believe. It's been suggsted that we record the drums first, using a click. I've never done this before, so I was wanting some input. Any suggestions, tips etc would be great. I'll probably have the guitar playing along when we record the drums just so I know when the song changes, etc.

Thanks!

Having the guitar playing along is called a 'Scratch track'. It gives you an idea of general timing, and what's going on. A click track? Unless you're used to practicing with a click, recording probably isn't the best time to fiddle with it. Too confusing and new.

Lay the drum tracks first using the scratch. Then go back and over dub the rhythm, and finally the lead. Are you using a bass?.....

One other thing I've learned is ALWAYS count off a 'one two three four" before you start. With overdubbing and all, it can be hell cueing the other instruments as to when to start playing. Good luck!

Thanks for the info! Thats another that kind of confused me. In one particular song, the guitar begins about 25 seconds before the drums do. So when were recording the drums, and the scratch track, do we use the "1..2..3..4" at the beginning so when we re-do the guitar, he knows when to start so the drum come in at the right time? Sorry for the stupid questions, but thanks for the help.

The 1-2-3-4 will help the guitar player as well. It lets everyone know when to start. No matter who starts, have them count at the appropriate tempo to jump in. The drummer should know where to join at that point.

Are you guys doing vocals and bass also?..If so the bass can help guide as a scratch too. The vocals? Always last..

I assume your guitar player is playing bass. If you feel you can play the song from start to finish with only the bass as a cue, you should think about laying down the drums and bass at the same time. If you guys have a few pairs of decent headphones run the bass DI and monitor yourselves through the phones. Have no (or only minimal) gain coming through the bass amp itself. This will prevent bleed into the drum mics. If you have no access to headphones, by all means crank the bass amp into the room. And as Dawgfish said, always count during breaks in drum play. Click the sticks or keep beat on the hats. You can remove this later. From there, lay down guitars, more guitars, and finally vocals. Too much or too little info?

Oh, and tune those DW's like they've never been tuned before!

I work alone, but I do this :

I use a cheap keyboard (100 songs/rhythms/tones) and use THAT for a click track. The simple drum beats are a lot less annoying and more musical. I'll stripe a track with that, always starting with four bars worth of drum beat before any instrument starts. That way, if a new intro idea comes up or whatever, it's there if I need it. Remember Creedence's "Lookin' Out My Back Door"? (chun-chunka-chunka-chunka- )

I choose which instrument is carrying the tune, usually piano or rhythm guitar, and run the tune down with that. The bass guitar parts usually double with the drums/fills so that would be next. Then I record the real drums now that I have the rhythm section pretty much complete. With the bass guitar playing, I can get my groove on better, and work the fills in with the bass.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the help! We should be able to get something done now, lol.

Thanks again!

why don't u just record live??

well, theres only two of us. We're probably going to record the drums with a scratch guitar track like suggested above. Afterwards, go over it with a better sounding track. And then lay down the second guitar, vocals, and bass when we get one. So recording live would be a little difficult.

ok...well the both of u can play live ,then lay down the rest..why redo the guitars??is he relly sloppy or something?