Recording Plan Example
Ok, so you're sitting in a room with a song to record, with a microphone in front of you ready to go. Where do you begin? Here's the order that we suggest to make things go smoothly and to save you time in the studio. And the time in the studio definitely equals money. The better you plan it out ahead of time, the more money you'll save. Do your planning when the meter isn't running.
This order has worked well for us, and it took us an entire album and a half before we figured out this method of recording. It should be a good skeleton that you can use as a starting point. Of course, many people have other opinions about this but what we can tell you is that this method works well for us.
1. Set the tempo
You will want to sit there with your drum machine, midi controller, or even a metronome and make sure that the tempo is correct. Sing or play along with it and make sure that it's just right. All of your parts will link to this. Don't skip this step!
2. Record a click track
You can use your midi devices to sync to the timing on your computer to avoid wasting a track on the click and have your devices play along with a cowbell or some other sound. It's important enough to use a track for it if you don't have any midi devices, however.
3. Record a scratch vocal with your main instrument and perform a count-off before you start.
We usually have a guy sit in front of a microphone with a guitar and do a countoff. Then he just sings the song. Sometimes he'll do countoffs for parts that don't have words to keep the time straight. This is a guide track for the drums and other instruments until he re-records the parts. It gives an idea of the cues for the other instruments. A piano works just as well for this. Don't worry about making this perfect. It should just be good enough to give the others a good idea of where things are. You can even just say words as to where things go.
4. Record the drums
Record the drums on top of the scratch vocal and guitar/piano/etc track. The disadvantage to doing the drums first, at this point, is that sometimes the other layers that get put on top of this tend to insinuate a slightly different fill or slight changes in beats. But the advantages far outweigh the downsides. In particular, when you don't do the drums first, people tend to make mistakes with tempo.
5. Record the bass
As soon as the drums are down, the bass, assuming there is one in the song you're recording, should be laid down on top of this. The layers that go on top of the drums and scratch track need the bass for the chords and to help further establish the groove off of the drums. At this point, there is still a scratch track that leads you along the song which should help the bass player know when the chorus, bridges, and verses come in. If the bass is not available, and you have to put off recording it, you should record the rhythm guitar to make it easier to add other layers as well as the bass at a later date.
6. Plan the other layers from there
Add in the other layers as availability allows. As you go through these, you might come up with little ideas to add in here and there. These ideas are often what make the recordings much better but they can cost a lot in terms of time. You'll have to use your best judgment when you do this in recording because if you cut out too many of these things you'll be leaving out some of your best ideas. When you have a multitrack recorder, recording is not just a live performance on disk (or tape.) it's about adding many layers and interesting things for people to discover as they listen to it. Sometimes, it's those layers, or little additions, that take your song to the next level.