Help with recording songs on my Mac

allen

Can anyone point me to a good youtube tutorial that shows me how to organise recording a song?

The last time I recorded a song was about 1995 and I was using a Tascam 4 track (which gave surprisingly good results at the time) so I'm pretty familiar with all of the concepts and jargon of multitrack recording.

The bit I'm unsure about is the best workflow for recording. I'd like to enter the cover version challenge that is on here as a bit of personal challenge, but how would I go about it.

For example, in the olden days I would record about 3 minutes of a drum machine onto track one as a starter, but I think there might be a better way.

I've got a lot of computer gear and have got Logic Pro (and garageband)
Problems in my mind are things like:
Do I need to count the bars of intro/verse/chorus and then put them in first? (seems a bit long winded)
How can I use those AI drummers to put fills in the right place?
In the olden days it used to take several hours to do one song to a pretty basic standard, is it much faster now?
etc.

Anyhow, there are hundreds of logic/garageband videos on youtube so I'm trying to find one that focusses on workflow for a song, not really how to use the software (which I also need, but will fix that as I go along).

Advice welcome!

fretmeister

My personal work flow is...

set the right tempo(s) with a click track or a basic drum pattern
Play a guide guitar part all the way through. No real tone changes or clean or dirty etc as this track will be binned.
Then a guide vocal that will be binned later too.
Create the drum part using EZDrummer 2. Usually by trying out a bunch of preset song sections (not necessarily in the right place - IE use a "chorus" pattern for a verse if I like that more)
Record the bass part properly.
Record the clean guitars
Record the dirty guitars
Double track the dirty guitars (never a cut and paste as that is shit)
Do the solos if any.
Then main vocal
then backing vocal
Mix and processing
Mastering and processing.

All the proper parts are recorded wet but also with a dry signal for later reamping too.

I do it all in Reaper with a hardware Helix, some plugins from Neural, and Waves etc.

fretmeister

EZDrummer puts the fills where you want them. You just drag a fill sample into the right place in the EZD window. It's very easy.

You still have to do that bit though!

theatreanchor

@allen Definitely use one of those beginner videos and begin your learning and experimenting that way. Or - better yet - get a friend to come round a show you. X on the keyboard will take you between mixer and recording view in Logic. That’s a good start!

Jason

I just put 5 mins of a basic drum pattern into GarageBand (Motown 3 is my fav - it's a nice steady beat)

Then scratch guitar - if two inputs, a scratch vocal at the same time, doesn't matter how rough they will be deleted. The vocals are just to tell me where I am in the song

Then as the post above.

The GarageBand drums have come on loads, not EZ level, but good enough to get started. I realised I don't think like a drummer so I always struggle with them. Logic drummers are great, pick a style, add some swing (or not) etc

digitalkettle

fretmeister said:

My personal work flow is...

^ That'd be a pretty good start.

I'm less precise: just start recording...to a beat/loop/click*...get going and it's easy to change your mind about the arrangement later. Also, it needn't be as linear, e.g. record...mix...record...mix. Have fun with it

* I tend to decide on a tempo, then fire-up SSD5, choose a kit, and audition a bunch of Groove Monkee beats...I then stretch that out to give me something to record over...once the song takes shape, I'll go back to the beats and start tailoring it; fills, transitions, etc.

digitalkettle

Jason said:

...

Then scratch guitar - if two inputs, a scratch vocal at the same time, doesn't matter how rough they will be deleted.
...

This could be an interesting thread: I can't remember the last time I recorded a scratch track! Maybe it's because the guitar part is what drives me to fire up the DAW in the first place?

fretmeister

digitalkettle said:

Jason said:

...

Then scratch guitar - if two inputs, a scratch vocal at the same time, doesn't matter how rough they will be deleted.
...

This could be an interesting thread: I can't remember the last time I recorded a scratch track! Maybe it's because the guitar part is what drives me to fire up the DAW in the first place?

If a rhythm part has the same sound all the way through sometimes I end up keeping it, but I often have loads of different tones for different sections.

Saying that though - I really like writing for a power trio / 3 instruments + singer arrangements so I do try to keep it performable for that band make up.

I still double track heavy guitars to get them sounding right, but I also usually have the rhythm guitar drop out behind solos and that sort of thing. If a harmony is needed then the bass has to manage it somewhere.

I like the variation when something is dropping out. Wall of Noise for an entire song / set can get quite tiring. 

Emptiness is not a bad thing, it's just a different thing. But I do build from the bottom upwards. Get the drums and bass sounding just right first. Should be able to carry the song with just them. Then the guitars and vox on top. Then it never really sounds like something is missing during a solo.

allen

Thanks everyone. I might sit down tomorrow morning and give it a go for a couple of hours.

Grangousier

If your version of Logic (and possibly GarageBand) is recent, you don't even need to start with a click track - what I do is record a very basic, rhythmically simple guide guitar (as simple as just down beats) and let Logic follow the tempo. Then turn on the option that lets the track follow tempo changes and tweak the tempo map until it's right.

Then I mark out the arrangement (I include custom section types like Silence or Solo) and generate a Drummer track, I can then sketch out a bass line using a virtual instrument and record the rest of the instruments. This means there's never a fixed tempo, and it sounds more alive, somehow. 

flying_pie

I mainly record covers for the cover challenge so I usually have a rough arrangement in my brain before I start up my DAW.

For this month's challenge I knew I'd do Lionel Richie in the style of Green Day and had several tracks in mind to put in a mash up. That idea came to me because Hello starts Am G and so does Brain Stew. In the end I used different songs because I tracked too many verses because I can't count properly!

Last challenge I was watching Stranger Things and they were dressed as Ghostbusters so I thought I'd do it. I know it's B major with B A E as the chords and was strunning a few ideas when I realised B minor A E was Wicked Game by Chris Isaak and "I.... Don't want to fall in love" could be "I.... Ain't afraid of no ghost"

First thing I do is make sure I can sing it "okay" in whatever key. Usually that's down to the highest notes as my natural singing voice is bass baritone and I usually end up singing right at the top of my range.

I then tend to input drums using existing tabs and tweaking as needed. I might record a rough guitar track if I'm sketching ideas but I tend to track guitars and bass then vocals for the full track most of the time.

IMC1980

Same as others, once I know the BPM, then use a basic drum track for 3-4 minutes so I can start putting guitars down. I am very lazy and my first takes often end up being the finals, then track vocals. After that work on a proper drum track for the song either using canned loops if I can find what I want or drawing it out in the piano roll and then finally do the bass once the drums are in place.

I will mix as I go so levels should be about right at this point, but there may be automation that needs to be done for vocals or guitar solos and any FX work.

flying_pie

I forgot to mention that I use regions in Reaper to cut down on labour for drums. I'm sure other DAWs will have the same type of feature where you select bars and create separate regions for into, verse, bridge,etc. You can then copy, duplicate and move them around. It's a great way of getting your basic arrangement in place using drums alone. You just need to remember to edit each region slightly if you don't want fills to be identically repeated.

allen

Thanks again. I fired up logic but wasted two hours fixing some plugin problem. 

Habanero

If you’re just wanting to do a faithful cover of a non obscure tune, you can often find free midi versions on the ‘net. Whilst some are terrible, some are very good and can at least give you the basis of a drum track.

All you have to do is download the file, create an empty Logic project and then drag n drop the file. Logic (or even GarageBand) will then create the tracks and assign software instruments.

imalrightjack

fretmeister said:

My personal work flow is...

set the right tempo(s) with a click track or a basic drum pattern
Play a guide guitar part all the way through. No real tone changes or clean or dirty etc as this track will be binned.
Then a guide vocal that will be binned later too.
Create the drum part using EZDrummer 2. Usually by trying out a bunch of preset song sections (not necessarily in the right place - IE use a "chorus" pattern for a verse if I like that more)
Record the bass part properly.
Record the clean guitars
Record the dirty guitars
Double track the dirty guitars (never a cut and paste as that is shit)
Do the solos if any.
Then main vocal
then backing vocal
Mix and processing
Mastering and processing.

All the proper parts are recorded wet but also with a dry signal for later reamping too.

I do it all in Reaper with a hardware Helix, some plugins from Neural, and Waves etc.

This is largely what I do in Logic, however I tend to chop up and copy and paste riffs/vocals to speed up workflow on the first draft.  Also missing is make the drums less predictable later with edits/humanising, etc. (or as I'm currently doing, getting the drummer from my band to do MIDI drums to a click).

PolarityMan

fretmeister said:

digitalkettle said:

Jason said:

...

Then scratch guitar - if two inputs, a scratch vocal at the same time, doesn't matter how rough they will be deleted.
...

This could be an interesting thread: I can't remember the last time I recorded a scratch track! Maybe it's because the guitar part is what drives me to fire up the DAW in the first place?

If a rhythm part has the same sound all the way through sometimes I end up keeping it, but I often have loads of different tones for different sections.

Saying that though - I really like writing for a power trio / 3 instruments + singer arrangements so I do try to keep it performable for that band make up.

I still double track heavy guitars to get them sounding right, but I also usually have the rhythm guitar drop out behind solos and that sort of thing. If a harmony is needed then the bass has to manage it somewhere.

I like the variation when something is dropping out. Wall of Noise for an entire song / set can get quite tiring. 

Emptiness is not a bad thing, it's just a different thing. But I do build from the bottom upwards. Get the drums and bass sounding just right first. Should be able to carry the song with just them. Then the guitars and vox on top. Then it never really sounds like something is missing during a solo.

Bass first my bottom! Half of new metal bands don't even have a bass player!

TheBigDipper

I'm trying something new (for me) in Logic. 

I've got a few new songs that I want to make demos of. I've already got a structure (tempo, bar count for verse, chorus, etc.) in my head and I can play it on an acoustic and sing the vocal line - in fact, I have been at a local open mic. 

So...  I've decided to record the acoustic and vocals onto two tracks as a guide, which is often how I'll start, but use a feature I've not worked with before called Adaptive Tempo. The idea (if I can make it work) is to play the music and let the tempo ebb and flow as the music requires. Logic seems to make sense of that and creates a tempo track that follows the playing. which should then make it easier to chop the project up into sections and add software instruments and drums that will also follow the (slightly varying)  tempo and even let me quantise them accurately. 

I don't like music that sticks to a fixed tempo. I prefer variation.

So far, all I've done is import someone else's audio file into a new project and tell Logic to use adaptive tempo against it to create a tempo track - but it seems to work. 

But if I wrote it on an acoustic, I'll start with a guide that ultimately doesn't get used in the final mix and then fill in the parts in that are in my head. 

marxski

The trick with Logic Drummer to get fills where you would expect them to be is to use the song markers on the timeline - it has a list of standard vernacular such as verse chorus outro etc. Drummer uses these. Even though splitting a region typically puts a fill at the end of the region naming the song markers makes a big difference to how Drummer literally plays out.

and yes tempo changes make a big improvement in guitar music.

DigitalDave

I found the Guildhall School  of Music's Logic Pro X  Masterclass a fantastic resource.

Habanero

I'd also recommend the below YouTube video. It's for Garageband, but equally could apply to Logic. The same author has another rockier example.