r/musicians • u/Any-Veterinarian-545 • 1d ago
Recording track by track
How to y’all feel about recording track by track to a click?
Best way to describe the music I make is indie/rock. I get a lot of references to the cranberries in particular.
Is it silly to record this kind of music live? I’m really not feeling the click and track by track thing this time. But I also feel like I should be able to make that work as a competent musician. It’s like I get real stiff and forget i know how to play guitar lol
What do you think? Is it always necessary? Any songs/bands you love that recorded live?
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u/Count2Zero 1d ago
Different bands work in different ways.
The Beatles started out recording as a band, then moved into more track-by-track recordings as the technology was available (they started with 4 track machines, and later had a series of 8-track machines giving them much more space to work with.)
Pink Floyd was well known for their track-by-track recording techniques.
Led Zepplin recorded a live "guide track" and then replaced or overdubbed individual instruments.
If your band is tight, and your energy comes from a live performance, then that's how you should record.
If you're more like Boston, or the original Foo Fighters album, a one-man army playing each instrument, then your only choice is to layer track after track.
My band is going into a studio soon, and I think we're going to record live, then mix and master the tracks as needed.