What instrument do you record first for a band

[Pointbreakd]

My band is about ready to record a demo. The question is...what do we record first?

Rhythm guitar with a metronome?

Bass and Drums?

Just drums?

[Goober]

Usually I record drums first, with everyone else in different room(s). If you are using loops or a drum machine, as I do, obviously, the drums must go first.

[redmax61]

Same here. I always start with drums and a scratch guitar just to get the energy for the bass line going. Then I'll follow up with the guitar parts. Please note that this is the formula I use when I'm playing all of the parts.

If I was recording a band - and depending on the number of tracks I have available for recording, I'd start with a click track. Basic rhythm tracks of drums and bass would follow, and then the guitars.

[Aldwyn]

Anytime I have done full studio work... the entire band plays, and is miced seperately.

If the drum track is good, we'll listen to the bass... if the bass track is good, we listen to the rhythm guitar, etc... if one of them is not good, that person then plays alone, rerecording his track. This is done until the song is complete. Then we listen to the mix down. Dont like it? Start again.

At home in my little studio, I always do drums and bass first...

Peace,
Aldwyn

[Gavin]

We're in the studio now and they have us doing it the same way Aldwyn suggested. Everyone plays together, miced in seperate rooms and add/delete as needed. Once all the instruments are recorded, the vocals are redone until correct.

Gavin

[LeifK]

When we recorded we did drums, bass running direct, and my amp in a different room. We'd record until the drums were right, then go back individually and fix any areas where the bass or guitar messed up...then added the other guitar tracks later...then vocals last.

[SteveK]

When we record live (in the basement), we run through an eight track DAW, a Tascam 1884. So I have 5 mics on the drums, bass direct, scratch guitar track direct through a POD XTL, and a scratch vocal. Joy does the vocal in a different room so this way there is no bleed through of the drums onto any of the other tracks. We then go back to do guitars, vocals, and keyboards..as long as the drum track is good to go.

[kev]

Anytime I have done full studio work... the entire band plays, and is miced seperately.

If the drum track is good, we'll listen to the bass... if the bass track is good, we listen to the rhythm guitar, etc... if one of them is not good, that person then plays alone, rerecording his track. This is done until the song is complete. Then we listen to the mix down. Dont like it? Start again.

At home in my little studio, I always do drums and bass first...

Peace,
Aldwyn
+2


kev

[Garrett]

For my band's demo, we started with scratch acoustic and vocals recorded live, plus a click track. They were really just place keepers so we'd know where we were at in the songs. Then we laid down drums > bass > electric guitars > acoustic guitars > vocals.

I think that's the best way to do it if you're not in a real studio. We used an mBox so we didn't have much choice but to do them one at a time.

[Phil Macino]

+2


kev
+3...Did it today...

Only thing was we knew we were going to be layering guitars and used the first scratch as a template only for the guitars. So we used PODxt's and Vox Tonelabs for the scratch...screaming amps added...

We had 16 tracks on the drums alone which is more than enough...

[Mike Dresch]

+3...Did it today...

Only thing was we knew we were going to be layering guitars and used the first scratch as a template only for the guitars. So we used PODxt's and Vox Tonelabs for the scratch...screaming amps added...

We had 16 tracks on the drums alone which is more than enough...
Geez......I thought it was a lot when I had 12 tracks on a five piece set.

[skijamma]

Anytime I have done full studio work... the entire band plays, and is miced seperately.

If the drum track is good, we'll listen to the bass... if the bass track is good, we listen to the rhythm guitar, etc... if one of them is not good, that person then plays alone, rerecording his track. This is done until the song is complete. Then we listen to the mix down. Dont like it? Start again.

At home in my little studio, I always do drums and bass first...

Peace,
Aldwyn
+4

Denise