Recording experience

Allan Haley · Post by **Allan Haley** » 18 Apr 2020 6:39 am

Hi steelers friends,

Relatively beginner steeler here.

I was recording PSG yesterday for a friend's album. Due to the lockdown, I was set up to record in my studio (garage), while the producer and my friend were in the real studio on a Zoom videocall with me.

We'd talk about a song, and then I'd take a couple passes at it. I would upload the files to them later that day.

My experience of recording has been mostly at home. Record a few seconds, stop, rerecord, stop, rerecord, stop, rerecord- all in 10 or 15 second chunks.
Horrible, not fun, and winds up sounding like a jigsaw puzzle looks.

Yesterday, with the producer and the singer/songwriter on video, I was unable to do that. I had to play through the entire song in one go - or stop once or twice at most.

Totally different experience! I felt like I was laying down a performance of the song, not just gluing a lick on top of 1m,45s.

So, my takeaway is this: next time I want to record, I will take a deep breath, pretend I'm playing for live people in
the room, and strive to play the whole song without stopping and starting.

A simple observation but one that make my recording experiences more fun and less frustrating hitting that STOP/START button.

Best,

Al (Vancouver)

Jeff Mead · Post by **Jeff Mead** » 18 Apr 2020 7:27 am

Another option for next time would be to record 3 or so complete takes of the song. As long as you don't make mistakes in exactly the same part each time, you should be able to edit together what sounds like a good single take.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 18 Apr 2020 9:46 am

Doing it all in one take is a performance. Cut and paste is...well...cut-and-paste.Les Paul and George Martin could make cut-and-paste sound pretty good,but as someone once said "A full house,a hot band,and some jingle in your pocket is the most fun you can have standing up..."

Jim Robbins · Post by **Jim Robbins** » 18 Apr 2020 8:31 pm

Or, if you play pedal steel, sitting down. Nothing wrong with punching in a solo, though.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 19 Apr 2020 1:29 am

In recent times I don't think I ever tracked a song "in studio" from start to finish. The producers wanted certain parts first. They already had a concept in mind. Some songs we started with the last chorus first .

Its not up to me. Its up to them, they are paying me. That doesn't mean we didn't do a full track from start to finish, we did, but it was AFTER we had already determined what was useful and what was not.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 19 Apr 2020 1:53 am

I agree that complete takes have a better "organic" feel, but like Tony says, if there's a clear strategy, then go with that.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 19 Apr 2020 8:11 am

Having fun playing a tune is a big step up as a recording musician ! Congrats, they pushed you in the pool and it turned out you could swim.

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 20 Apr 2020 1:14 pm

It's a treat get a whole band in a studio and just go for it, but very seldom get to do that anymore. Fun to get inspired by the other guys and feel like you're a part of something bigger. Nowadays its mostly just overdubs because the producer has gotten the players in one or two at a time and built it up like he wants it. We'll make a few passes at the intro (if I'm involved) till we get it like he wants it, then go on to a section where I have backup, make a few passes. then same with the solo (if any) and piece it together like that. I did a one song session last week and was in and out in 50 minutes, thats counting setting up, tuning and getting the parts.

Matthew Dyer · Post by **Matthew Dyer** » 20 Apr 2020 4:28 pm

I'm pretty much just a hobbyist, but the few times I've been in the studio with my steel I've been a wreck. There's magical about the pedal steel in the way it can amplify all my anxiety and nerves into awful sounds.

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 21 Apr 2020 6:43 am

Clyde Mattocks wrote:It's a treat get a whole band in a studio and just go for it, but very seldom get to do that anymore. Fun to get inspired by the other guys and feel like you're a part of something bigger. Nowadays its mostly just overdubs because the producer has gotten the players in one or two at a time and built it up like he wants it. We'll make a few passes at the intro (if I'm involved) till we get it like he wants it, then go on to a section where I have backup, make a few passes. then same with the solo (if any) and piece it together like that. I did a one song session last week and was in and out in 50 minutes, thats counting setting up, tuning and getting the parts.

I think we've lost a lot when we got away from having everyone in the studio at the same time. The interaction between musicians, or just bouncing ideas off one another.

RC

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 21 Apr 2020 7:22 am

To me, music is a communal activity, and I'm not the least interested in the piecemeal approach.

If I'm ever offered money to do stuff like that it will be interesting to see how much it takes to persuade me

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 21 Apr 2020 7:47 am

On most of the sessions I've done, they had me play through the whole song, and just kept what they liked. Only in a few instances did they tell me specifically what to play, and where to play it. "Assembling" songs from little pieces, as I see it, is sort of a cop-out. Anybody could probably do that and come up with something that sounded decent, but that's not real music.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 21 Apr 2020 8:10 am

I've done it like Donny mentioned and I also walked in with my parts already worked out from their scratch track I got a week in advance which made the producer happy. You need to at least be able to pull up ideas quickly,play in tune and not screw around trying to get it to all come together at the session.

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 21 Apr 2020 8:13 am

Donny Hinson wrote:On most of the sessions I've done, they had me play through the whole song, and just kept what they liked. Only in a few instances did they tell me specifically what to play, and where to play it. "Assembling" songs from little pieces, as I see it, is sort of a cop-out. Anybody could probably do that and come up with something that sounded decent, but that's not real music.

I agree 100%. I get that "play all the way through and we'll pick what we want" stuff too and I hate it. Ocassionally, I'll get a track and they say "do the first break and play fills on the first chorus, etc...". That's not too bad, but it still lacks the feeling you get with a bunch of good players in the studio at the same time. Now.... I do the one piece at a time in my home studio where I do all the music myself, but I have the other parts in my mind as I go.... at least as much as my mind can remember.

RC

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 22 Apr 2020 12:29 pm

I don't like the "play all the way thru and we'll keep what we want" approach. It denies me planning an entrance and exit to a section. But I do it the way the person who hired me wants it. I have been in the producer's chair quite a bit and having everyone in together can spark magic. Sometimes a player has an interpretation or a rhythmic groove that changes everything for the better.