Hi, I am just curious what steps you would go about for recording 3 tracks
1 vocals
2 tracks on acoustic guitar
The reason I am asking is because I would like to know everyone’s go to setup
For example what do you have pre setup before you start recording. Plugins, any eq Compressors, limiters, maximizers, filter settings. Pr EQ to cut out any rumble and lastly your Master track, and plugins you have on those.
Thank you all
I start from a blank project every time! I favour this start because I like to avoid going down the same route for every recording. I’d set up mics etc., add 3 new tracks, set up input routing from my interface and then create some simple cue mixes or monitor mixes using just fader levels.
Then I’d press record, go for a take and see how the players/singers felt about it, and see how it sounded on playback. I’d tweak the mic positions and player positions for the best rough mix.
I’d then use light EQ and perhaps light compression and a simple reverb to get a monitor mix for the players. At this point I’d mostly use the Cubase FX (e.g. EQ and one of the inbuilt channel strip compressors) because they’re low latency whereas I generally mix with UAD FX which have way too much latency for low-latency tracking!
After getting some decent takes I’d then start adding more FX (UAD or Waves) and tweaking EQ (Cubase internal, UAD Cambridge or Waves REQ) to get an idea of what the mix might sound like. For any further takes after that I’d be clicking the Latency Compensation button to remove the latency of the heavier plugins.
For reverb I’d use either UAD Lexicon, UAD Plate or Waves RVerb. For echoes I like to use Cubase ModDelay (a really old plugin), Bionic Delay (free plugin by The Interruptor).
I’d also eventually put in some mix bus compression (e.g. UAD tape emulation, UAD SSL bus compressor, Waves L2) because that’s what I like to use to give me an idea of the mastering potential.
So, for a simply acoustic + voice recording, the mic positions and room acoustics are the most important thing to get right at the recording stage. Then the EQ and FX are done when you have a good take of the song.
Mike.
I recorded a couple of pop rock singers/guitarist. I also always start with an empty project. I simply add audio tracks. Gate and compression in the inputs adjust until I find the sweet spots. I never use fx or EQ when recording vocals or guitars. I overdub both vocals and guitars seperately. I add fx eq after.