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bigwoody · 04-12-2007, 03:50 PM

I am in the middle of my first attempt at multitracking all original material too. I have a friend add the drums, but other than that our situation is similar. Let me share how I have been able to work effectivly. First, your right on the money about tempo. It is critical.

The very first thing that I do is lay down a couple of tracks that I know I will throw away but it is the essence of the song. It is usually just an acoustic guitar and sometimes a voice (humming if I do't have any lyrics yet). These can be separate tracks, or a mono sum of the guitar and voice. ALWAYS do this with a click-track or a metronome. This way as you move forward you can have points of reference to the grid if you need to correct anything. Sometimes I use the "drum loops" on my keyboard or out of a simple drum machine that I have. They sound cheezy, but I can at least do some simple fills and A/B patterns, that helps me know the chorus is coming up, etc. But I ALWAYS match the Tempo on the source, to the tempo of the project.

Now I have the basic framework of the song. Next I either lay down a "true" rhythm guitar or the Bass. NEXT in Reaper I add markers and regions for Intro/Verse/Chorus. If you have not messed with Regions, check them out. The reason I do this is it allows me to quickly rip the song apart and move things around. i.e. change the order of things, add a second verse or repeat a chorus....search the forum for more info on regions...you will dig them. More often than not the song will end up quite a bit different than the "rif" that I started with.

Next I will start to add in some keyboard, or additional guitars, and will have my buddy come play the drums too. I will usually mute the old drum loop if I had one at this point in his monitors, but play the clicks. Usually the last thing I do is add vocals, harmonies and leads, and any additional percussion items.

The two things that I have learned, in order of importance..

#1. Timing Figure out what works for you, but always have a sorce that you can use to keep things in time, and match it to the tempo for the project so you can reference it to the grid!

#2. Know up front that you will have some "scratch tracks" that will never make it to the mix. At first if felt weird to throw stuff away, but having the early tracks to reference and then learning how to use regions to change the structure of things has really helped me.

Hope this helps....and have fun, I am having a blast!

04-12-2007, 03:50 PM	#2
bigwoody Human being with feelings Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Denver, Colorado Posts: 1,681	I am in the middle of my first attempt at multitracking all original material too. I have a friend add the drums, but other than that our situation is similar. Let me share how I have been able to work effectivly. First, your right on the money about tempo. It is critical. The very first thing that I do is lay down a couple of tracks that I know I will throw away but it is the essence of the song. It is usually just an acoustic guitar and sometimes a voice (humming if I do't have any lyrics yet). These can be separate tracks, or a mono sum of the guitar and voice. ALWAYS do this with a click-track or a metronome. This way as you move forward you can have points of reference to the grid if you need to correct anything. Sometimes I use the "drum loops" on my keyboard or out of a simple drum machine that I have. They sound cheezy, but I can at least do some simple fills and A/B patterns, that helps me know the chorus is coming up, etc. But I ALWAYS match the Tempo on the source, to the tempo of the project. Now I have the basic framework of the song. Next I either lay down a "true" rhythm guitar or the Bass. NEXT in Reaper I add markers and regions for Intro/Verse/Chorus. If you have not messed with Regions, check them out. The reason I do this is it allows me to quickly rip the song apart and move things around. i.e. change the order of things, add a second verse or repeat a chorus....search the forum for more info on regions...you will dig them. More often than not the song will end up quite a bit different than the "rif" that I started with. Next I will start to add in some keyboard, or additional guitars, and will have my buddy come play the drums too. I will usually mute the old drum loop if I had one at this point in his monitors, but play the clicks. Usually the last thing I do is add vocals, harmonies and leads, and any additional percussion items. The two things that I have learned, in order of importance.. #1. Timing Figure out what works for you, but always have a sorce that you can use to keep things in time, and match it to the tempo for the project so you can reference it to the grid! #2. Know up front that you will have some "scratch tracks" that will never make it to the mix. At first if felt weird to throw stuff away, but having the early tracks to reference and then learning how to use regions to change the structure of things has really helped me. Hope this helps....and have fun, I am having a blast!