D8 Skills #16 & D9 | Unit E | Recording Band, Loft | Session #4
Today, my first lesson started at 11:00. I had previously asked the drummer what time they were getting in on Monday and he said they started at 09:00 and would have about 20-30mins with the teacher before going into the studios for band practice. Since we now had a perfect drum recording, this was the perfect time to record another instrument. I made the effort to arrive at 09:15, and with the help of the band, I set up the bass amp along with an Audix D6 plus a DI box ready to record. I opened up the Pro Tools project, created two new tracks with the correct inputs/outputs, and made sure I was getting signal through both channels. Then we waited for the bass player to arrive. We waited and waited until it was too late to record anything as he arrived so late. I suggested that we recorded the guitar instead of bass, however, the guitar player said he didn't want to do that. He definitely wanted the bass to be recorded before the guitars. This wasn't a complete waste of time, however, since I spent the time productively:
- I played the drums to the rest of the band members to make sure they were happy with the recording. They were.
- I mixed the drums to get them sounding great.
- I bounced out the recording and later sent it to the band members so that they had a great recording to practice along with.
Part of the mixing process of the drums included combining two recordings together (the drummer dropped a drum stick during the recording, and then we got a good take of the rest of the track afterwards).
How I combined the takes:
- I moved the 2nd recording down onto new tracks.
- I aligned the 2nd recording with the 1st by zooming in a lot and carefully adjusting the position of all 4 tracks together so that they matched the 1st.
- I then sliced the end off the 1st recording and the beginning of the 2nd so that they blended together perfectly.
- Now, there was no need for separate tracks, so I moved the second recording back up to its origin right next to the 1st recording.
- The last action I took was applying a tiny crossfade between the two recordings so that there was no possibility of any 'pops'. The transition now sounds completely seamless and as if it was one single recording. It's impossible to tell.
Here is a bounce down of the drums after this quick session:
