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  #1  
Old 01-18-2006, 02:41 PM
villagechurch villagechurch is offline
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Default Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

I am an acoustic player, and all my songs are acoustic composed of different guitar parts. The question I have is am I suppose to lay down the main guitar track in one take, which in most cases means its 3 to 4 minutes long? Or am I suppose to record pieces of the song and find a break and fade the two different sections together.(though most of my songs don't have a distinctive break) I find it hard to believe that I am suppose to play a whole song thru w/o making some mistake....

Any help would be appreciated.
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  #2  
Old 01-18-2006, 03:07 PM
seattleguitarman seattleguitarman is offline
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Default Re: Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

Since Pro Tools is so easy to edit with you could lay down the full first track then wherever you made mistakes you could select that section and punch in to fix it, even a looped punch in would give you multiple takes to get it right and you could then pick the best fix.

Lots of good tutorials explain how to do a comp [composite] take where you piece together these various parts to make a best full piece.
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Old 01-19-2006, 06:15 AM
tlester tlester is offline
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Default Re: Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

Hi -

There are no "supposed to's" in recording. If you can comfortably play the whole song through and capture a good performance, than go for it. If you can't, then brake it down to chunks you can manage. Or, you can play it through and fix the bad spots. There's no right or wrong when it comes to this.

As a producer/engineer... I tend to change my approach based on what will work best for my client. I have some clients that can do a punch if their life depended on it. Not that they can't play the part for the punch, but they over think it and it comes out stiff. So, instead, what I'll do is get them to record the whole track 3-4 times. Then, I comp the best of the 4 tracks into one finished track. Some artists can just do the full track in a take. With others... I have to record one line at a time, but it sounds great when it's done.

So... find what works for you. And this may vary from song to song. If you are recording an easy I-IV-V "jangely" song, you may be able to cut it in one shot, no problem. But if you are pulling a Tuck Andres, then you may need to do it in chunks. Feel free to work in whatever method it takes to get "magic"!

-Tom
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  #4  
Old 01-25-2006, 03:22 PM
villagechurch villagechurch is offline
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Default Re: Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

Quote:
Since Pro Tools is so easy to edit with you could lay down the full first track then wherever you made mistakes you could select that section and punch in to fix it, even a looped punch in would give you multiple takes to get it right and you could then pick the best fix.

Lots of good tutorials explain how to do a comp [composite] take where you piece together these various parts to make a best full piece.
You mentioned good tutorials...where would you reccomend I find one.
Appreciate the response.
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  #5  
Old 01-29-2006, 10:08 PM
Talent4God Talent4God is offline
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Default Re: Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

What is a good tutorial link for recording with guitar?
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  #6  
Old 01-30-2006, 10:48 AM
maccool maccool is offline
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Default Re: Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

Quote:
I find it hard to believe that I am suppose to play a whole song thru w/o making some mistake....
Believe! If you believe it, you can do it, and then you've something to work with.

Ever watch a piano virtuoso play a Rachmaninov concerto? No comp'ing there mate.

Don't be seduced by the dark side. If you can't do it in one take, practice until you can. The performance is everything, especially if it's just you and the guitar.

IMHO.
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  #7  
Old 01-30-2006, 01:46 PM
philippebruno philippebruno is offline
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Default Re: Recording a song with only a acoustic guitar

ok, two attitudes possible when it comes to recording in general :

put a click, record measure after measure, copy & paste everything was good but U'r not sure to be able to play again, edit, cut, reverse.... USE the large possibilities of edition in PT...
with this way of working U can control every single note

OR

practice, practice, practice 8 hours a day until U can play all your songs without even look at U'r left hand... arm U'r track & record U'r live performance
if U aim to play U'r music on stage on day that's the best solution, plus it will be more living perfomance...

in any case, tend to be creative one way or the other, listen to what Mirwais has done on his solo album...
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