[QuikDraw]

It really depends on the players that you're working with. Some people like click tracks, and some people stumble all over themselves trying to play with a click. I have the luxury of having an excellent drummer that can play to a click, or with a live band, or with a recording of a band playing to a click. He can do anything I ask of him. That makes things easier.

After trying a few sessions, I've found that this is what works best for me...

I happen to be a bassist. Most drummers like to play with a bassist. I don't like to play while I'm engineering. Just too much to think about. So, I program MIDI drums and a bass track. I'm not a drummer, so it's nothing spectacular. Just something that's got all the right accents and timing and arrangement. I let the drummer put in the tasty stuff on his own. Since I know my bass lines I usually do a pretty good job of programming the bass the same way I play it live.

After I've got the drums and bass programmed I get the guitarist and singer to come over and lay down a basic scratch track of each. Once I've got that done I burn a CD of the programmed drums and bass, and the scratch guitar and vocals, and I give it to the drummer. When the drummer says he's ready he comes in and lays down his tracks.

The drummer will sometimes play to the same mix I gave him on the scratch CD, but often he'll want me to give him a click in addition to the programmed drums. Sometimes his drum part is so different than what I programmed (remember, I'm not a drummer!) that it's distracting, and he'll have me turn the programmed drums off in favor of a click track. The click track is almost never the standard "ONE two three four ONE two three four" that you turn on in Pro Tools. To easy to loose track of the "one" that way. It's usually a "ONE and two and THREE and four" beat with different instruments for the ONE and the THREE so he doesn't get lost. I let the drummer program his own click so he gets exactly what he wants.

After the drums are done I lay down my bass tracks. Then the guitarist comes back in. Then the keyboards if any. Then the singer(s). By this time the drummer usually finds that there are things that he'd like to play differently, so he'll come back and re-do some of his tracks, or maybe do some editing with me.

At this point I've got the whole band recorded and it's time for mixing. Maybe a bit of cheating. Sorry, I mean editing!

Now, with all that said... I still LOVE to record live bands. And if that's the way the band wants to do it, I'm all for it. As long as you have enough I/O and mics, it's a breeze to record live. Just use your imagination for mic placement to get the best sound, and minimize bleed, and live recordings work out great. Just like mixing a live gig except that you have that second chance that you don't get live.

There are other methods as well, but these are my personal favorites. Like I said at the start, whatever the players in any particular session are most comfortable with is the right way to record that session. Each session will probably be a bit different than any other.

Your job as the recording engineer is to get the best sound you can on tape (okay, disk!) of each of the players. Not to change what they sound like, or how they play. You're just a historian catching a moment in audio history. Catch it accurately and you'll have done a great job!

I hope this is helpful.

Mike