My absolute favourite way to record is having a band in a room performing at the same time. It is how many of my favourite records were produced and
Pro Mix Academy released a course with Manny Nieto on the art of capturing a live performance and I highly recommend that! Even if you do not have access to a full live band, the lessons in it can still apply when you’re working alone.
As many will see, the performances we do for gear giveaways, for example, with Katie Ferrara in yesterday’s video where we performed Can’t Hurry Love by The Supremes, the band is not performing together and even the horn player is recording from his own space – and, yes, I sent him that microphone just for that performance!
So what is my advice for recording without a live band?
I think Matt Weiss’ advice on Mixing With Emotion is a great place to take from. Instead of mixing, record with emotion. And that emotion comes from the vocals.
I always ensure I have a solid scratch track of vocals and guitar before anything else. This often comes from Katie, McKail Seely or Steve Maggiora themselves or I will record vocal and piano or vocal and guitar myself in the studio.
From there, each musician can build upon the emotional elements of the scratch performance.
In most cases, I track drums LAST. I’m grateful to work with such talented musicians like Blair Sinta.
As always, please watch the video above and do check out our incredible Academy. The Academy is filled with thousands of talented musicians, producers, and engineers that use all different types of DAWs. ProTools just happens to be the one I have used for about 25 years and that makes me feel old!
Thank you ever so much and have a great weekend!