OK, enough chat: you know why we’re here, you know what I’m using… let’s make some noise! This simple scratch track is my first step into light audio recording. It might render this whole project a massive waste of time, but let’s see how we go!
This was all done in my apartment, so it’s just a simple recording of vocals, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. I hope to just get a bit of a feel for working with this kind of set up in this kind of environment.
This is not going to be a groundbreaking video that will explain everything about light audio recording and will be the next Bohemian Rhapsody.
Scratch track: rig run down
The aim of this game is keeping it simple. With that in mind, here’s what I’m using in this post.
- ASUS Chromebook Flip C100PA
- Samson Studio GT monitors
- Beyerdynamic DT-100 headphones
- SE Electronics 2200a
- 2018 Taylor TSBT-e
- 1996 Gibson ES-335
- Laney VC15-110
- Pig Hog guitar cable
- Unbranded XLR cable
- Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks
- Electric guitar strings: Ernie Ball Regular Slinky
- Acoustic guitar strings: Ernie Ball Earthwood Medium Light
I don’t think that’s too exhaustive of a setup?
To pull all these together, I’m trying an online, in-browser DAW called BandLab. I’ve never used it before. I’m not going to review it just yet though – I’ll use it to at least record a track and get a full feel for it before that.
The track
This recording is a scratch track to establish the timing and tone of the song. Ordinarily, it should be done with a band playing the song live, to a click track, recording on separate tracks, but that’s not exactly something I have at my disposal right now.
I’ve had this song rattling around for a while, but never really settled on where it’s going. To this end, I’m recording both acoustic and electric guitars for the scratch track, just to see if it can get a little bit more direction and get more of a feel for it.
Recording the scratch track
I’m going to start by recording the acoustic guitar to a click track. Technically, this is an electro-acoustic, which means it’s literally designed for plugging directly into things like amps and audio interfaces, which is what I’ll be doing here.
I would never in a million years do this for a final mix. But for a scratch track, which is just a guide, it doesn’t to be perfect, so I’m letting myself off with it.
This has the added benefit that I can sing along half-heartedly to keep track of where I am in the song, while focusing on playing guitar correctly, without said half-hearted singing being picked up by a mic.
Next up, I’ll do some vocals. However, being in an apartment, with neighbors above, below, and beside me, I won’t be giving this everything I have.
The final thing I’ll be recording today, is the electric guitar. Similarly to the acoustic, as this is a scratch track, I think it’s fine to plug this directly in, via an overdrive pedal.
Conclusion
So far so good. The process really wasn’t dissimilar to other recording scenarios. So as far as dipping your toe into something goes, it was fine.
Here’s what I have to build on.
To conclude, it doesn’t take Butch Vig to hear that the timing between guitars and vocals isn’t great on this, but that’s actually OK – it’s just a guide.
In the next post on recording, I’ll be tackling drums. Everything after that will be played in time with said drums, so it’ll be fine.
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