Recording: ‘¿Dónde...’ acoustic guitars & ukulele

Drums? Done. Bass? Done. Now, Dónde… needs acoustic guitars. Oh. And some ukulele.

Video tutorial: recording ¿Dónde Está El Baño? acoustic guitars and ukulele

¿Dónde Está El Baño? acoustic guitars and ukulele: rig run down

Recording

Although I’m recording three separate instruments, the process for each is identical.

Firstly, I set up my gear. In this case, it’s my audio interface, plugged into my Chromebook, with my microphone and headphones plugged into the audio interface.

Secondly, I do the necessary admin. Because of the issues when I was recording electric guitars on the very first light audio recording project – lagging, crashing, not saving – I normally create a new project for each instrument section.

But, I feel like BandLab and I feel each other enough now. Therefore, I’m just going to add Dónde… acoustic guitars and ukulele to the project I created for bass.

So, the extent of admin for this session is renaming the project to reflect acoustic guitars and ukulele, and add tracks in the mix editor for each one.

Because I’m recording the Hummingbird first, I take a level for it. Since the Hummingbird is completely acoustic with no electronics, I use the BOSS tuner app on my phone to tune it up before recording.

Then, I double-check the position of my mic, and away I go.

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Now, I wish there was more to say about recording the Taylor and ukulele, but there really wasn’t – rinse and repeat.

The Hummingbird issue

However, I decided to record the ukulele in time with the guitars. So, I needed to adjust the placement of the samples to get it in time with the drums and bass. But, when I did, I realized that the Hummingbird in the second half was out of time, to the extent that I had no choice but to re-record it.

Now, I guessed it was because I couldn’t help playing along to the scratch track, rather than the drums. Following a first re-record, I could hear it still wasn’t right, despite concentrating really hard.

Finally, I just muted the scratch track, and then I nailed it.

Additionally, I did two tracks of the ukulele, just because I was feeling it.

Conclusion

Pros	Cons
Sound: I think it all sounds fine	Timing: certainly, the whole thing with the Hummingbird was an unnecessary faff

In conclusion, here is Dónde… with its acoustic guitars and ukulele.

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