Tracking - Posted on 2016-05-18 by Nigel Dean

Yesterday in the studio I spent my time tracking guitar. This was a first time for me since the majority of my lessons have been spent on mixing, it was a nice break to finally learn how to track actual instruments. I found myself yesterday thinking it was odd that it took me this long to try and record a guitar, being that I've been a guitar player since almost birth. Nonetheless, it was an easy challenge for me. The biggest difficulty was navagating through Pro Tools since I mostly work in Logic and Ableton. In the session I was recording a simple riff for an idea of a song that I had on my recent travels. The idea consists of an old school blues/motown funk progression with of course, the electronic feel. For my setup, I used a Fender Startocaster (one of the guitars Patrick has in the studio) with a DI input and an amp plugin that imitates the idea of having a amp, cab, and pedalboard. I figured it was best to use a DI input instead of an amp since at home I primarily use my audio interface rather than setting up a mic in front of the amp. The session was relatively simple. Once Patrick showed me how to route everything, I went to work. I practiced the riff a couple times than recorded a couple takes. For effects I used just a simple spring reverb to add depth. Once I had the recording I wanted, I added some processing to clear up the sound. For this I used Slate Digital's Virtual Mix Rack, a phenomenal plugin with amazing sound. I added a mix bus, EQ, compression, and the bomber (acts almost like parallel EQ and Compression). For the EQ I cut out 100hz as well a 600hz and then boosted a little around the 1.5/2k hz. I added some slight compression to tighten up the sound using a relatively fast attack and a fast release. Once I had what I needed I bounced out my recording and spent the remainder of the time discussing music business and DJ performance with Patrick to further increase my knowledge about the world I'm getting into. With being half way through school I'm beginning to strategize my game plan on how i'm going to take over the world once I'm no longer in the program.