Recording takes at home w/kemper to bring to the studio.

    Hey guys


    I am preparing to head to the studio to take a few songs for my band from demo form to radio ready.


    I have a half decent home studio and I am thinking I may be able to save some studio time by doing my guitar takes at home with the kemper and bringing them into the studio. giving me more time in studio to perfect vocals etc.


    This will be my first experience in a professional recording environment so, is this a good idea or will the producer tell me i'm off my head and to scrap those takes and do it in studio?


    Would the same be able to be said for the bass lines?


    (I figured this would have been asked before but searching didn't show much)


    thanks

    It all depends on the character of the producer.


    More then never the "home recorded tracks" made their way into the final mix. But who cares? If you like to do, just do it! You cant lose. Its always good to record in a comfortable and well known place. Maybe, try to keep your tracks as dry as your style allows for.

    Ne travaillez jamais.

    Edited once, last by SpinnerDeluxe ().

    Record DI tracks simultaneously with amped tracks and take them to the studio. If the DI tracks are done right, the studio engineer can reamp them through an amp of your choice (remember to capture them on your Kemper), or you can even go through the Kemper if you'd like. Do check out my reamping guide so that you get excellent DI tracks that will be as good as if a professional engineer had you record them.


    Play to a click. You want everything to be spot on perfect. Any imperfections will stand out like a sore thumb, for radio ready, you want to make sure everything syncs to a grid perfectly.


    At the same time, remember to have proper workflow in the studio. Those amped tracks you recorded can be a great base for your drummer to fulfill his end of the bargain without you having to record a track from scratch for him to play to. You can either do the drums or the bass first. Guitars and vocals come last.


    If your drummer swings a bit in his timing, don't fret, as long as it is within a useful range. Those minor shifts against a grid add feel to music as long as everything syncs and locks in tight. If your DI track doesn't fit with the drums, but the drums sound good, redo the guitar tracks.


    And remember, quantisation is your friend and your enemy. Studio engineers often quantise stuff to make it sync to a grid, but a great performance is one where you don't need to do that because everything is put down in a musical way.

    If the tracks are well played and sound good, it shouldn't be an issue. Obviously timing is important. Per your hunch, recording these at home can definitely save time which translates to saving money. I say give it a shot, but use a drum or click track. If the producer feels the tracks aren't up to par, they'll tell you so.

    This should work sure, I can tell you that from both sides (musician and producer) But you should talk to your audio engineer, so that you give him the files exactly how he needs them.


    And as mentioned, record the DI tracks, its incredible how much you / the mixer can thicken up the guitars later in the mix with it!!


    If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.. !

    I agree with the previous speakers.
    In any case your rawmix should have also the pure guitar and bass signals for reamping (look in the manuals) and a SMPT readable click or drum track.
    (Heaven, I would give a lot if we would have this possibilties in the early 70ies :rolleyes: )
    Anyway the decision if the tracks are good enough is a matter of a studio discussion.
    Good luck and good success.

    I too agree with what's been said. Further to what @nightlight said 'though, if there are tiny anomalies in your timing and even pitch-wise in your lead bending, many of them will be able to be fixed through audio quantisation / time shifting of files, and pitch editing (on those bends).


    Case in point: The lead break is perfect... except for one bend. You could either redo the bend and have that "dropped in" (edited into the break) or the existing one could be pitch-corrected with precise drawing tools in a DAW.


    Welcome, spaztikcamel!

    Where is the reamping guide ?

    No Gain - No Pain.... :D

    In my experience (from both sides), 'home made' takes are never really drag & drop ready. They most likely need work, or - worse - the performer needed feedback on a few details (that's what producers are for).
    Also the at times very inspiring interaction between producer and performer is completely lost, which could have led to truly outstanding/musical-in-the-big-picture takes.


    To sum it up, it might work, but:

    • the takes might be not as good as they could have been with a dedicated producer next to you
    • it might take time to make these takes 'fit' which of course substracts from the money you might have saved by recording at home
    • the recordings are going to be around pretty much forever, is saving a few bucks really worth these risks? <- just my personal thoughts on this

    You mention that this will be your "first experience in a professional recording environment", so I would recommend taking the whole experience in. See how they do things, it's amazing what you can learn by spending a few days in a studio. Once you feel comfortable with all this, recording at home might be an option.

    @DonPetersen is right: there is a lot to be said for recording everything in the studio. There's also a kind of magical "this is it, we're all here together, it has to happen right here and now" feeling there, which can make you nervous but can also make your performance really special (though I suppose this varies for different kinds of music -- the "performance factor" is less important in, say, basic metal rhythm guitars that just have to be as tight as possible).


    On the other hand: the more prepared you are for your studio time, the better. If you can spare the time beforehand to do guitar takes at home, if anything -- even if they end up not being used -- the experience of recording tracks "(possibly) for real" is very instructive. Hearing your takes against a clicktrack while asking yourself: "Would I be happy if this were the final version?" will tell you a lot about how tight your timing is, where you get unwanted string noise and other things that may need work; and that experience, in turn, will make tracking go a lot smoother in the studio.


    You mentioned having a home studio, so you may have all this down already. But if you're doing that kind of preparation anyway, it never hurts to bring those recordings (both amped and DI) to the studio and give the producer the freedom to decide what to do with them. They can be used as pilot tracks so your drummer can get started right away; maybe they're good enough to be a fallback option so you can focus on vocals and replace the guitars if there's enough time left at the end; maybe the producer will like some or them but think you can do better on others.


    Ultimately, the question is how much time you feel comfortable devoting to this, knowing that you may have to do it again in the studio. If you go through the effort of recording your best possible takes at home and none of them ends up being used, will you be disappointed or just glad that the extra work you put in at least made you super ready?