Yeah, look at these lazy bastards…
Fucking Luddites.
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I’ve done plenty of multitracking during the rock n roll times and it was great.
For this solo electronic stuff I just go stereo. It’s way more fun to ‘perform’ it and if it sounds good to my ear (which I freely admit is suspect) then I’m on to the next. I used to enjoy this until I found out today that it’s merely the directionless flailings of the lazy. Oh well.
I do like my DAW though! But I mainly use it to ‘master’ my hardware stereo takes. I have on occasion made songs entirely in Renoise but I never actually record anything with the computer. I’m like Egon Spengler that way. I don’t like to cross the streams.
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Drexciya is one of the 1st to come to my mind as well. Damn near their entire catalog is 2 tracks.
These twats too, they never made it out of their bedrooms. The album cut was 2 tracks and Ozzy riffed the lyrics on the spot.
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Also, this idea that recording to the 2 track is somehow less work that multitracking. I don’t think it is, you’re just doing all your mixing and fixing up front, before you record, rather than after the fact.
It’s not like we’re just turning our gear on, jamming one out and hoping for the best. There’s usually a lot of work gone on before the performance/recording bit.
If you like to multi-track and are happy with your results, fantastic. It doesn’t mean that people that do it another way are wrong or lazy, they’re just not the same as you.
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This is why I struggle to participate in the improvised techno thread. Usually by the time I’m ready to record the word “improvised” is no longer applicable.
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this is a great point. It’s just doing it the other way around. After hours or days of work, I’ll get to the point where I think - “this is ready to record now”. I hit record & do it. But the fact I’m obviously not planning on EQing anything, fucking about with compressors or even mixing individual synths or parts or anything ( apart from when it comes to mastering the final stereo mix) after the fact, because I just physically can’t, should indicate that quite a lot of work has gone into getting to that point.
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I multitrack into ableton, but it’s set-up like a mixing desk. I use a console 1 system to mix on each channel (listening, not looking) and bus it all to a summing mixer. Send that LR mix bus mf through my 2 bus chain and use whatever free inputs on my interface I have left to record that output. Done.
I’ve never re-visited a track to re-mix. What’s done is done. Those micro edits are like doing taxes for me.
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I’m going straight to 2-track. Ableton on a laptop just as midi sequencer, via Allen & Heath Mixwizard into Sound Devices MixPre3. After a couple of months I’ll take the SD card from the MixPre, put it in the computer and listen to what I’ve got while “mastering” via comp + SSL Fusion. Works for me.
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Who for you or me?
Yes and no, yes because lots of people (amateurs, I might add) all do the same thing as whoever’s video tutorial they are following, in some misguided notion that it is “the way”. Same mixing, same plug ins, same techniques, same samples, etc.
No because it does not have to be like that, obviously.
No. If constant reworking is needed then something is wrong. I have lost count of the number of times I heard artists say that over working a track never ends well, and often the initial mix is the one that gets released.
Like most people have already said, do what works for you, but don’t make the mistake of thinking it is the same for everyone.
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I like this a lot. The OT clock is super solid, so do you even sync it to the PC? I have read that some of these machines do better just receiving start and stop. I did that with the Rytm, no sync just start stop and the files were dead on with no drifting.
Also how do you set your reverb at the end? Is it just a small wash over the whole mix with some high and low cut? I never have done this (reverb on entire mix) but have wanted to try.
Lots of practice could be the answer you’re looking for but multi-track recorded live can help solve the problem. Knowing your room and your monitors helps a lot. It took me awhile to fully appreciate the importance of a HPF on the mix.
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Don’t even go there. All the greats hand wrote or used typewriters. Kerouac literally wrote On The Road on a single scroll in one go, that’s essentially the equivalent of live recording to stereo. Editors only served to censor and butcher their original works.
Not saying you’re wrong to multitrack, just saying it’s not the “right” way.
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Nope
I record without sync.
Set arrange to same BPM. Trim intro silence and align 1.1 to the first beat.
160 bars later it is still lined up perfectly.
Reverb is blackhole pedal with high density, low killed and mix at about 10-15%
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I couldn’t imagine intentionally giving up the ability to mix a performance in a DAW.
Does that give the artist bragging rights?
I mean what a crazy amount of work that would be to get the mix right all on-device, for every part of the performance.
The idea doesn’t really impress me that much though. You can get a much better product with a little mixing and if you have the equipment to multitrack …
Well what do I know. I chose 16 tracks of audio interface over a fancy mixer.
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No need to feel confronted by it if it doesn’t work for you.
It’s about committing to the work and then moving on, not impressing others.
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It’s just preference. Nothing to brag about. You do you. Just pushing back when people say you have to do it their way.
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Yeah I don’t see anyone bragging, though. I’ve heard amazing songs in mono, stereo or with hundreds of tracks. The end result is all that ever mattered. Some people can get their artistic point across with less, that’s not bragging and it’s not a criticism of other methods.
If there is any argument being made here, it is do not discount simplicity and spontaneity.
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Its not that complex. Listen to gear with the whole mix coming out of the stereo outs. Many times it sounds better due to effects, summing…etc. You split all that into a DAW and then have to reglue everything…why?
Its really not much work to mix synth and sample based music mixed inside a groovebox. One EQ or filter per track will do it, plus resampling.
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This thread is going downhill a bit. Ive noticed some important words keep cropping up.
Fun.
Work.
Art.
Product.
I know which ones I prefer. How the individual gets there is their own business. No one twue way.
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Not directed at @roger but people do assume that certain working preferences are about being impressive or bragging, not using a DAW or (shudder) Daw-less is seen like that too by some.
I record direct to stereo and don’t use a DAW just because that suits me, nothing else.
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