Here's my point by point take on this article.

Too many takes Quite literally, the majority of my live tracks are one or two takes.... with punches to fix the big nits. I might track a lead vox 2 or 3 times but I delete the previous one. Layered and harmony vox are 99% of the time one take and done. Same with guitars. Very little in the way of multiple takes. I rehearse before I press record.

Less tracks, more music. Again, the majority of my projects are between 8 to 12 tracks. Occasionally I will exceed that and get into the upper teens, but even then, it's simply because I maybe added or changed a guitar track solo and rather than record it into an existing track where the space exists, I just add another track.

Stay tuned. One of my pet peeves. I can hear notes that are not quite in tune. It's like fingernails on the chalkboard to my ears. Always tune your instrument. Always sing in tune or use Melodyne to fix it. Nothing chaps my rear end like a guitar that's out of tune or a singer flat or sharp of the pitch.


Stop, what’s that sound? I don't sweat this one too much. But I do have the occasional yard maint guy running his weed whacker, or the truck, or the train, or the barking dog that interrupts a session. When the guy across the street is running the lawnmower, I find something else to work on that doesn't require a mic.

Compress less. I use as little compression as I need. Sometimes not enough but I'd rather error on the lesser side of this one.

Be prepared. Pffftt. It takes all of 60 seconds to turn on the DAW and it's ready to roll. Due to the lean and mean setup I have here, as soon as the system is booted, we're ready to record. It's a dedicated DAW and everything stays connected all the time. Boot time and now that BB loads in about 2 seconds.... this is a no brainer.

And that's how we roll around here.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/07/17 03:22 PM.
You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.