Multi track recording for starters

In my first article I posted two songs that I recorded all by myself using a multi track recorder and some musical instruments. Multi track recording allows me to put some ideas together without having to call other musicians to play with me. You don’t necessarily need a lot of expensive equipment to start. However as you progress you may want to take advantage of many slick features that better equipment offers. In this article I will describe the very basic equipment and how to put them into use. I will follow up with articles in which I will be exploring the advanced features such as using insert effects, ping pong recording, mixing and mastering etc.

For starters you will need at least the following:

• Musical instrument
• Multi track recording device
• Headphones
• Microphone

Musical instrument
Any musical instrument will do. In fact if you are a singer and you would like to record only vocals then your instrument comes to you free as your voice. If you would like to use an electric instrument or an electric acoustic instrument such as an acoustic guitar with a pickup, you may or may not choose to use an amplifier, it is up to your taste or budget. You can plug them directly to your recording device. If the cable jack you are using is 6.3mm (1/4”) and the device is 2.5mm or vice versa then you can buy an adapter from an electrical supply store like Radio Shack or Circuit City. For acoustic instruments you will always need a microphone.

Multi track recording device
You have several options in choosing a multi track recording device.
• Analog devices using cassettes or reel tapes
• Standalone digital devices with hard disk
• Software that you can load to your computer



Analog home recording multi track recorders are being replaced with the much better digital devices and they are very hard to find. Internet resources such as e-Bay may be your best bet if you are looking to buy one of these. The picture to the left is my old Yamaha MT4X. It is a four track recorder with four inputs and records on a cassette tape. A band of four instruments could connect one instrument per input and record a song in one take. Usually the quality of the recording is good as long as you keep the recording heads clean and degaussed with the proper tool after a few hours of use.

Some of the most popular vendors of multi track recorders are Tascam, ZOOM, Fostex, Boss, Alesis, 365 Systems, Korg. Prices start from about $200.00 for a new four track recorder and go up depending on the number of inputs, tracks and features to thousands of dollars. However it is possible to record more than four tracks on a four track recorder by mixing two or three tracks into the fourth track (often referred as bouncing tracks) and reuse the tracks that were bounced to the fourth track. The Beatles recorded some of their popular works on a four track reel tape.

The ZOOM HD8 digital recorder that you see in the picture is an eight track recorder with two inputs. It has seven recordable tracks and the last one is for the drum track. It also has a master track to mix and master your final recording. This machine is full of slick features. You can record up to 10 V-Tracks per track and save them. It has a drum pad on top which can be played by hitting the pads with fingers or even drumsticks. It has over 450 pre programmed rhythm patterns made of drum and bass, and some blank patterns which you could create your own drum patterns. It has many insert effects which I will be experimenting with in the future blogs. Most digital recorders provide a USB connection to a computer. Once loaded to a computer you can further edit the tracks using some powerful software or even send your tracks to different musicians across the globe so that they can add their own tracks to your tracks.



Some of the most popular computer based recording systems are Steinberg Cubase, Apple Logic Studio 9 and Apogee GIA Package, Cakewalk, Arturia Hip Hop Producer, Bias, Celemony.

I use Cubase VST which is full of features such as effects with a lot of control over their intensity, plenty of recording tracks and V-Takes, the capability of mixing midi tracks and audio and many more. I use it with a Tascam, US-224 control console which can be seen in the picture. It is easier to control the computer software with a console rather than the mouse clicks. Additionally the computer has only one input while this console has two. There are other consoles that have more inputs and more features. Software systems are very powerful in many ways. However they require a lot of computer resources such as a fast CPU, a very good and large hard disk and most importantly a lean running operating system. If these requirements are not met you may face a latency issue and the tracks that you are trying to mix may not sound in synch with each other.

Headphones
Any headphone that is compatible with your recording device will do. I recommend using a headphone to monitor the previously recorded tracks while you are recording new tracks. If you use of open speakers and microphone as your input, then your previously recorded track will also be picked up by the microphone and recorded into the current one. If you are connecting your instrument direct to the recorder’s input then you can use open speakers.

Sony, Sennheiser, Stageworks, Direct Sound, AKG, Shure, Behringer, Samson, Pioneer are some of the headphone manufacturers.

Microphone
A good microphone can do magic in recording. There are many things to consider in buying a microphone but I will talk about it in the future. This article is about setting a basic environment and get the feel out of what multi track recording can do for you. For the time being you can use any microphone that can be attached to your device. If you are using computer software the microphone supplied with your computer is fine for a beginner.

AKG, Samson, Shure, Behringer, Neumann, Telefunken, M-Audio, Blue Microphones are some popular microphone manufacturers.

What is next?
Now that we have established the minimum equipment requirements we can start recording a simple song. In my next article I will go step by step into recording a song.

A SIMPLE RECORDING

In my previous article titled "Multi track recording for starters" I explored the basic equipment needed for an amateur musician to start recording. If you haven't read it you can find it at the"Archive" section on the bottom left of this page. There are many more devices that can be used to obtain better sound quality, special sound effects etc. Mixers, sequencers, drum machines, effect pedals can add variety to your recording.


In this article I intend to familiarize the reader with the basic operations of a multi-track recorder. My target audience is folks who have never used a multi-track recorder and are considering to start, or recently started but having difficulty to figure out the basic operations. I will take a few bars of music and simply record the four parts into four separate tracks and then mix them to create the final product. In addition to the step by step instructions I included videos showing the mechanics of each step on a Zoom HD8CD.

Most multi-track recording projects require a three step process:

• Planning
• Recording
• Mixing and mastering

PLANNING
Since you will be playing each part one at a time, it is not only good practice to plan ahead what you will be recording, it is a must. In future articles I will talk about planning in details. For this example I chose a chord progression of five bars and I will repeat it a few times. The progression that I chose is similar to the end of a Beatles song called "I want you (She’s so heavy)" however I am not trying to re create the same song nor will I try to play it good. The objective in this article is to put together 4 tracks.

Dm / / / Dm / / / E7 / / / Bb / / / A / / /

The final recording will sound like this:


(I know that this is not an interesting piece of music. I selected it because it is easy to replicate even for a beginner musician. At the end of this article there is a full song that I recorded using my Zoom HD8 and some of its great features.)


Planning the first track:
The common practice is to record the rhythm tracks first and add the melody last. There are many good reasons for this especially if you are using several real (as opposed to prerecorded drum patterns) percussion instruments which I will talk about in the future articles. In this example I will not use any percussion or drum patterns. The rhythm part is just the arpeggio played with a guitar.

Planning the second track:
Using the same guitar, I will play a melodic bass line for the second track.

Planning the third track:
I will play the same melody that the bass guitar played with a harmonica

Planning the fourth track:
Finally on the fourth track I will strum the chords once at the beginning of each measure.

RECORDING
Before starting to record you should tune all your instruments properly.
I will use my Zoom HD8 recorder. The process is the same for Zoom HD16. Before turning on the power push all the faders down. Connect the guitar direct to Input 1. Once the unit is powered on press the "NEW PROJECT" key to create a new project and press "ENTER". This will automatically give the project a name like "PRJ000".

Recording the first track:

1. Press on the "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button of the fader 1 until the light turns red. Mute all other faders by pressing the buttons until the light is off. Although muting unused tracks is not necessary, it lets me keep track of which tracks are still available.
2. Raise fader 1 to the 0DB position.
3. Press on the "ON/OFF" button of the input 1 until the light turns red.
4. Start playing your guitar to test the sound. If the "PEAK" indicator is blinking red then adjust the "GAIN" control until you feel comfortable with the sound level and quality.
5. Make sure that the display of the recorder is pointing to the beginning of the song as 000:00:000. If not press the "ZERO" button to reset the position to the starting point. To start recording press the "PLAY" and "REC” buttons simultaneously.
6. Start recording.
7. When you finished playing the part press the "STOP" Button to stop recording. To listen to it press on the "ZERO" button to place your recorder to the beginning of the song and press the fader 1 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button until the light turns to green. Then press "PLAY" to listen to what you recorded. If you are not satisfied you can re record the part again and again until you are satisfied. However just remember that by doing this you are overlaying or in other words you are deleting the previous take.

Recording the second track:

1. Press the fader 1 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button until the light turns to green and keep the fader level at 0db or anything that is comfortable for you to monitor. You will be listening to track 1 while recording the second track.
   
2. Press the fader 2 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button until the light turns red.
3. Raise Fader 2 to 0DB position.
4. Leave all other faders at the bottom and with their lights off.
5. Make sure that the display of the recorder is pointing to the beginning of the song as 000:00:000. To start recording press the "PLAY" and "REC” buttons at the same time.
6. While you are listening to the fist track start recording the second track.
7. Follow step 7 from recording first track to stop recording and listening.

Recording the third track:
I recorded the first two tracks with an electric guitar directly connected to the input of the Zoom HD8. This time I will be using a harmonica and a microphone to capture the sound. Since the microphone will be picking up all the ambient sound in the room, if I use my speaker to monitor then the third track will be a mix of my first two tracks plus the harmonica sound. In order to avoid this problem I will turn off my speaker monitors and use headphones to monitor the first two tracks.

1. Power off the speaker monitors.
2. Unplug the guitar from input 1 and plug in the microphone to the input. If your microphone is stereo like mine then you can connect them into both inputs. Since I am using both inputs I will press the "ON/OFF" buttons of input 1 and input 2 simultaneously until the lights turn red.
3. Test the sound level of your inputs by playing your instrument into the microphone. If the peak indicators of the inputs are flickering in red then adjust the the volume using the "GAIN" buttons.
   
4. Plug in the headphones to the Zoom HD8 and adjust the volume to your comfort level.
5. Press the fader 1 and fader 2 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" buttons until the lights turn green. Adjust the faders for a comfortable monitoring level.
6. Press the fader 3 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button until the light turns red
7. Raise Fader 3 to 0DB position.
8. Leave all other faders at the bottom and with their lights off.
9. Make sure that the display of the recorder is pointing to the beginning of the song as 000:00:000. To start recording press the "PLAY" and "REC” buttons at the same time.
10. While you are listening to the fist and second tracks on your headphones start recording the third track.
11. Follow step 7 from recording the first track to stop recording and listening.

Recording the fourth track:

1. Press the fader 1, fader 2 and fader 3 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" buttons until the lights turn to green. Adjust the faders for a comfortable monitoring level.
2. Press the fader 4 "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button until the light turns to red.
3. Raise Fader 4 to 0DB position.
4. Leave all other faders at the bottom and with their lights off.
5. Make sure that the display of the recorder is pointing to the beginning of the song as 000:00:000. To start recording press the "PLAY" and "REC” buttons simultaneously.
6. While you are listening to the fist, second and third tracks start recording the fourth and last track.
7. Follow step 7 from recording first track to stop recording and listening.

MIXING AND MASTERING
Mixing and mastering is where we put together all the tracks in a balanced way into stereo tracks to crate the final product. There are many things that can be done at this stage which can be as simple as adjusting each tracks volume levels and panning or adding some effects such as reverb. In real life the sound characteristics of each track should be carefully considered during the mixing and mastering stage. In this simple test recording I will only adjust volume and stereo panning based on quickly experimenting and finding the settings that sounds fairly acceptable to my listening taste. For amateur home recording with only a few tracks this might be enough in many cases.

Panning:
By panning you can move a track to the right or left side of the stereo speakers. This provides a stereo depth to the sound and allows the listener to visualize how each instrument might be positioned on stage in a live performance. It is also used to separate sounds that might annul each other when mixed together, which will be the topic of another article. Zoom recorders such as HD8/16 or the new R16 all have a radio style button over each fader to instantly pan a track. When you turn the button left the sound shifts gradually left and similarly to the right by turning it right. The panning level is indicated on the display from zero to hundred where zero meaning the sound will be centered, "R 100" meaning the sound will be coming from the far right only, "L 100" from the far left only. The values in between will divide the sound proportionally between the two speakers. For example "R 75" setting will play that instrument with a higher volume from the right speaker and lower volume from the left speaker, making that instrument appear to be to the right of the stage. When you are done adjusting the pan levels press the "EXIT" button.

Reverb:
Reverb short for "Reverberation" is an effect to make the sound appear as if it was played in a large concert hall or an acoustic environment where the sound reverberates by hitting the walls and the ceiling. (If you have ever been at Grand Central Terminal in New York City you know what I am talking about.) To set up reverb effect to a track first you have to press the "TRACK PARAMETERS" button. This will turn off all the lights over every fader except one. Select the track that you would like to add reverb effect by pressing the "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button of that fader. Once the proper light is on use the up and down arrows until "Reverb" is selected on the effects display. Assign the desired intensity by turning the selection knob. When done press the "EXIT" button.

There are many other effects in Zoom HD8/16 recorders. I intend to cover them in the future.

• Finally listen to your tracks all together and balance the volume using the faders of each track in a way that one track does not overwhelm the other and you have created the sound that you had planned.
• Once you are satisfied with the volume levels, you are ready to record your stereo master track. Press the "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button of the master track until it turns red.
• Press the "PLAY" and "REC" buttons simultaneously to start recording. You will be hearing to the tracks during the recording.
• When the end is reached press "STOP" and your final product is ready.
• Press the master track fader's "PLAY/MUTE/REC" button until light turns green then press the "ZERO" button to return to the beginning of the song and play the master track.
• If you are not satisfied you can adjust the volumes and effects of each track again and re record the master track.

Bee Gees - To Love Somebody.
I recorded this song using my Zoom HD8CD recorder using some of its features such as built in rhythm and insert effects.



Track-1: Intro and rhythm guitar. Fender Stratocaster. Pan L50
Track-2: Yamaha 12 string electric acoustic guitar. Pan R76
Track-3: Casio Tone Bank CT670 keyboard. Instrument=strings #9. Pan L100. Zoom insert effect=Line 1 organ phaser
Track-4: Melody. Casio Tone Bank CT670 keyboard. Instrument=harpsichord 1.0. Pan Center. Reverb send=50
Track-5: Melody. Casio Tone Bank CT670 keyboard. Instrument=Organ 15.1. Pan Center. Reverb send=100
Track-6: Ibanez bass guitar. Pan R50
Track-7/8: Guitar arpeggio. Fender Stratocaster. Pan R50
Track-Rhythm: Zoom built in pattern 41 ROCKs2VA, no bass