First Take

[Eric Iverson]

A spin off from another thread.

 

Those of you who do serious recording: do you tend to use the first or second take for your guitar solos, or are among those who will do a hundred passes and take the best one?

 

I have heard that some guys even take part of one solo and part of another and paste them in. Hopefully so the listener would never know the difference - unless you're using different tone colors or something!

 

I was once hired to do a lead solo for a demo by this singer, and we recorded it literally note by note in spots on digital equipment. It came out sounding OK, but it's very hard to play with any kind of feeling that way!

[Mudcat]

All of the above.

[Trucks]

I dont do any serious recording, because that would take up some serious playing time!! But I have done all except paste a solo together, I might decide which bits I like out of 1 take and another then merge them into something new.

[Trucks]

Oh and I have often recorded multiple takes and actually kept the first.

[A String]

I tend to do two or three takes. If I waited until I was happy with it, it would never get done.

 

David Gilmour used to record a solo, several times, cut and paste his favorite parts together, learn the "new" solo and then re-record it.

[Guitarzan]

depends, sometimes i nail it on take one other times i play and play until my brain shuts down and then it happens.

i do like to be "running" before i hit the red light.

i don't like sitting idle waiting for the cue to solo.

man, that is like an orgasm from out of nowhere.

[caprae]

I believe I read that Lynyrd Skynyrd players had their parts down so well that the first take sounded like the second, which sounded just like the third....

[skipclone 1]

I`ve done a couple of paste jobs, I have one in the works, already know what to splice just have to get some studio time. I try to avoid them and I would never misrepresent them as anything else,

but if it produces a great solo which I could then play live, like Gilmour, why not. If it creates something which can ONLY be done in a recording and would be beyond my skills to actually play it I don`t think that would be fair.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

I can tell you that all of the options are used on a regular basis. What anoys me as a recordist is the guys who come in with a new song, and they have not played it out at all, and they have no real idea for a solo, just a space for one. Then there is no solo worked out, they just 'fake it'. Terrrrrrrrriffic. Usually a mishmash of old riffs, which I am expected to cobble together into something interesting.

 

What I really enjoy are the guys who have worked their songs out and road tested them in front of an audience. They know what fires up the crowd, and usually each song has had time to develop its own solo feel, so even if the guy does not have a stock solo for the song, he has a solo idea or feel that he has explored and can elaborate upon.

 

I had one guitarist in the studio and yeah, he was on heroin... and he was exactly four bars behind. I slippped his solos in time and they were brilliant. I had to do a little cut and paste fill in work for where he wasn't there, but it was all pretty amazing.

 

Generally, as was mentioned above, I try to give the player three runs at a solo. More than that is tired. Three gives me a lot of material from which to cull something useful, or to be able to bring his idea to life.

 

I have had artists who just could not hit it.... I remember close to 30 takes on an 8 beat filler.... drove me nuts, but you have to let the player 'get it'. If you get upset it just tenses them up, and they'll never hit it.

 

A lot of guys get 'red light fever' and simply cannot play when the record light is lit. You have to know how to calm them down and talk them through it.

 

One thing you have to ask yourself.... if you cannot play it in the studio, how are you gonna play it five nights a week? And if you always hate what you hear in the studio, maybe you need to tape your live shows and see if you are doing the same things live that you do in the studio.

 

Bill

[Billster]

First take of the session, or first take overall?

 

I'll play some stuff down and suss out a concept, then hit the red button and try to record a take.

 

I'll do three or four takes, but if I'm not satisfied, I'll move on to something else and try again another time.

 

I will comp if I have takes with different strong/weak points of the overall arc I'm trying to get.

 

I will accept "mistakes" if they aren't total clams. Stuff like a note that ends before I might like, or landing on a different (but still useful) resolution at the end of a line.

[Pappy P]

I usually record three takes of a solo I'm trying to work out.

 

I throw out the anything that sounds putrid.

 

Then out off the three takes I keep whatever sounds the most interesting.

 

Then I use that to piece together a coherent melody.

 

I never try for technical perfection, but an organic and honest melody.

 

Every once in a while I will find a two passages that sound cool when played over-dubbed together. I will always keep those in. They are little gems. Since I've been doing that, I now notice them in classic recordings by other respected guitarists.

[miroslav]

Since I have the luxury of a studio...and there is no "clock" ($$$) ticking away...

...I can use the studio for pre-production as much as I like before I decide on actually recording something.

 

For guitar solos...I wait until I have all my other tracks recorded...and then I do the guitar solos last.

 

I will usually just rehearse the solo for awhile until decide what I want to actually play.

Then I will go ahead and record two takes (three if it's not coming easy) of the exact same solo...

...and then I will comp to one final track the best sections from the identical solos...looking for the best tone/attack/phrasing nuances in each take.

 

Keep in mind.that when you are recordingthe idea is to end up with the best product possible. So, there is nothing wrong with edits and comps as long as you are not assembling something note-by-note just because you are not capable of playing it completely.

Assembling a composite track from a few complete takes, utilizing the best sections of each takeis nothing new in studio productions.

Some people just take that WAY TO FARand theyll track 3 dozen or more takes and literally pull single notes from eachbecause that is the only way they can get something decent.

 

Ive recorded quite a few guitar solos where it was just one takebut that was only possible after doing some rehearsing and working out the part in the pre-production stage.

I prefer to have a solo that actually works for the songand not just a series of riffs/licks that I pull out of my bag of tricks.

There are too many solos that are just thatwell executed, but VERY boring finger exercisesand they have absolutely NOTHING to do with the theme/feel of the song.

[skipclone 1]

Well it`s ideal to have a song or piece road tested in front of an audience, but a lot of times that`s just not possible. That`s a big reason why I don`t believe in limiting the number of takes, of course if I`m paying someone else that has to stop at some point but, my curve tends to zero in on a song the more I play, to where I can do pretty darn close to a perfect take, and not need to edit or fix anything but not if I limit it to three or four takes and then figure it`s not happening.

Actually I hate working like that, it happens sometimes when you`re on someone else`s project and they`ve given you an opportunity to appear but you`ve got this much recording time and no more. I`d almost rather say, look I`ll pay for the time I use, it`s worth it to get a take I`m happy with.

If I had my own recording setup-heck, screw fixes, I`d stick with it as long as it took to get a great take. I recall Joe S. saying he works that way too, he`ll take all afternoon for one solo if need be.

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

Everything I do is solo. When I get around to recording something I usually get it in 4 or 5 takes....sometimes more. Sometimes a LOT more. Sometimes is seems like that microphone and recorder puts more pressure on than a live audience could.

[The Big G]

I could never say i was serious but the recording i do is normally 3 or 4 takes, then listen to the one like the best and do another few takes of it until I am as happy as i can be with the piece of music.

 

G

[NMcGuitar]

For solos, or any other parts of songs, I find that if I'm not nailing it after a couple of takes, then it's time to move on and try it again later.

 

Since much of the recording I do is music for theatrical productions (underscores, scene changes, etc.) I don't worry about cutting and pasting things together - it's all about a certain feel, sound or energy. The music is really more of a sound effect than a song in these cases, so it's not a problem if I can play them live or anything.

 

I have come up with a couple of these music cues over the years that I ended up liking enough to actually make into real songs, though.

[Gruupi]

I don't go for the "perfect" take, but I work until I can live with it. Sometimes its a first pass one shot deal, others it takes a few. If I am not getting it I might try editing, but I can always pass and wait till another day. Thats whats great about home recording finally reaching pro standards, you have all the time in the world to get it done.

 

The forum jams thread has been really fun to try some of this stuff out in a no pressure situation. I do stuff in one sitting, any where from 1 to 4 hours depending on inspiration. I'll jam on something a bit to get some ideas together and get my sound right on the recording. Since its not really a demo or anything I don't try to fix everything that doesn't sound just right. For band demoes its easy to try and fix everything and end up spending way to much time.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I have really dreadful, Guiness-Book-of-Records level "red light fever", and I've always had it. It can take me all night to get a single track down, and that's at home with nobody manning the desk and making me feel like a f*ckup. A studio environment makes me fall to pieces because, on top of everything else, I'm also worrying about the clock and the money.

 

Having said that, my worst problems are with backing tracks, especially when I have to do arpeggios. When it comes to solos, I can usually nail whatever it was I was looking for on the first take.