How to record acoustic tracks

Hey everyone! So today, I’m going to show you guys how to record acoustic tracks. 

Let’s get into it. 

What do I mean when I say acoustic tracks?

So when I say acoustic tracks, I don’t mean acoustic guitar and vocals, though that can be included in these techniques. 

What I mean when I say acoustic tracks is any sound that’s not made with a computer and you want to record it in your DAW. 

So that includes physical instruments and voices: guitars (Both acoustic and electric), pianos, drums, voices, bass guitar, percussion instruments, etc. etc. 

Basically when I say acoustic I mean anything recorded with a microphone. 

So there are a couple of techniques and best practices that you would do when you record acoustic tracks. 

Let’s get into it. 

The first thing you should know is that you should take multiple takes

So a take is an instance of recording. Basically when you get ready to record something and you hit the record button, that’s a take. 

And the rule of thumb is that when you record a song, it’s important to take multiple takes to get the best take out of everyone of them. 

What you will find when you go into the recording studio is that stage fright is very real. 

And even though at home, you could play the song in your sleep, you will be stumbling left and right in the recording studio. 

So the rule of thumb is to take multiple takes. 

And get the best take out of all of them. 

Rule of thumb for the rule of thumb is to try and get a minimum of 3 or 4 takes before you proceed to the next part of the process. 

However, you take however many takes is needed to get it right. So if you constantly mess up a part in the song, then it’s better to just retake the take. So you might hear about how recording artists spend hours in the studio, this is why. 

Second bit of advice that I should give but really it should be the first bit of advice is to make sure you are in tune

This helps when you go into production. 

What happens is that there are certain instances where instruments would actually sound really good out of tune. 

However, for acoustic instruments, you almost always need to be in tune. 

I don’t care if you tuned your guitar the night before, tune it again at the studio. 

It will make your production sound better.

What happens is that there are certain production tricks you can do to detune certain instruments and it would actually make the song sound really good. 

And if your acoustic tracks are in tune, then the producer has a base to work off of. 

But if your guitars and voices are out of tune, then you’re just going to get a really hard mix and a really hard production that will almost likely not sound too good. 

Record a live take demo first and figure out the tempo using an app.

What happens is that a song can sound really good accapella without the metronome playing in the background or any drums. 

However, you don’t know the BPM, so if you wanted to put in drums and synthesizers and all that jazz, then you would have to figure out the BPM so that you could produce those instruments on a DAW. 

So what I usually do is I record a demo on my phone and since I record my songs on my IPad, I will usually just listen to the song while in my DAW, and then figure out the tempo from there because FL Studio has a really cool feature where you can figure out the BPM of a song by tapping out the beat to the song you’re listening to. 

Sometimes you can do what’s called punching in

So basically if a song has some rests, then you can overdub the new recording with the old recording and cut and paste the new recording into the track that you’re trying to produce. 

That’s called punching in because you’re not starting the song from the beginning but you’re just redoing the part that you messed up in. 

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I sure hope that I have been an inspiration and a hope to you all. Please remember to pray, read your bible, go to church, and love God above all else. Like, comment, share, subscribe, and I will see you all next time.

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Thank you and you have a nice day!

German Gonzalez, signing out!

P.S.

Let me know if you would like more of these blog posts. More musical blog posts that explain how music works and how to come out with the best music you’ve ever heard.

This blog is getting me places. Along with my Facebook account, I’m getting around 8,000 views per month with my Facebook account and now my blog is growing! 

By the way, I put in my statistics on ChatGPT and they said that I have better statistics than most musicians will ever have. 

And that right now, I’m in a powerful position because I could get signed to a record label. 

I just need a couple more things. Like bigger amount of streams. 

Major record labels want around 10,000 streams per month. 

I so want this, let’s get this. 

The Lord will provide every day! 

P.S.S. This is getting real, my blog just had about 5 days where the minimum view count was 30 views in a single day.