Most recordings are “multitracked,” meaning that each instrument – drums, bass, guitar, vocals, etc. – is tracked separately, giving the engineers more control over the sound. However, sometimes artists want to record instruments live, or simultaneously, so that they can more accurately capture their performance with as much energy as possible. This was the case with Andrew Baxter, who came in to record 3 songs with his drummer. He wanted the basic tracks – drums, guitar – to be done live so that they were as together and live-sounding as possible. We also gave him a Shure SM7B mic to track vocals at the same time so that the performance was even more cohesive. We later overdubbed the vocals and bass, making the recording sound even fuller.
In order to record the guitar and drums at the same time without there being any bleed, or drums in the guitar mics and vice versa, we stuck the guitar cab – a Marshall 1960 Lead Straight 4×12 cabinet – in an iso booth attached to the live room, which also allowed us to dial in the guitar more precisely.
Equipment Used on the Session:
Drum Kit – Gretsch Renown with Pearl Aluminium Snare
Kick – Audio Technica ATM 25
Snare Top and Bottom – SM57
Toms – Sennheiser e604
Overheads – Shure SM81
Hi-hat – AKG C1000
Guitar – Stratocaster through Marsall DSL100 into 1960 Lead Cab
Guitar Cab – SM57
Vocal Scratch Track (Not used in final recording) – SM7B
Final Vocal – Neumann TLM 103
Bass Close – Audio Technica ATM25
Bass DI – Whirlwind