For all of us recording guitarists we have a passion. We have a passion to get that sound, to get that perfect take, and work things out as we heard them in our head. Often though with home recording, and especially as guitarists, we tend to try to fill in the blanks ourselves. We find the drum loops, play the bass parts, lay down the rhythm guitar parts, a blistering solo or two, the vocals, and mix it all down. This can produce very cool projects that sound amazing. I found out on a session years ago a different paradigm for home recording that has really worked for me.

I play guitar, and I play bass. I've done tours playing guitar, and a European tour playing bass. I know how to play electric bass without a pick, I can slap, play five string, overall, enough of a bass player to cover the gigs I was playing. But you know what? I don't THINK like a bass player. I don't HEAR like a bass player either. I can play the chart just fine, but it's the approach that was missing something. It was hearing that clever turnaround, and putting it in exactly the right place.

This is what I found out on the session. I was writing a song, and tracking it one afternoon, and had laid down a bass line, rhythm guitar, and drum loop, just as a rhythm section to start. A buddy of mine who IS a bassist dropped by just to hang out. Right before he got up to the studio, I muted the bass track, and asked him to play what he heard as a bass part. He played the most amazing bass part. It was simple, yet clever, and tasty as all get-out. I didn't have the courage to even show him what I had played after that! And I had thought MY bass part was good until I heard his. It was a true wake-up call for me. I had forgotten how good it was to get input from others on music.

Prior to home recording, you really had to go into a studio, and it didn't make sense to go by yourself, so the band was a necessary part of the process. You got that interaction between players that really is very cool. Even now, when I get called to play on other people's records that have larger budgets, it's a lot of fun to get into the studio with all of the musicians and vibe off of each other.

I think home recording can have an isolating effect at times, because it's too easy to get loops of different instruments, try to play everything yourself, or too hard sometimes to get others to come over to play. Especially when the muse hits you at 11PM to 1AM in the night! So often I hear tracks that seem to have a lack of "life" for lack of a better word. Whenever I'm producing records, I always try to go into a rented studio for, at a minimum, the rhythm section. I'll bring my own hard drive, have them track it, and bring it home. If the project goes well enough, I might mix it there as well, but more often than not, I'll bring it back home. It's also a great vibe enhancer to not have to be the guy setting up all of the mics, getting levels, etc. When you just get to be the talent with your band, and ONLY the talent, vibe goes up because you can concentrate on the music.

So now, even though I still don't have room to track real drums at my place, I will rent a studio sometimes just to get the rhythm section down. I love to get a real groove going. Then bring the hard drive back home for the vocals and solos. Now I have a real drummer that thinks like a real drummer, and a bassist that thinks like a real bassist in the room with me creating a really good thing: A song that has come more to life.

Even in the room at home I'll bring in bassists, horn players, percussionists, sometimes even rhythm guitarists just to get a different feel for a song. Of course, anything I don't like, can be easily erased. Just because I have tried it, doesn't mean I have to keep it.

So I invite you to let others into your music. Even to the point of mixing, adding effects and EQing your sound; or if nothing else, than to hear another perspective on your song. You can then glean things from this experience and decide how to apply them.

Or not apply them. It's sometimes hard to get out of the ego to do this, but I think you'll dig what it brings.

makintrax@philgates.com
http://www.philgates.com
www.myspace.com/philgatesmusic