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Recording with scratch live5/20/2023 ![]() Sometimes you have to patient like Double-crested Cormorants as they incubate their eggs. This doesn’t happen all the time of course. Psychologically, scratch tracks are a temporary place marker. ![]() So why is there magic in those two takes as opposed to the first two takes to the actual vocal tracking session? Temporary Like AchillesĪwareness of what you’re doing. For starters, I usually only make a few passes. Scratch takes are different than recording an actual take. ![]() The best performances tend to be from the beginning to middle. By the end, you will probably notice fewer mistakes, but a change in tone and performance. Maybe a few imperfections, but they’re inspired. The first couple of takes will have more energy. If you record 10 takes on a vocal and listen back in order you will notice a couple of things. My theory of vocal tracking: Early takes are often best. Treat it as important, but keep that a secret. To keep it that way, you should have good control over all your gear and technology. There isn’t time to over analyze or get in your head. One of the great things about scratch tracks is they’re impromptu. When preparing, you have to be transparent. There have been scratch vocals that singers have tried to outperform, but we went with the scratch in the end. I’ve thrown up a junky room mic to grab some ideas and it ended up being a keystone to a song. I have had some really fun things happen while tracking scratches. Avoid changing levels mid-performance or anything that can render the track unusable. Take some chances, just make sure it can be usable in the end. This doesn’t mean that you should over prepare for a scratch. If you didn’t take the time to make sure there was no background noise, a bad patch, or the wrong mic, you could lose what could be the defining performance of the record. Their guard goes down and they aren’t as self-aware and judgmental. Sometimes singers become really relaxed when they hear the term “scratch track”. There are several reasons why a scratch could end up a final. Who cares if it’s a scratch track, right? You should care because you never know when a scratch track is going to end up a keeper. There isn’t anything wrong with this per se. The idea being, you get the basics and replace them later. Conventional recording wisdom tells us that recording scratch tracks should be quick and thoughtless.
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