I "manage" (re: they are my dear friends and I help them with booking/loading in and out/selling merch/making sure they get the right cut of the door/promotion, etc) a band here in athens where I also go to school. They are a duo, and each of them play several instruments, looping each one when necessary. They use two main loop stations which are connected via a midi controller to their akai sampler box. We've successfully (imo anyway) made demos using cubase by simply recording the amps, aka basically playing the parts live into the computer. when recording in a studio, which they hope to do when it comes time to make the full-length, is this technique the best way to go? would it be easier/less time consuming/smarter to just record the band live?

sorry if this question doesnt make much sense - im just wondering what the best way to record a band that uses extensive looping is.

you can listen to them here to get an idea if you like - http://www.myspace.com/00100001

preciate it

Is your question "would it make more sense to create the loops in Cubase instead of with the pedals?"

Just trying to clarify.

do you mean if they have to make overdubs of the looping (exemple: recording guitar and bass first and then recording loops and everything else with another take)
or play them ''live'' and recording everything with one take?
i'm listening to some tracks, i would suggest you to record everything live as you can. It could be in some troubles for the musicians to play the same riff from the very beginning to the end and then again and again overdubbing everything, it could be very tiring and give bad results.
If they can do it live do it live. It's gonna be a lot better, sure.
Choose a very good studio with very good engineers! Take Care!

omaroski wrote:do you mean if they have to make overdubs of the looping (exemple: recording guitar and bass first and then recording loops and everything else with another take)
or play them ''live'' and recording everything with one take?
i'm listening to some tracks, i would suggest you to record everything live as you can. It could be in some troubles for the musicians to play the same riff from the very beginning to the end and then again and again overdubbing everything, it could be very tiring and give bad results.
If they can do it live do it live. It's gonna be a lot better, sure.
Choose a very good studio with very good engineers! Take Care!

right. The demos on the myspace would have been recorded live had we had enough microphones. I'm beginning to think that the best way to go about it would be to play through the songs live to get the acoustic drums down, then individually dub each loop. now that I think about it, just micing everything and playing through the songs live would work, but it might be easier to focus on getting the sounds they want out of each instrument if they just dub one instrument at a time, which shouldnt be difficult when the beat is already laid down...

Boombats wrote:Is your question "would it make more sense to create the loops in Cubase instead of with the pedals?"

Just trying to clarify.

basically. i dont have any experience recording loops and i was wondering if it was preferred to play each phrase and then have the guy in the chair loop it or to loop it in the room and just record the amps as they play through the song. sorry if i'm not making much sense, lack of sleep, hard to communicate.

batdown wrote:

Boombats wrote:Is your question "would it make more sense to create the loops in Cubase instead of with the pedals?"

Just trying to clarify.

basically. i dont have any experience recording loops and i was wondering if it was preferred to play each phrase and then have the guy in the chair loop it or to loop it in the room and just record the amps as they play through the song. sorry if i'm not making much sense, lack of sleep, hard to communicate.

It seems that if your guitarist is used to the loops running whilst playing, you should at least monitor the loops so he can hear them during the take. It's like playing with any effect- there's an intuitive element that you can't patch in later.

Another option, if you want the choice of diddling with the loop tracks seperately, is to run the looper and the clean guitar signals DI'd to seperate tracks, and also to the amp for recording. That way you have it all broken down AND togther. Make any sense?

Boombats wrote:

batdown wrote:

Boombats wrote:Is your question "would it make more sense to create the loops in Cubase instead of with the pedals?"

Just trying to clarify.

basically. i dont have any experience recording loops and i was wondering if it was preferred to play each phrase and then have the guy in the chair loop it or to loop it in the room and just record the amps as they play through the song. sorry if i'm not making much sense, lack of sleep, hard to communicate.

It seems that if your guitarist is used to the loops running whilst playing, you should at least monitor the loops so he can hear them during the take. It's like playing with any effect- there's an intuitive element that you can't patch in later.

Another option, if you want the choice of diddling with the loop tracks seperately, is to run the looper and the clean guitar signals DI'd to seperate tracks, and also to the amp for recording. That way you have it all broken down AND togther. Make any sense?

that's a good idea. thanks!