Those audio recorders built in to our arrangers (or at least, yours!) are real handy, but how many of us use them without using the sequencer first?

Most of our arrangers have a sequencer that will capture what we play as we play it, then play it back. Unless you are going for a 'here's me, singing along with my playing, live, no edits', going through this first stage can have a LOT of benefits.

Of course, using the sequencer allows you to clean up the occasional tiny flub, but you don't HAVE to do that if you are going for the 'me live' approach, but one thing I think the sequencer is almost universally good for is Part balances. There's an almost universal tendency to play our RH lead sounds too loud, against the backing. It is why, in a live band, you have a monitor that pumps up what YOU are playing so you can hear it better. But out FRONT, the soundman puts you in the mix at probably quite a lower level.

I hear SO MANY user demos that the RH sits too loud (sometimes to the point of overpowering the backing), that using the simple step of recording to the sequencer FIRST, then adjusting the volume afterward would make FAR better.

But just HOW much to bring the RH down to? Well, I have a simple technique that works well. Playback the tracks, at a normal (for your house) level, then go to another room in the house. Get as much distance between you and the speakers as you can, while still being able to hear it somewhat OK. Now.... can you hear the backing AND the solo all sounding pretty much like a CD? My guess would be, on quite a lot of them, you are going to hear quite clearly that what YOU played is the loudest thing in the mix.

Time to go back to the studio, and turn DOWN your RH Parts a bit. Rinse and repeat, until, as you move about the house, you hear everything in balance.

Yes, sure, you can do the same thing by turning down the monitors, but in practice, it doesn't have quite the same effect. Allowing the distance and room acoustics to come into play often helps freshen up your ears, and make what is the main sounds become readily apparent.

Give it a try, the next time you are doing a bit of recording...

BTW, this is also a good trick to try when you have made a live recording (off the board, or with the audio capture) of you on the gig. Go into another room, and listen to whether you have a tendency to overpower your backing live, too. If you have, there's no EASY way around this, sadly. Few arrangers (if any) allow a different mix to come out of one set of jacks while the FOH comes out of another, so it's more a case of adjusting your registrations a bit, and then at the next gig, try to stick to that, and simply get USED to not hearing yourself quite as loud as you would like. It's tough at first, but eventually, you get used to it.

Sorry if I'm preaching to the choir for some of you, but I thought this might be a handy tip for a few here, at least...

Diki:

Good tip. I record live to hard disk and use several takes to get the balance right. However I will try your suggestion of using the sequencer to record and try balancing the individual tracks that way. It is a challenge to get the lead and style voices balanced correctly.

Joe

I always use the onboard midi sequencer first...then, I am able to focus on the audio recorder.

Ian

I'm of the "here's what I sound like" group. And I do indeed fight to keep my right hand from overpowering. I think I've gotten better about it over the years. I have one friend that always tells me when it's too loud. Most people will just tell you that you sound great, but it's helpful to hear the truth.
Good stuff, Diki,and right on.
DonM

You are absolutely correct Diki. Monitoring levels and final mix levels are 2 different things. But if you are playing to record direct to audio then your own level needs to be much more subdued to sit well with the backing. It makes much more sense to record to the sequencer first and edit the levels so then you get the best of both. ... because it is nice to monitor yourself at a higher level than is required in the final mix.