Matthew Moran

This is a simple tutorial on recording a scratch track. A scratch track is a rough track ' guitar (and vocals as we shall see) that you play to your basic drum or click track. You can then use the scratch track to effectively record the rest of your "real" or production tracks.

If you find this helpful, let others know and please provide your feedback. If you have additional tips or questions, let me know as well and Ill do what I can to answer them.

Ill make this disclaimer/caveat ' again ' Im not a sound engineer or recording engineer and much of what I share is old-hat to the pros but most books Ive found on the subject were too technical ' wave forms, discussions of dBs, etc.

But some of the basic elements were not there. In prior recording tutorials, I discussed basic gear & experimentation and click tracks and tempo.

I said I would have "recording your scratch" guitar track and then got busy recording ' and in doing so, learned a couple things'

Also, this disclaimer: I write this pretty much top to bottom, straight through ' so spelling, usage, and grammar are all subject to mistakes..

First step  pre-production:
First, do a little pre-production.  This can be a scratch pad, a word document or notepad file, an excel spreadsheet, etc.  Plan the structure of your song and the elements you want to record.  I wont go into much detail here but.. even something like the following is helpful.

Intro (4 bars)
Verse | Chorus
Intro (2 bars)
Verse | Chorus
Intro (2 bars)
Bridge
Intro (4 bars ' lead break)
Chorus (2 times)
Ending (2 bars)

You can, and should, also have some idea on what additional instrumentation you want added to your song. But you need to have an idea of where your song will go before you record.

Recording is not the same as playing live:
The reason is simple. Recording is not like playing live ' particularly as a solo artist.  I can fudge tempo, leave out a lead break, etc. when playing live. Recording ' particularly if you are not just recording you and your guitar at the same time, requires a bit more structure. If you wish to add additional instrumentation, even more structure.

My early scratch tracks were difficult
Ill say again, I didnt know what I was doing but I was doing it wrong!

When I recorded my scratch track prior, I treated it like recording a regular guitar track. What I mean is that I recorded it while listening to my drum track on headhhones and worked to ensure I did not hear any ambient noise.

But I would often lose my place.  When you play a song live, your vocals, the lyrics, help you know where you are in a song. When you try to play a song without singing, you are left singing inside your head. For me this left me, at times, with jilted playing ' a little too driven by the drums rhythm, and with little feel for the song in total.

Revelation ' a scratch track is not making your final recording:
Of course, Ive always know this but I suddenly realized, that there is no reason for me not to sing while recording my scratch guitar. In fact, I no longer call it recording a "scratch guitar" but instead recording a "scratch track of the song".

Yep'thats the big secret.

I know, the pros out there are thinking.. of course, what a doofus. But, I hadnt read or been told to record this way. Ive read a lot of articles and heard terms but as with technology, when you have "internal" knowledge, certain words or phrases mean something to you. For us outsiders, they do not.

And so, if youve always done your "scratch tracks" with vocals ' a scratch version of the song, you are ahead of the game.

Recording your scratch track ' guitar (instrument & vocals):
Run your drum track into your headphones, set yourself about 3-4 feet back from any microphone ' I have a guitar mic and a vocal/instrument microphone. It doesnt matter which I use ' I dont really care about tonal quality. I only care that I capture the song ' guitar and vocals ' to use as a map/guide for recording my real tracks.

While listening to your basic drum beat or click track, record the entire song, following your pre-production map.

Now the real recording begins:
Now, what I do is lower the volume on my scratch track ' relative to the drum track and then record my "actual guitar track". The first guitar track. The drums are prominent, so the rhythm is strong in my head/ears. The scratch track ' of guitar and vocals is there ' I can hear it ' but it is more like I am playing along with them.

Of course, I am again listening on headphone, this time recording my guitar using the guitar microphone. My scratch track and my drums are coming through the headphones.

I can play much more easily, no longer thinking about where the verse/chorus/bridge breaks are ' or where the song takes on a different feeling. I can concentrate more or less fully on both the technical and ambient quality of that guitar track.

Here is a screen shot of a song, you can see my scratch track muted below my percussion track. The arrow points at the scratch track.

Click image above for larger image

Other tracks ' MIDI plus:
If you are adding MIDI elements ' drums, percussion, bass, strings, etc. your scratch recording is helpful there as well. It is then easy to create "objects" for each section of the song.

Once your basic real guitar track, drums, and even vocals are laid out, you can mute the "scratch track". It is not longer needed.  I do keep it there ' just because I rarely delete any tracks.

Now you can go about "punching in", fixing, re-recording, or adding additional elements.

Conclusion:
Using a scratch recording with vocals will simplify the rest of the recording process.

What tips/strategies do you use to help you record more effectively?