TRACKING GUIDE
I’m here to help you do the best job recording your music so that
I can have what I need to do the best job of mixing your music.
The guide below was written by Michael Briggs exclusively for this site.
(You may link here but please do not republish without permission.)
GENERAL / SETUP
You will need a few things to get started.
COMPUTER
You’ll need a decent computer. PC or Mac are both fine, it doesn’t matter. Desktops and laptops are also both fine.
It’s good to have your OS/programs at least semi-up to date. Preferably within the last 2 years.
Of course the faster the processor the better but it’s best to have at least an i5 and at least 8GB of RAM (more is better).
INTERFACE
You will need an audio interface to record your music. There are many brands and styles out there and honestly all of the newer ones are great quality so it really doesn’t matter very much which you go with. The preamps are all going to be more than acceptable in most situations and there is no need to spend a ton of money on a super high end interface. USB is also still perfectly acceptable to use and it will get the job done 99% of the time unless you need super high track counts. Thunderbolt is nice but not necessary. Generally speaking the more channels you have on the interface the better especially if you are recording real drums. If you are doing drums make sure to get an interface with at least 8 mic preamps on it.
A couple of recommendations:
Lower End (Affordable) Setup: Behringer UMC1820 – This has 8 mic preamps as well as ADAT inputs which can be used to expand up to 16 inputs. You can add on an ADA8200 for an additional 8 ins and outs which will allow you to record the drums with plenty of channels at the most affordable price. That is a perfectly fine setup for tracking that will get good results. It’s not top of the line but it will definitely get the job done. The UMC1820 also has 2 headphone outputs which is nice.
Higher End Setup: MOTU 8pre-es – This is an excellent interface that also has 8 built-in preamps as well as ADAT expandability. This unit has better preamps, converters and drivers than the Behringer above but honestly for most people I don’t think the price difference is worth it. But if you have the money and want the best, go for it. This can also be expanded via ADAT with the ADA8200 mentioned above or you can go with something nicer like the Audient ASP800. There are also many other great interface solutions out there from brands like Universal Audio, Apogee, RME, Presonus, Focusrite, etc.
MONITORING
You can either record on speakers or headphones. It’s generally preferable to use good studio monitors if you have them/are able to and you have a decent room but if not you can absolutely get by with headphones for tracking purposes. Here are a few recommendations:
Monitors: The JBL 306P MkII speakers are a great value for the price and will absolutely get the job done. They have decent bass response and nice neutral mids and highs.
Headphones: The ATH-M40x are very good closed back tracking headphones and will give you good isolation to keep outside sounds out and the click and other bleed in. You can also get something a bit cheaper like the ATH-M30x and be fine.
You will need a headphone amp with multiple outputs if you are planning on doing live tracking with more than 1 person. There are several out there but a decent affordable 4 channel version is the Samson QH4 or the Behringer HA8000 for 8 channels. Don’t forget to get headphone extension cables.
DAW
Despite us all having our own biases, all DAWs sound the same. It’s all about workflow differences, cost, features, etc.
The days of Pro Tools dominating everything have passed and there are now many great DAWs out there.
Some of them include: Reaper, Studio One, Cubase, Logic, FL Studio, Ableton, etc etc. Give several of them a try if you are curious to see which one you like best. There is no one size fits all DAW that is perfect for 100% of people. They will all get the job done.
The DAW that I personally use all day every day is Reaper. I know it inside and out and I’m very fast and efficient it. I highly recommend giving it a try if you are looking for a first or new DAW. There is a 60 day free trial and it’s only $60 to buy after that. Reaper is incredibly stable, fast, powerful, flexible and customizable. You can most likely do anything you can imagine with it. I am also happy to answer any questions or problems you may have when tracking with Reaper.
SESSION SETUP
It is of course an long time debate about what sample rate you should record at and if super high sample rates matter and make a difference in the final product. Lots of people have their opinions on that and I won’t really go into it but I’ll just say that I record at 48k 24bit and if you are looking for a suggestion, I’d go with that.
Let me know if you have any questions about anything discussed here. I’m happy to provide guidance and help you along.
The better it’s tracked the better the mix will be so it’s a win-win for everyone.
VIDEO TUTORIALS
There are of course hundreds of videos on YouTube and elsewhere about how to record music. One of them that I would recommend is Kenny Gioia’s series called “Recording Your Band in Reaper“. Produce Like a Pro also has some good beginner content on how to work with various instruments.
VOCALS
For most styles of music the vocals are obviously (one of) the most important parts of the song/mix. Tracking your vocals well is crucial to a great mix.
MICROPHONE
You will generally want to use a large diagram condenser microphone for the vocals. You don’t need the most expensive mic in the world but also don’t get junk. The mic that I use most often and I highly recommend is the Slate VMS ML-1. This is a “modeling mic” that emulates other very nice mics. One very cool feature is the ability to actually change the mic model AFTER the fact in mixing. That means if you use this mic I will be able to decide on the best mic model to use in the mix which will give me the most flexibility which I prefer. It is most ideal for my setup if you use the ML-1 for your vocals.
You don’t have to of course and you can use any quality mic. Another good option for certain situations and styles of music is the Shure SM7. This is a dynamic mic that works great for loud vocals (especially yelling/screaming) and also does well in poorly treated rooms. This mic picks up a lot less of the reflections in the room which is usually a good thing. So if you have a bad room that is too echo-ey this might be a good option for you. While it works great for loud vocals it is not the most ideal thing for quiet/moderate singing but it will get the job done. If possible, I recommend using a condenser for singing if you can find a decent room/space to do it.
POP FILTER
You will definitely need to use a pop filter for the vocal mic. This will prevent plosives/pops and give a cleaner sound.
POSITIONING
Position the pop filter about 1-2 inches from the mic and then place your mouth about 1-2 inches back from that for most vocal styles. The closer you are to the mic the less of the room sound will be captured which will lead to a cleaner sound and greater flexibility in mixing. Don’t stand more than 8-12 inches from the mic unless you are going for a special effect sound.
PREAMP
Your mic preamp is less important than some might lead you to believe. Pretty much all modern interfaces will have adequate preamps. There’s really no need to worry about it or buy an expensive outboard preamp.
EFFECTS
I prefer to receive all files as clean and dry as possible so I can effect them. The best case would be if you record clean straight into the interface with no outboard gear. Feel free to put effects on that you monitor during tracking to help you sing (compression, EQ, reverb, delay, etc) but just turn those off before exporting and sending to me. You’re welcome to also send a secondary track with the FX printed on it if you have a special effect or something very unique in the sound that you want to show me.
GUITARS
DI
This is very very important. ALWAYS record a DI of your guitar in addition to the mic on the cab. Please do NOT skip this. The DI can come in handy in many situations, either for reamping, editing or just visually inspecting and seeing where the notes are happening, etc. We may never need to use the DI but can never hurt to record it anyway and just have it muted.
You will generally want to insert the DI box after your pedals and before the amp. This will allow your pedals to stay be part of the chain. You can also add a second DI box before the pedals directly after the guitar if you’d like but that’s optional. It can’t hurt to have it but not usually crucial.
MICROPHONE
By far the most popular mic for recording guitar is the Shure SM57. That is a perfectly fine mic for that purpose and if that’s what you have, go for it. Most people generally go for a dynamic mic for recording loud guitar cabs but that’s not the only way. You can either experiment with using 2 mics (usually a dynamic and a condenser) or just a condenser if it sounds good. My recommendation for a mic would be the Slate ML-2. This is a very affordable small diagram condenser and it is a “modeling mic” like it’s larger brother the ML-1. The ML-2 is small and easy to place and with the ‘Dynamic’ switch flipped it will not distort or overload on basically any source. This mic will capture the most clean and pure signal possible which will allow me the most flexibility in mixing. With it I can optionally switch mic models in mixing to find the best tone to suit the mix. This is a very powerful and special feature. I would highly recommend buying one (or several) ML-2’s if you don’t have many mics already and are looking for the best at a great value.
This depends on several factors of course (style of music, type of guitar amp) but you will typically want to place the mic just a little bit outside of the center dustcap of the speaker. Definitely experiment with placement but that is usually the safest bet to get a good tone that isn’t too bright or dark.
Unless you are going for a special effect there is usually no need to record the guitar room. These normally don’t sound very good and are often muted in the mix.
AMP SIMS
Virtual amp sims have gotten better and better over the years and they have matured to the point where they are absolutely usable both for tracking and in a mix. It is OK if you track with an amp sim instead of a real guitar amp. I can work with that. If that is the case I ask that you give me both the clean DI as well as a track with your amp sim effect printed on so I can hear the guitar tone that you’re working with. I may use that tone, I may reamp from the DI or I may do both and blend them together. It’s always better to have options on my end.
STRINGS
It is always a good idea to change your guitar strings regularly. I’m not necessarily one of the people who say you need to change strings for every single song you record but doing it at least once during an album recording is good for maintaining a fresh and articulate sound. A good practice would be to change strings at least every 3 songs or so.
EFFECTS
I prefer to receive all files as clean and dry as possible so I can effect them. The best case would be if you record clean straight into the interface with no outboard gear. Feel free to put effects on that you monitor during tracking to help you play (compression, EQ, reverb, delay, etc) but just turn those off before exporting and sending to me. You’re welcome to also send a secondary track with the FX printed on it if you have a special effect or something very unique in the sound that you want to show me.
BASS
DI
This is absolutely crucial. ALWAYS record a DI of your bass in addition to the mic on the cab if you are using a real amp. This is NOT optional.
If you use pedals (especially any kind of overdrive/distortion/fuzz) that you leave on all the time it is very helpful to record a second DI before the pedals so that I can have both before and after to work with. This will help both for potential reamping as well as editing/seeing transients. It is preferred to use a real DI box BEFORE the amp rather than the DI output from the amp head itself. You can use that if you have to but a DI box will usually give a cleaner signal.
USING AN AMP?
These days most people do not actually record a real bass amp and that is fine. It still sounds great (and arguably better) to use a DI and reamp or model it. Some people will still prefer to use a real bass amp in addition to also recording the DI (don’t forget that!) if they have a very particular sound/tone from their bass rig that they love. That’s great and you’re welcome to do it if you’d like. I will use both the mic and DI and determine the best thing to do for the mix with those. Flexibility is always good.
MICROPHONE
If you are using a real amp you will usually want to use a dynamic mic. Many people like to use kick drum mics on the bass cab as they can often capture more of the low end (but sometimes sacrificing the highs). You can try that out if you have one or you can also try to use a condenser (try it with the pad if it has one) and see how that sounds. Just play around with it. My recommendation for a mic would be the Slate ML-2. This is a very affordable small diagram condenser and it is a “modeling mic” like it’s larger brother the ML-1. The ML-2 is small and easy to place and with the ‘Dynamic’ switch flipped it will not distort or overload on basically any source. This mic will capture the most clean and pure signal possible which will allow me the most flexibility in mixing. With it I can optionally switch mic models in mixing to find the best tone to suit the mix. This is a very powerful and special feature. I would highly recommend buying one (or several) ML-2’s if you don’t have many mics already and are looking for the best at a great value.
AMP SIMS
Virtual amp sims have gotten better and better over the years and they have matured to the point where they are absolutely usable both for tracking and in a mix. It is OK if you track with an amp sim instead of a real amp. I can work with that. If that is the case I ask that you give me both the clean DI as well as a track with your amp sim effect printed on so I can hear the guitar tone that you’re working with. I may use that tone, I may reamp from the DI or I may do both and blend them together. It’s always better to have options on my end.
STRINGS
It is always a good idea to change your strings regularly. I’m not necessarily one of the people who say you need to change strings for every single song you record but doing it at least once during an album recording is good for maintaining a fresh and articulate sound.
EFFECTS
I prefer to receive all files as clean and dry as possible so I can effect them. The best case would be if you record clean straight into the interface with no outboard gear. Feel free to put effects on that you monitor during tracking to help you play (compression, EQ, reverb, delay, etc) but just turn those off before exporting and sending to me. You’re welcome to also send a secondary track with the FX printed on it if you have a special effect or something very unique in the sound that you want to show me.
DRUMS
Recording drums can be challenging but as long as you follow a few basic guidelines I can work with it to make it sound as good as possible in the mix.
NUMBER OF TRACKS / WHAT TO MIC
Generally speaking the more mics the better. You can always mute a mic if you don’t need it but you can’t add one that wasn’t there.
Here is a list of the minimum tracks that I would like to see for most situations (this is for a standard 4 piece kit):
Snare Top
Snare Bottom
Rack Tom Top
Floor Tom Top
Kick
OH Left
OH Right
Room
Those mics will get you by and give me enough to work with to give you a great mix. If you have extra channels go ahead and add a mic on the hi-hat and you can also add either a second room mic at a different distance or mics on the bottoms of the toms. You can also spot mic any special effect cymbals (china, zil bel, etc) if you have those. It is very important that you have each of these pieces if you want a modern sounding drum mix. I would not recommend any type of minimal micing seting (like Recorderman, etc) unless you are going for a special effect sound.
DRUM HEADS
It is a good idea to change your drum heads out before recording. If you are a hard hitter, especially on the snare, it is good to change the snare head every few songs or so to maintain the most punchy and clear tone.
MICROPHONES
There are many different mics that will work well on the drums. My favorite mics are the Slate ML-2, which is a modeling microphone that will accurately emulate many other excellent mics. This will model many other great drum mics such as the SM57, D112, RE20, R121, S222, 421 and many more. The great thing is that if you record with this mic I will have the flexibility to change the mic model later in mixing to find the tone that will sound best.
There are of course many conventional mics that will work for drums. The go to standard for snare is the Shure SM57 and that does work great. One of my favorites on snare is the Beyerdynamic M201. It’s an excellent dynamic mic that sounds great and is also very tough. Some of my favorite tom mics are the Audio-Technica ATM230. Those are small clip on mics that sound excellent. I prefer them to the Sennheiser MD421 personally. For overheads most any condenser mic will work really. You can use either large or small diaphragm. The most common placement is a spaced pair where one mic is roughly over the ride cymbal and the other is over the crash. There are many great videos online about drum micing and overhead spacing/placement that I would recommend looking around and watching several.
MIDI / VIRTUAL DRUMS / BEATS
You may not be able to record real drums for various reasons and that is ok. I am also able to work with virtual drums if that is all you have. These can either be played on an electronic drum kit, a MIDI controller pad/keyboard or simply programmed manually. When sending electronic drums please make sure to also include the MIDI files ( as well as the tempo) in addition to the rendered drum tracks as audio so that I can work with the tones/samples and augment/replace them as necessary. While real drums recorded in a good room are usually preferable (depending on the genre of music) well programmed MIDI drums can be completely fine and even great. Tip: Make sure you try to humanize the playing a bit to make it feel a little more real and less like a drum machine (unless that is the sound you’re going for).
TEMPO MAP
While not necessary, it is always helpful to receive a tempo map for the song. If you don’t know what this is, don’t worry too much about it. A tempo map is simply adding tempo markers to your session wherever there are tempo or time signature changes. This can be done in most any DAW and exported as a MIDI file when you render the session. This is of course not needed if there are not tempo changes but if there are several changes it can come in handy for mixing.
EFFECTS
I prefer to receive all files as clean and dry as possible so I can effect them. The best case would be if you record clean straight into the interface with no outboard gear. Feel free to put effects on that you monitor during tracking to help you play (compression, EQ, reverb, delay, etc) but just turn those off before exporting and sending to me. You’re welcome to also send a secondary track with the FX printed on it if you have a special effect or something very unique in the sound that you want to show me.
EDITING
While my mixing services include basic final touch editing/tweaking it is always good and helpful if you can do any desired editing yourself. I do offer more in depth editing (for drums, vocals, guitar, etc) as a separate service but that is not part of the standard mix. Think of my editing as the final touch to tweak things just a bit to get them to fit, not as a total overhaul for a loose drum take. Consider if you want your drums quantized and perfect or if you prefer a more natural feel. Keep in mind that for most genres you will not actually want everything quantized 100% to the grid and the small “imperfections” is what gives the song its feel and helps it connect to the listener. Most of the time “perfect” drums are just less interesting to most listeners.
KEYS / SYNTH
HARDWARE
Keys and synth are usually some of the easier things to record because they generally do not require micing anything so it’s just a direct line in. You can either go stereo or mono, depending on what the synth offers. Generally speaking it’s best to record in stereo if the keyboard offers it and the content is actually in stereo. If not, mono is fine. It is helpful to also receive the MIDI files for any key parts if that is how you created them. If not, no big deal.
SOFTWARE / MIDI
There are so many great synth/piano plugins out there these days that sound amazing. I highly recommend checking them out and using them.
When using a plugin synth please make sure to save the MIDI to send separately from the rendered audio just as a safety to have it.
