Advanced Audio Engineering
Course 13: Tracking: Song 2

It’s time to begin tracking your second song, which will help you develop the strengths you need as a professional recording engineer/ music producer. In course 13, you’ll work with tracking drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and finally vocals.

You will get a thorough overview of the importance of a finely tuned drum, the anatomy of all parts of a drum kit, proper microphone placement, and techniques for recording a drum track. You will cover the different setups and tracking that should be done for a bass recording, keeping in mind all the scenarios for an acoustic guitar or electric bass recording.

You will then move on to studying and putting to use the tracking techniques used for recording any acoustic or electric guitar while keeping in mind the types of guitar, pre-amps, amps, microphones, and microphone techniques used for tracking. You’ll learn the types of techniques and strategies used for recording keyboards, such as the use of a DI box for recording due to its high and low range of pitch and dynamic levels.

You also discover more proper techniques used for tracking vocals–the main focus of most songs. Tracking is the jump-off point for nailing each part of your masterpiece, but it takes effort to ensure you get a great performance from your musicians. Commit to recording multiple takes–when you think you’ve got the best take possible, take another and compare. Typically, you’ll find a gradual improvement in the recordings until everyone hits their optimum level. Make sure you’re capturing samples of each drum hit and additional takes while tracking–they could really come in handy during editing.