Do you copy and paste parts/riffs when tracking?

[TaylorMacPhail]

You're all a bunch of friggin' cheaty cheatertons!






jk, I Copy/Paste too teehee

 

[right_to_rage]

I'll only copy/paste for demos because I like to re-track repeating sections anyways to either evolve a part with new rhythms or harmonies, or just to capture the development of the performance. I'm a big fan of subtle changes in music; repetition is fine but there has to be some sort of movement between that repetition.

 

[ZXIIIT]

I do sometimes, especially for background chords, melodies or when building the skeleton of the track, but I like playing/re-recording all the parts as much as possible.

 

[JohnIce]

I have no qualms about doing it for vocals, as they have natural pauses for breathing which makes that kind of editing undetectable, and because a singer has physical limitations deciding how many hours he/she can spend recording without wearing out the vocal cords. I can record guitars for 18 hours straight but singing for that long is a horrible idea. If you have one amazing high vocal chorus and the singer's getting tired from 8 hours of recording, then by all means copy/paste.

I don't do it with guitars though for several reasons.

1) It rarely tends to sound as good as the real thing, unless you spend so much time tweaking the edit that you might as well have recorded it again. Unless I'm just better at guitar than I am at editing, which quite frankly is a positive sign in my book.

2) It doesn't lend itself to my playing/writing preferences, which are a lot more organic than the currently trendy quantized-to-hell-and-triggered-to-shit metal. Not pointing fingers at anyone's tastes, but it just doesn't do anything for me.

3) I'm going to be playing that stuff live, so why procrastinate on learning the part? If it's so difficult for you that you can't recreate it two times in a row, you're playing above your skill level and if you plan to play live then that's gonna bite you in the ass sooner than you think.

4) I enjoy playing guitar Copy/pasting indicate that you don't WANT to play, but I do.

 

[Ocara-Jacob]

I occasionally copy/paste guitars, but not drums. I play the whole song on the drums. Because of this, it takes a few attempts to get a good take, but yeah. One small mistake=start over.

 

[Ryan-ZenGtr-]

I copy and paste for guide tracks, then play a complete performance once the rhythm tracks are finally decided upon.

Leads and solo's are improvised and developed from there, with a final part being an amalgamation of the ideas from jamming practiced and performed once.

How can you capture a dynamic performance if you are forcing the listener to listen to identical dynamics every repeat?

My understanding of being an entertaining musician is: Listeners play a game where they try to guess what will happen next and feel rewarded when they guess correctly or are surprised and amazed when their expectations are surpassed.

As a conscientious musician, there are many tools to influence and guide this prediction/outcome game. Dynamics are just one tool for this, as it is non tonal and non rhythmic.
Heavily copied and pasted performances miss out on this opportunity to guide the listener through the arrangement.

It can result in a lack of energy in a track and mixing tools don't receive enough variety of dynamics to operate without sucking all the energy from the performances.

 

[TankJon666]

I copy and paste. Why not? If its the best of a bunch of takes why settle for using the weaker ones when you can just c&p and end up with a killer guitar track

Only point that I disagree is using copy and paste to put together riffs that you couldnt play in the first place in one take. Having said that, if you don't plan on doing it live then the skys the limit really. Its all about being creative at the end of the day.

 

[Narrillnezzurh]

How can you capture a dynamic performance if you are forcing the listener to listen to identical dynamics every repeat?

That's a pretty narrow-minded way to view the subject.

 

[TheProgWay]

I think what you play and compose is infinitely more important than copying/pasting or recording n times. If its a kickass piece, it'll sound as good pasted for repeated sections as recording everything. Now, ones fulfilness that he/she recorded everything instead of Ctrl V, that's a whole 'nother thing

 

[DeltaOrionis]

Copy and Paste is a huge time saver, so why not?
Plus I don't care having (and don't want to) the "live" feel in a "studio" setting.
Stage is made for that!

 

[Oxidation_Shed]

It depends what style: I play both prog metal and pop-punk in bands and I'd never dream of copying and pasting the pop-punk guitar tracks. I really like to focus on giving each repetition of a part its own, unique feel. Often I'll play them with less than subtle differences, but it can just be a change in intensity. I think it really helps the song feel more like an organic progression as opposed to repeating the same part with no changes.
Super-tight prog metal is a different story. I'll often record the part twice for my own piece of mind but, if I can't get a satisfactory take, I'm more than happy to copy and paste in order to get the best sound. That type of music is about accuracy above subtlety.

 

[The Uncreator]

I am surprised there are this many. Personally, I value the fact knowing everything I write is done in performances, not little tidbits and just copied later. I take some apparently weird pride in knowing every note is played different. Plus, it makes me a better player I think, hones my skills as it were, improves my abilities.

Other than saving time, I dont see any point in copying a riff? I mean, how many of us are on a deadline to record anything? You want the same tightness, then play it again that tight, if you record it once super tight, you can record 16 times just as tight. I mean, I spend weeks on a song, easily 35-40 hours of work, a good 15-20 just in recording. I think if you want the best possible quality, you have to be willing to put in the time.

 

[flaik]

I don't copy and paste because a lot of my riffs have differences in last repeat so copying and pasting would just make the recording unnatural.
I also like my riffs to have buildups even if it's something subtle like adding a harmony the 3rd and 4th time. And of course I like to know I can play all my parts

 

[JohnIce]

...Often I'll play them with less than subtle differences, but it can just be a change in intensity. I think it really helps the song feel more like an organic progression as opposed to repeating the same part with no changes.

Good point! Playing the correct notes in order and doing it tight with the metronome aren't the only defining factors of a good take. Granted if you're using a ton of gain you might not get a lot of dynamic range but you still have some, which can obviously be used in favour of the song's arrangement. When you're playing live your playing intensity usually rides with the drummer, when he starts bashing on his cymbals you start playing harder too because it just feels natural. You don't get that kind of variation if you're copy/pasting.

 

[TaylorMacPhail]

I think, like the whole tube vs. modeller thing, as mentioned before, is mainly psychological (tubes and playing every part vs. modeller and copy/paste). You gain a lot of preference for scenario one because it's "natural" but scenario two is "artificial" but at the end of the day, a lot, if not most listeners won't tell the difference between the two.......don't you just love being a musician

 

[JohnIce]

I think, like the whole tube vs. modeller thing, as mentioned before, is mainly psychological (tubes and playing every part vs. modeller and copy/paste). You gain a lot of preference for scenario one because it's "natural" but scenario two is "artificial" but at the end of the day, a lot, if not most listeners won't tell the difference between the two.......don't you just love being a musician

The idea that listeners won't be able to tell the difference is risky though, as we're dealing with people's emotional reactions to the song as a whole just as much as the separate ingredients of the song. What you want to achieve in the end is maximum emotional reaction from the listener, and that's where the attention to detail comes into play. You don't want the listener's nod of approval, or even a pat on the back, you want them to be head over heels in love with your song!

The average listener doesn't care about the pricetag of your vocal mic, but an amazing sounding vocal recording can still affect them more than a not-as amazing recording, even though it's the same song and the same performance. I've heard a ton of songs that made my head think "This is really good and really well done" but eventually forgetting about the band because they didn't strike "that" nerve in me that made me feel absolutely floored by it. I can't possibly know if it's because they used an 1176 instead of an LA-3 on the vocals, or because it was double-tracked instead of quadruple-tracked, or if it was copy/pasted or not. I just know, in my gut more than my head, that it's not all the way there. That's why I want to make sure, as a producer, that every part of the recording process has been absolutely optimal (within the restraints of time and budget) before I release it.

 

[TaylorMacPhail]

For sure man, it sounds like you are very passionate about your work!

 

[iceythe]

For me, copying and pasting (as a compositional tool of measure) is just as fair as an artist using a ruler to make a straight line. There are at least two kinds of copying and pasting. One of them is to intentionally use the copy/paste to fill in a repeat. The other is to use it as a measure. A precursor to planning out a following riff that has the same rhythmical feeling to it, making it sound like everything is just one big riff.

I'm definitely the latter one. Because I have such a goldfish memory when I track ideas, rhythmical tonality can easily go into a blur, depending on the complexity of it. I'll definitely use the copy/paste on a different set of tracks which will let me come up with an evolved riff that seamlessly and naturally flows together with the original.

 

[grantcooper2]

for demos. all copy/paste as much as I can to save time haha.

for real recordings, as much real takes as possible. only copy/paste if it is necessary for a certain sound or for some reason I can't play it exactly the same...which is usually a rare case and has some sort of effect/vibrato/etc. that is harder to duplicate with a real take.