Blog #4: Recording An Album

My band is currently in the middle of recording an album. 
The recording process is a long and daunting task that seems to drag on forever and ever, even for a 4 person/instrument band. It is also one of the best times to be a musician because you're able to record all the little creative things you've wanted to hear in the songs during rehearsal. 
We started by recording scratch tracks of all of the songs. A scratch track is a very stripped down version of a song, just enough to set the tempo and give the drummer something to work with. After recording scratch tracks, our drummer recorded all of his parts for all of the songs. Recording drums seems to be the most boring and slow process of all time. It takes forever to set up the mics, mix and EQ the set, and then make sure the drummer is exactly on time for every single beat. It has to be perfect, or else the entire foundation of the song is flawed. 
After drums comes bass guitar. After bass guitar comes rhythm guitar. After rhythm guitar comes lead guitar, and after lead guitar comes vocals/backup vocals. Then you get to add all of the little things: piano, shaker, tambo, random claps and sounds. After all of this comes the mixing and mastering. What's left is the final product!