BR600 Rythm

[badrail]

Hello, I finally got my BR600 and am trying, I really am trying to learn this thing. Okay, I have a complete step recording rythm arrangement for the first song I want to record, it's done, it works great. My problem is: how do I get that rythm arrangement to record while I add different tracks like bass, guitar and mic-voice? I went to record mode (I think) and zeroed, punched the Record button and then the Play button, my rythm played and things were working great, but when I played it back, all I had was bass, no rythm. Assistance is requested, thanks in advance!!!

Wes
Badrail

[Geir]

Just as if you had recorded another track with, say guitar, the recording you make on a track is just what you record there and then. If you want a mix of what you've recorded so far (including drums) you have to bounce or master the mix to a new set of tracks (or a single mono track). 

[64Guitars]

The drums are never recorded in normal record mode. There's no reason to since they already have their own stereo channel in the BR's mixer section with their own fader. However, they will be recorded in bounce mode.

When you've finished recording all of your tracks, you need to mix them down to a stereo pair. You do this using bounce mode. This takes the stereo mix of all 8 tracks plus the input and the drums, and records it to the empty pair of tracks which you specify. See pages 65 and 66 of the BR-600 manual.

If you're not familiar with v-tracks and bouncing, see this tutorial:

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/V-Tracks_and_Bouncing.html

If, for some reason, you want to record the drums separately as audio, you can do this in bounce mode by setting all of the track levels and input to minimum so that only the drums are bounced. But this would be an unusual thing to do. In normal multitrack recording, there's no need to record the drums to separate audio tracks. Instead, you'd just include them in the final mix with all of the other tracks when bouncing.

[badrail]

Okay, so if I understand correctly, when I record a track the rhythm I set-up will play along with other tracks previously recorded, playback will only play the recorded tracks w/o the rhythm. But if I bounce them all together on two stereo tracks (5/6 or 7/8) then go after recording more tracks, all of the parts bounced will play while recording, right?  What I'm wanting to do is start with a rhythm track, add a bass track to keep up the tempo while later recording an up-front folk style rhythm acoustic guitar, a "fill-in" 12 string guitar between verses, then stereo vocals, that's it, nothing fancy. The final project will be a demo to forward to a friend of mine who has a major studio for publishing considerations (or whatever) It's the weekend, I'll get after it. Thanks again, and I'll also keep reading the manual (I guess that's why it's called a manual, you have to manually read and understand the darn thing first....duh!) Cheers!

Respectfully,
Wes
Badrail

[Geir]

Just think of the rhythm-tracks as a drum-machine synced with a audio multi-track recorder. As long as the volume is turned up on the rhythm track it will play along with your recorded sounds. When you're done with all the adio-recordings and want to make a final mix (for sharing with us ) then you master it to a final stereo-track and the drums will be added in the mastering.

[64Guitars]

When you're done with all the adio-recordings and want to make a final mix (for sharing with us ) then you master it to a final stereo-track and the drums will be added in the mastering.

That's true for the Micro BR, BR-800, and BR-80, but not the BR-600, BR-864, and BR-900. In these recorders, mastering mode takes two user-specified tracks as input. Therefore, mastering is a two-step process. First you have to use Bounce Mode to create your 2-track mix. Then you use this 2-track mix as the input to Mastering Mode, assuming you want to use the mastering effects. I never do, so I skip mastering. The 2-track mix from Bounce Mode is my completed song, which I then load into Audacity for trimming, normalization, and export to MP3.

With the Micro BR, BR-800, and BR-80, the stereo output of the mixer section is the input to mastering mode. So you can skip the final bounce and go straight to Mastering Mode to create your 2-track master.

[hardlock]

I had this same problem when moving from the MBR to the BR-600.  Couldn't figure out why there was only 2 tracks max for the source for mastering.  Thanks for the excellent explanation 64!

Regarding rhythms, I had a question about how to monitor a click metro track while a song is playing back and record live drums via mics without getting the click track recorded as well. 

If I'm following you correctly, as long as I'm not bouncing at the time, I won't get any rhythm sounds in the track?  Making sense now I think.

(I realize of course that I'll have to use headphones for the click track since if monitor spks were used, the mics would pick it up also)

[64Guitars]

If I'm following you correctly, as long as I'm not bouncing at the time, I won't get any rhythm sounds in the track?

That's correct.  In normal record mode (ie; not bounce mode or mastering mode), the record tracks come before the mixer section. So nothing you do in the mixer section will be recorded but you'll hear it in your headphones or monitors. Only the input is recorded in normal record mode.



If you don't want the click track in your finished song, you can simply turn off the drum machine while bouncing.

[Geir]

That is some excellent illustrations 64G !!!

Sorry 'bout the mistake about mastering mode on the 600 !

[badrail]

Okay guys, I got all my tracks recorded and am bouncing right now. This is fun, but I need to brush up on my music skills (been a long time...) Okay, is there a way to change the tempo of the whole song and when should this be done? I had the original rhythm at 130 beats per minute but as I listen to it bounce it just drags along, needs to be about 140. Well, my first attempt is bounced, now to learn to master it. Thanks guys, I'll try to post this in a few days (when work and time and family allow...)