7 Recording the Band

One of the most demanding tasks for audio engineers is recording a full ensemble, whether that be a jazz trio, rock band, or full scoring orchestra. The art of capturing a complete performance with multiple musicians brings all the skill and tenacity that a recording engineer and studio can muster. We will use the example of a four-piece rock band to demonstrate how Nuendo can be used to make this task manageable for the engineer.

Here are some issues to consider:

Tempo and Click Track. Often, drummers will use a click track to help maintain a steady tempo for rock and pop music.

Multiple Headphone Mixes. With modern digital headphone systems, multiple cue mixes are easily handled by the musicians themselves. Nuendo can provide discrete channels to feed such a system or create up to four stereo headphone mixes.

Input Level Metering. It is necessary to set proper recording levels using accurate metering in the DAW. This can be a less-than-intuitive process when using peak meters.

Multiple Takes. In trying to capture the ultimate performance, multiple takes may be recorded and then composited (comped) together to create one master track. Nuendo uses recording lanes to contain multiple takes on multiple tracks of a full ensemble performance.