Tuning before Tracking

Wonder what everyone else does as a standard practice with guitars.

I find that its a necessity to check tuning before hitting [Record] every 3 or 4 takes. I leave my tuner up and on at all times when messing around in the studio. 

Good habit to check often or is it kind of a once a day thing for you?

I check tuning before every take although whether it's actually needed or not depends on the instrument. My bass is probably the worst offender but then it's due a re-string, in fact it's been due a re-string for the past 8 years.

Rimshot


Karl, at least you don't hear finger noise on the strings at this point!

Rimshot

All the time.

And beg everyone else to do it too.

I tell people who haven't recorded much that the first year is going to be brutal.

Sometimes when someone asks "how's that sound"  the best I can muster is "accurate".

:-)

Yep - every 3/4 takes, maybe more often if there's a lot of string bending involved.

I'm doing mine practically every other take...I'm still learning as I go.

My understanding is that it is good to use the same tuner on all the string instruments too (e.g., guitars and bass).

t

I remember MANY years ago in high school we all used the same tuner (the old rotary strobe tuner) to tune all the instruments the same.. I could see one being a little off from another turner really screwing with things.

It depends on a few variables.
If environmental conditions have changed radically, I watch it pretty close. This seems to be a bigger factor here in Fort Worth than it was in Denver.
If I am using new strings, I check every take. Although, I usually don't even try to record until a set of strings has had about a week to settle in.
Proper setup is also important. For instance, my Rogue resonator shipped with the strings and truss rod somewhat slack. and the machines were a little loose. It floated like crazy. Once I realized this, I tightened everything up, and it has become a very stable instrument.
It's good to check often, but if you have to make frequent adjustments, there may be an underlying problem that needs to be addressed.

Since I started learning the Neil Young collection, I find that tuning is hardly necessary at all.


Randy

kgarello


Yesterday I was tracking for a producer and we tuned for each part depending on the position of the part on the fretboard. This helped to make up for intonation problems.  
 
Ken
 
 

How bad is the intonation on your guitar??? If you're within 3-4 cents, I don't see the point. No-ones gonna hear it.

I can hear pitch very well. So when something is out of tune it normally stands out easily to me. I hate watching the talent shows on TV for that reason.... singers often are OOT. 

In the studio, I have several tuners.  Since there can often be a slight discrepancy of a few cents between tuners, I tend to use one tuner all the time.  I also checked it before using it by playing A-440 on my midi keyboard and making sure it is properly calibrated to that pitch.  

If I'm simply rehearsing a part or  jamming to figure out a part, I'm not so worried about accurate tuning. Close is OK for that as long as it doesn't make me cringe. 

When recording.... it has to be tuned and I will tune again as often as is necessary during the session. 




Intonation on the guitar neck: If the intonation is off, it should be adjusted properly. Having said that..... I played with a guitarist who was constantly playing out of tune.....and blamed it on his guitar. ( a real Fender Strat)  He mentioned that my SG always played in tune..... so we swapped guitars for one set one night.  

Yep... you guessed it. the Strat was perfectly in tune that whole set for me and the SG was horribly OOT for him.  It turned out to be our playing technique rather than the intonation of the guitars. The guitars were both set up properly for intonation. 

rsp@odyssey.net


Since I started learning the Neil Young collection, I find that tuning is hardly necessary at all.


Randy

Guitarhacker

rsp@odyssey.net


Since I started learning the Neil Young collection, I find that tuning is hardly necessary at all.


Randy

+1.... I love Neil Young's music. 

+2