There is a time honored tradition when recording any genre of music to record drums, bass, guitars, keys and then vocals. This came from the early days of multi-tracking but doesn't make a lot of sense for many acts these days. With much rock, metal, emo, punk etc. no longer built around a bass groove like it used to be it no longer makes sense for these genres to have bass tracked before guitar. When I make a record I have learned to record the bass after the guitars or even the vocals are done so I can have more creative options. Here are a few reasons this can help your recordings:
- Most songs are written by the guitarist and in the studio while recording guitars is when strumming patterns or chord progressions change. If you recorded the bass first - when the songwriter/guitarist decides to make a change you now have to redo the bass track or go back and punch it in.
- It is much easier to hear if a guitar is in tune since you will hear the relative tuning from the chords the guitarist is playing. Anyone who has recorded bass first has dealt with not hearing a pitch imperfection and you then have to go back and punch it in after hearing it up against the guitars. Big waste of time.
- Recording the bass after the guitars can give you a much better perspective on voicings and which octaves the bass can be playing in to help kick in parts that need some extra help.
- Recording bass after vocals and guitars can also expose places where fill can fit to compliment the vocal melody.
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