Unless you have more than just a couple microphones and more than a few pre-amps, you probably haven't been able to record a full band all at once. As a home recording week-end warrior, you can work around this shortage of gear. The best part is, you can make your song sound just like you recorded an entire band in the same room, but in reality, they could be all the way around the world from each other. There are a few tricks that you can use to your advantage to really make it sound like a band.

>Here's a little secret: most experienced producers don't even record the whole band at once. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, a good producer will record each instrument separately in order to get the best performance from each one individually. There's nothing worse than recording a whole band where everything sounds great except the guitar hit a really sour note on the lead riff and it bleeds through all the other mics. It's a sad situation when all the tracks have to be ditched because one part screwed up. So, you can see the advantage of recording tracks separately.

Something that tends to get overlooked is the importance of the scratch track. A scratch track is simply a demo version of the song - it could be a solo piano or an acoustic guitar played along to a click track. It could even be a full band track with a drum machine and guitars and vocals. Whatever the case may be, a scratch track makes it possible for every actual performance for each instrument will be synced up because they are playing to the same source - the scratch track. No matter where the different performers are - around the world or down the street - they can play just like they were in the same room with each other.

Now, the problems arises when you are creating a song composed of tracks recorded in different rooms - sometimes even from another country. Your ear will probably pick up on the difference in tone and it will sound disjointed and maybe even muddy. You can try adding digital reverbs and such to try and cover it up, but there are some real solutions that you can use fight this issue.

>Here's one of the best things to try - re-amp and/or re-room some of your recorded tracks. If you have a guitar part recorded, send that part out into an amp, set the levels and record it in the room you intend to put all your 'new' tracks into. In essence you are re-amping and re-rooming the guitar part to match the rest of your tracks.

For vocals or another instrument like drums or bass guitar, you should setup a set of quality speakers in your designated room and place a pair of microphones at a distance to record the sound coming out of the speakers with the added natural reverb from the room. This process of re-rooming wil do wonders to make all the parts match up and fit together seemlessly.

In fact, if you want more of a 'live' feel you can go to a bigger room and/or place the microphones farther away from the actual sound source (studio speakers). Also keep in mind the placement of each sound in your mix. If you want your entire mix to sound more like a band, try to pan the guitars to the left and right and leave the kick, bass and snare in the middle along with the vocal. In a typical live rock band recording, the vocal doesn't usually have enough volume and power to sit on top of the mix like in a pop style. A rock band vocal will not be as loud in the mix and it will usually sit right around the level of the guitar parts. This is strictly a stylistic thing and you should set the levels how you see fit, of course.

Bottom Line: Give it a shot and try to re-amp and re-room your tracks to give your whole mix a better sound and feel.