Very nice tread!
Here is what helps my work flow and maybe will yours as well:
-
If working with plug ins mainly, I like to insert them on the input channel while tracking, this way the effect is being printed while recording and it will force me to COMMIT. There is beauty in it and when people reminisce about the “good old days” and how tape made everything sound magical, it is often an over looked factor. Committing and making final decisions right from the start, forces you to up your game. When the pressure is on, the performance tends to be better. If you know you can go back a million times and edit to death, that will not help the performance imho.
-
I try to leave as little as possible to the mix down stage to give the sound “muscle’” or to make it fit in right. By the time the song is arranged and tracked/edited. The very thought of having it to mix can be nauseating.
-
I try to avoid presets as much as possible. Generally I find them to be a huge waste of time.
-
I like to print reverbs to audio and mess with them for creative results. Mix and match, loop, reverse or having them in places where they did not originate can give a lot of character and create cool defects.
-
When writing, I like to put all my tracks into a folder track, so let’s say I have 3 versions for the chorus, I can quickly move them around, AB, recycle parts, etc, by dragging just those few bars in place to hear it in the context. The arranger track can be used for that too, but I find it faster this way.
-
When editing vocals or instruments I like my final takes comped on a new track ( Id like to see something like beam part to master take in Cubase eventually. I think Pro Tools has it. Here is a simple macro that helps:
Edit - Copy
Edit -Paste at origin
Your selected take in the chosen lane will be copied to a new track as long it is highlighted in its place.
I apologize if any of this or all of it is too obvious.
Best,
F-