Track Count

[macrae11]

So I got started talking about track count in todays digital world. Some people were saying "Well the Beatles only had 4 tracks, so why do you need more than that."

On a project where quality is paramount, and budget is not really an issue, I usually end up with around 80 tracks per song.

How about you?

[Mathieu Benoit]

Holy Jebus!

The highest I was able to go was 38, but I suppose if I added some synth patches, and I doubled BGvox parts, I could see 50 maybe but 80? Wow...

What would go on 80 tracks?

[macrae11]

Ah it depends, and certainly not every track on an album like that. For every tune with 80 tracks, there's usually one with 12... or 2.

When does get to 80, it's usually some combination of stacking and stereo tracking. Here's a rough potential layout

Drums/Percussion 1-12 (This number goes up a lot if it's a poor drummer who needs sample augmentation.
Bass 13,14
Acoustic 15-18
Rhythm Electrics 19-27
Lead Electrics 27-29
Piano 29-30
Strings 31-35
Pads 36-40
Mandolin,Violin,Pedal Steel, etc 41-43
Lead Vox 44
BGVox 45-60
Choir 61-70

Loops sfx etc 70-80+

That's just a rough layout. But there's lots of other things that can get thrown in, say if there's no choir, or not many BGVox. Horns, extra percussion extra guitar parts, handbell choirs, kid's choirs, accordian, zither.... the list goes on.

Lots of layering, lots of stereo, fills up a mix pretty quick. We did one track for Danny's wife's album recently that had around 90 tracks.... without a drum kit.

Obviously not all of this stuff is going on at the same time either, but I like to keep an individual track for every sound. If I was limited to a 24 track machine I could still have 90% of the tracks I have now, with a little bouncing and using tracks for different sounds.

It's just much more flexible, and I think easier my way.

[Malcolm Boyce]

I wouldn't say I have a "usually". I will agree that in the DAW environment that we/I use a lot of separate "tracks" for things that in hardware based recorders we would make due without.

Different things sharing tracks in a finite track situation was the norm, but now the sky's the limit. Cloning tracks for processing sakes, or separating clips to different tracks all rack up the count.

It has all dramatically changed how we record. Part of "engineering" was getting 36 things on 24 tracks.

I'm working on several tunes right now that are in the 30-50 track range with full band arrangements plus cool noises.

So when you talk about 80 tracks, are you counting stereo as two each?

[macrae11]

So when you talk about 80 tracks, are you counting stereo as two each?

Sometimes. From the layout I did for Matt, yes I was using 1 track per actual track as it would be on a tape machine. ie Keys left and Keys right.

I'll get to 70-80 tracks even counting stereo tracks as one though. I guess in that case, in actuality it would be close to a 100 tracks.

[Mathieu Benoit]

For me it's just as well that I don't have too many things to worry about. I'm going to get used to mixing a handful of tracks before I have to start worrying about 80 tracks...