I just started recording music. I have a guitar, bass, drum pad and microphone, I use a Behringer 802s and a M-Audio Duo. When I record on mulit track, it feels that I am making a patch work, like a bad doubling. The track are not melting together to create a beautifull piece, but it feels like I have recorded each piece and superposed them (which is what I did ;-)).
Does anyone has tips how to use Audacity to make a multi track recording more professional with both voice and instruments?
I have tried with EQ and compression.
The most likely problem is clipping (trying to go over 0dB and distorting).
Mixing is done by summation (analog mixers are built-around summing amplifiers) so you can easily get clipping. And unfortunately, Audacity doesn’t have a master level control like your analog mixer.
If you run Mix → Mix and Render, the mix my go over 0dB but it’s not actually clipped yet. You can run the Amplify or Normalize effect on the mixed track before exporting and that will prevent clipping.
Record drums to a metronome, and then record your other instruments while listening to the drums.
Make sure you practice the song a billion times before recording, so you can play through the entire thing in one run per instrument.
If you have to edit-in a piece / re-record a section, put it on a separate track, fade the old one out, fade the new one in, then drag it so they overlap----that’ll hide the transition.
Find the frequency of your kick drum and scoop out some of the bass guitar at that range. Might have to do something similar where the low end of the guitar overlaps the high end of the bass. Volumes may look fine on individual instruments, but cause clipping when they combine.