Cleaner recordings start at the click

How can we get cleaner and more usable recordings?

One of the easiest and best ways to do this is by playing to a click, and getting as good as you can to playing to that click. When it is just a vocal and a guitar, it may not seem like a huge deal. But if you want to add other tracks, it becomes important to have a standard timing across all of them. If you have 2 guitar tracks, having them out of time can sound a little wonky, but when you are working larger projects with 4 or even 14 guitar tracks, if each one is a little off, it makes a monumental difference in the end result.

There is a saying, "Get it right at the source". We should not be relying on the editing stage to fix mistakes. This stage has enough happening, and to have to fix timing issues on 14 or even 2 tracks can be very time consuming.

If you say, "I can't play to a click!"

I would say that at one point in your life it was likely that you couldn't play an instrument, but by training, and practicing, you developed that skill. Playing to a click is no different. You can't play to a click, because you don't play to a click. The only way to fix that is to start getting in the habit of playing to a click. Even when you are just noodling, it wouldn't be a bad idea to set a tempo, and noodle to the click.

God Bless, and I hope this helps!

Have a great day, and continue to make a joyful noise until the Lord!