The Retracking Game

This article tells our story how We got into retracking services.

First We didn’t even realised We do that. When mixing your own tracks sometimes you end rather changing the kick instead of trying to eq the hell out of it. Well We did the same when mixed for clients. It’s always the bass drum that makes the mess. Too low in freq or too long tail, or in some cases simply not in tune with the instruments. As We’re so used to switch the kick when this happens in our own songs at the producing stage, didn’t even thinked about it just did what had to be done and moved on. Only a few clients noticed that instead of using equaliser, We remade the kick.

Once We faced that this is officaly beyond mixing duties started to realise if We annuce this as a service not only the kick but other elements might have an update where needed.

There were times when We felt this track is so good but would definetly add one more layer to the bass to make it very good, and I’m not talkin about epic big changes in the structure or musical directing. A simple rerecord with a bassline or just change in the pattern to have a better mixable version can help a lot without transforming the original idea.

Back in the days We offered retracking as an extra service only to clients We knew very well and had a good relationship thus We had no fear of offending with such suggestion. Now it is open for everyone.

Be creative use it to your advantage. The possibilites of real analog instruments combined with the analog channelstrip are very tempting. This way you don’t have to break the bank to have accesa to the high end gear, and on top of that you get a producer sound designer who knows the gear very well with 20 years of experience. This way you not only save a ton of money but the time of the learning curve too.

One might think this is basically ghost producing wrapped in a new form but there is a big difference. When We get a track there is a pretty well laid out idea and with well directed musical conception, but lacks the finishing touches, and that is exactly what an experienced producer can give to an artist with retracking. Doing the last 20% of the work is easy and fast, especially if you have the eye to spot the mistakes. These changes are really making a difference but are based on the direction of the original music.

Some artists used to require a so called “creative boost” which means they want to have multiple pattern and melody ideas recorded with our eurorack system to give them the feeling of “new” or simply make variations on the track so it won’t get boring. Think of it as purchasing new building blocks for your lego, at the end you build it but you get something new to play with.

In other cases simply the overall sound is not that close to the target track or target label and some general style correction needed to fit in among the big boys. Mastering can’t always do that, sometimes We have to dig a bit deeper to make the track perfect. Mastering can also bring some imperfections to the surface by bringing light to the mistakes in sound design. When this happens artists may get dissapointed of course but it is a good thing that it can be fixed with some extra work.

Last but not least the cost of retracking services is a famous topic.

Well as it offers so much options and directions one can go obviously it is hard to nail the goals for the first time. In general retracking takes more time than mastering so it is no wonder it costs more. We tend to make it as simple as possible and make the goals clean and clear before the first session. It is much more easier to go from a good direction to the final stage with finetuning and building more effects etc, than working on a random idea a lot than restart the whole if it wasn’t the good way to go. Of course at somepoint everybody ask if it is worth it to buy the dream synths and drum machines if We calculate for the long run. The answer is easy, if you can afford it than go for it. Still you might use retracking for creative workflow but having a real highend instrument at your fingertips anytime you want is a big advantage. It can naturally drive your flow to a well known proven to be good path. OK but what if one couldn’t buy the holy grail? No worries this is exactly what retracking is for. You can dial in pretty accurate what you aim for in a VST that serves as a guide for the sound designer who can give you the exact results you want.

Advanced Retracking

When you not only use an iconic instrument but give it a complete analog channelstrip that also made from classic gear such as console equalisers compressors and preamps, now that is called advanced retracking. For example if you use a 909 drum machine with an SSL EQ and a 1176 Compressor you get on a whole new level of recording quality compared to a stage where you only use the drum machine. Retracking without any shame is the game where we play to be the big boys. If you have the instrument that’s half the victory, but if you have the console sound too, that’s the real win. That is such a lot investment into gear and into the time learning them to use on a level as pros do. No wonder why a lot of artists realise it is not worth it as they only want to create music without loosing in the technical details and the cost of owning a studio.