This article is provided by Home Studio Corner.

 
I recently finished up a fun little EP project with an artist who is a phenomenal female singer/songwriter.

Early on in the project she told me she wanted everything to have a very acoustic, folky feel - almost bluegrass.

To that end, we avoided using drums or any heavy percussion, and we stayed away from “electric” instruments, like electric guitar and bass.

While this approach kept the instrumentation fairly simple, it also posed all sorts of fun challenges.

For two of the six songs, we sent the files to her brother to add some banjo/upright bass parts which came back sounding very cool.

The problem was, he’s a busy guy and didn’t have time to record parts for every single song. So, while adding upright bass to these songs took them to a new level because, frankly, it’s just what they needed. Unfortunately, I only had upright tracks for two of the six songs.

At least two more tracks could benefit from a nice upright bass part. Otherwise the project as a whole could sound a bit disjointed and unorganized.

The solution? Virtual instruments.

While a purist may hold his nose up at the idea of using software instruments on a folk/acoustic recording, I don’t have a problem with it at all.

I like to do whatever it takes to make the project sound good. If we’re going to be honest here, that should be everyone’s response.

I whipped out Xpand2 (a virtual instrument software included in Pro Tools), and found an upright bass patch which sounded great. I then proceeded to recorded a quick (and very simple) bass line for one of the songs.

Once mixed in with the rest of the instrumentation, it sounded fantastic. If I solo’d the part, could you tell it was a “fake” instrument? Absolutely! However, when I place it properly within the mix it’s very hard to tell.

The key here was to keep the performance simple. If I started doing all these funky riffs on the bass, it would start to stand out.

Keeping it simple helps it “hide” inside the mix, without drawing undo attention to itself.

Two Lessons to Apply to Your Next Session

1. Don’t be afraid to use virtual instruments.
Some of you may already use them all the time. Others may think they sound fake and unusable.

These, just like everything else, are tools you can use to make great recordings. Become familiar with them…you never know when you might need one in a pinch.

2. Don’t write off something because it sounds weird by itself.
This is especially applicable to virtual instruments and recorded sounds.

Just because something sounds funny or “off” by itself doesn’t mean it’s not the perfect thing for a particular song.

I honestly don’t care what any of my tracks sound like by themselves as long as they blend together well to create a fantastic end product.

What are your thoughts on virtual instruments? Do you suffer from “it must sound perfect” disease are you ok doing what must be done to fulfill the clients needs? Somewhere in between? Whatever your stance, be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Joe Gilder is a Nashville based engineer, musician, and producer who also provides training and advice at the Home Studio Corner.