Dealing with external noise while tracking

[Morgan C]

A lot of people are completely ITB here so I may not get many responses, but..

I've been mixing for a while and just bought an FP10. I want to buy a few more mics and start tracking live drums instead of programming them. Atm I've got a kit set up in my garage - not great acoustics but it works surprisingly well and gives a nice dirty sound.

However.. how do you guys deal with outside noises? Ie. people stomping around while you're tracking guitars, or a thunderstorm that will inevitably bleed into whatever you're recording as a low rumble that'll muck up your low-end. Drum overheads seem to be the biggest problem but even close-mics will be a little affected.

Do you really 'need' a proper recording space, with decent isolation, or can I get away with using my garage?

 

[Erkan]

I don't think it's a good idea to track while there is a thunderstorm "raping around" in the vicinity.

I guess it depends on exactly how much bleed we are talking about here. I have tracked drums under quite bad circumstances before (in my MySpace for example) but it turned out completely OK with guitars and everything else on.

Anyway, if you CAN isolate the garage, you should do it. Invest a bit of money in DIY supplies and just do it... the hours or days you spend will pay off big time in the long run.