Finally! (recording gear)

[metalgtr84]

After two years, 430 six-packs and a few thousand dollars we're finally ready to record a friggin' demo, and when I say "we" I mean me and a drummer. Rad. I do need to pick up a few more mics tomorrow though, so I thought I'd take an opportunity to see what kind of mics everyone uses. Since this is somewhat of a guitar forum I figure we'd talk about guitar mics, but if you want to talk about other recording gear then do it. And if you are one of those hosers that uses an amp modeler then let's hear about it.

 

[Nebulous]

First up, what mics do you already have? Where are you recording? (Lounge room, garage, home studio, pro studio.etc)

 

[Chris_Broderick]

Hey Metalguitar84,

good to hear from you. It depends on your buget (always), but a good starndard would be:

SM 57's for guiatr cabs, Snare and possibly toms
AKG 414's for cymbals and overhead
those AKG egg mics for kicks (don't have the model number.

The 414s are the most pricey($900 each) so if you need alternatives I would say go to

www.harmony-central.com

and look at user reviews of condenser mics in your price range.

Later Chris.

 

[metalgtr84]

This is a total workingman's / student budget haha. But you know, from the scratch recordings so far, it seems to be working. I did cheat somewhat though because we're using triggers for the kick and toms. The snare drum and overheads are mic'd though. Is that funky? The triggers go to a midi module that sends the data to Sonar, where I'm running drumkit from hell superior. I guess I'm going to use the SM57's we have for guitars when it comes time to record them. Hey Chris, do you still use the EMU 1616m? That soundcard rules in my opinion.

 

[Chris_Broderick]

This is a total workingman's / student budget haha. But you know, from the scratch recordings so far, it seems to be working. I did cheat somewhat though because we're using triggers for the kick and toms. The snare drum and overheads are mic'd though. Is that funky? The triggers go to a midi module that sends the data to Sonar, where I'm running drumkit from hell superior. I guess I'm going to use the SM57's we have for guitars when it comes time to record them. Hey Chris, do you still use the EMU 1616m? That soundcard rules in my opinion.

I still do and it does rule!!!!

I use DFHS for everything at the minute so I would say what you are doing is a smart way to go.
Chris.

 

[Rich - Rannoch]

This is a total workingman's / student budget haha. But you know, from the scratch recordings so far, it seems to be working. I did cheat somewhat though because we're using triggers for the kick and toms. The snare drum and overheads are mic'd though. Is that funky? The triggers go to a midi module that sends the data to Sonar, where I'm running drumkit from hell superior. I guess I'm going to use the SM57's we have for guitars when it comes time to record them. Hey Chris, do you still use the EMU 1616m? That soundcard rules in my opinion.

That's not cheating.....if you've got the gear to do it then why not! This is exactly how we recorded the drums on my band's last two cd's and it worked very well. This time round though we replaced/blended in some of the DfH sounds with some of Andy Sneap's drum samples (with Drumagog) to achieve a sound that cut through the mix a little better. You can't go wrong with an SM57 for mic'ing a guitar cab (the Audix i5 is a slightly cheaper, but by no means inferior, alternative). Also, think about investing in a re-amp box; loads of people are doing this nowadays and it can be a life saver if you're not happy with your tone.