Finding a Studio to record tracks
- Thread starter JayKeeley
- Start date
Excellent thread. Thanks npearce for all that info. Looks like I have a new project on my hands.
One more question: if you have an entire band, how would you capture the drumming (assuming it's a real drummer with a regular drum kit)? Microphone pointed at the drumkit perhaps?
I mean, in theory, if you could set up this home recording equipment, with a cool PC and software, and designated some space in your basement or garage, you could actually create your own home studio for a band to record music.
Perhaps I state the obvious, but it's cool either way.
One more question: if you have an entire band, how would you capture the drumming (assuming it's a real drummer with a regular drum kit)? Microphone pointed at the drumkit perhaps?
I mean, in theory, if you could set up this home recording equipment, with a cool PC and software, and designated some space in your basement or garage, you could actually create your own home studio for a band to record music.
Perhaps I state the obvious, but it's cool either way.
NAD
What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse
You can always mic up the drums like Zeppelin and toss one mic into a large room somewhere in front of the kit. 
My girlfriend recently took some recording classes and says mic'ing individual drums sucks, and she said no matter how careful you are there's always some bleeding into other mics. I don't know much about triggers, but I would think those would help with the bleeding, not sure of the sound integrity though.
I personally use a cheap digital 4-track and even cheaper drum machine and then burn the files to a CD via a free (read: shitty) mixing program. Sound quality isn't perfect, but far from bad.
My girlfriend recently took some recording classes and says mic'ing individual drums sucks, and she said no matter how careful you are there's always some bleeding into other mics. I don't know much about triggers, but I would think those would help with the bleeding, not sure of the sound integrity though.
I personally use a cheap digital 4-track and even cheaper drum machine and then burn the files to a CD via a free (read: shitty) mixing program. Sound quality isn't perfect, but far from bad.
Erik
New Metal Member
Nate The Great
What would Nathan do?
You could record drums with one mike, but I would advise getting more than one on the drums. People ususally want a mike specifically designed for recording bass drum. Then just throw 2 or three in various locations for the other drums, cymbals, etc.
You'd have to buy a mixer, in order to record more inputs.
Yes, you could easily record a VERY good quality demo in you house. Bands do it all the time.
Learn the basics (i.e. the software) then move on to more complicated things like recording various live instruments.
Here's an excellent book I recently got:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1929685084/qid=1052848467/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/103-5382482-8984631
Highly recommended for beginners to more advanced home recording people.
You'd have to buy a mixer, in order to record more inputs.
Yes, you could easily record a VERY good quality demo in you house. Bands do it all the time.
Learn the basics (i.e. the software) then move on to more complicated things like recording various live instruments.
Here's an excellent book I recently got:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1929685084/qid=1052848467/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/103-5382482-8984631
Highly recommended for beginners to more advanced home recording people.
I'm pretty psyched. I have all these ideas running in my head now.
Of course I'll learn to walk before I can fly.
Of course I'll learn to walk before I can fly.
SevenString
RJ-D0, Metal 'Droid
On another thread, Jay had asked for me to post some of my thoughts here. Here goes...
In the digital world, there are a few key elements to getting a killer sound from your recordings.
1) get a good pair of studio reference monitors with "flat" response. to me, "flat" means less than +/- 0.5 db across the majority of the frequency spectrum. if you get powered monitors, you don't have to worry about getting a "reference" grade power amp to drive them.
if you can afford it, use more than one pair of different typed monitors. many big studios use high-end monitors, but have cheaper yamaha NS-10s on the console as a "reality check". I use Event 20/20s for the majority of my work, with a pair of Alesis .7s as my reality check during mixing.
2) get the best quality computer audio I/O interface that you can afford. a creativeLabs card will NOT cut it, here. even the BEST creative labs card has a freq. response of +/- 3db across the frequency spectrum. In layman's terms, this means that one frequency can potentially be input OR output at double (or half) the perceived volume as another frequency. yuck! Real recording and mixing is totally impossible with such a card.
My last CD was done with a 24bit interface that had a freq. response of +/-0.01 db, and my current CD is being done with a new interface that has a response of +/- 0.05db variation. in both cases, these are excellent specs for pro-audio recording and mixing, and you should be able to get into a card with these sorts of specs for only a little more than the best soundblaster. note that if the freq. response of an audio interface is good, the distortion will most likely be very low as well.
3) buy or borrow a good condenser mic for vocals. if your vocals don't have that "transparent" open sound that only comes from a good condenser mic, your recording may lack that certain "something" that the pro recordings have. I use a Shure KSM32, and I really like the warmth and presence that I get for my voice.
make sure to "audition" several mics to find the right one for your singer because everybody's voice is different.
4) make sure that your mic preamps are of good quality. Mackie makes a little mixer that has good mic-pre's built right in. You also need the 48v phantom power of a mic-preamp to use a good condenser mic.
Note that many producers prefer the sound coloration of a tube pre-amp, but whether you're going for a "pure" sound or a tube-preamp colored sound, make sure that your signal path to the audio interface is as clean and transparent as possible.
5) to save money AND time, try recording the drum tracks at a local CHEAP studio. Then, get a digital burn to CD of the individual drum tracks. You can then "fly" (import) these tracks into your own multi-track system to continue working on the project on your own time.
I always have poor luck recording drums at my studio because i'm just not set up for it. So, I do exactly what I described above with an engineer that I trust to record good, solid drum tones.
Then, I pull those tracks into my system and continue from there, with no more money spent on sessions. he's happy for the "easy" business, and I'm happy that i can just "plug and play" for the rest of my instrumental and vocal tracks.
6) almost always double track your rhythm guitars. for the layman, this means play the exact same parts twice, one on each track. then, pan one slightly left, the other slightly right.
7) the latest multi-track software has all sorts of cool effects and bells and whistles. for the most part, IGNORE THEM! here's what you need to use:
channel EQs/levels/pans
channel compression for vocals and bass (maybe guitar)
send effect reverbs and/or delays for vocals, guitar solos
grouped compression/room reverb for drums
mild chorus for bass
master effects: extremely mild reverb/graphic EQ/high quality compression
for most situations, that's all you need
8) during mixing, compare your mixes to one or more favorite tracks by an artist that you want your mixes to sound like. my personal favorite for my most recent CD was Vanden Plas, although I also used tracks by Symphony-X and ARK.
9) Try your mixes in as many CD players as possible, taking notes along the way. Then, go back to the console and remix based on your notes. Repeat until mix=kick-ass.
Whew! that was a lot of territory. I hope that some of this will be helpful to any aspiring producers/engineers out there.
In the digital world, there are a few key elements to getting a killer sound from your recordings.
1) get a good pair of studio reference monitors with "flat" response. to me, "flat" means less than +/- 0.5 db across the majority of the frequency spectrum. if you get powered monitors, you don't have to worry about getting a "reference" grade power amp to drive them.
if you can afford it, use more than one pair of different typed monitors. many big studios use high-end monitors, but have cheaper yamaha NS-10s on the console as a "reality check". I use Event 20/20s for the majority of my work, with a pair of Alesis .7s as my reality check during mixing.
2) get the best quality computer audio I/O interface that you can afford. a creativeLabs card will NOT cut it, here. even the BEST creative labs card has a freq. response of +/- 3db across the frequency spectrum. In layman's terms, this means that one frequency can potentially be input OR output at double (or half) the perceived volume as another frequency. yuck! Real recording and mixing is totally impossible with such a card.
My last CD was done with a 24bit interface that had a freq. response of +/-0.01 db, and my current CD is being done with a new interface that has a response of +/- 0.05db variation. in both cases, these are excellent specs for pro-audio recording and mixing, and you should be able to get into a card with these sorts of specs for only a little more than the best soundblaster. note that if the freq. response of an audio interface is good, the distortion will most likely be very low as well.
3) buy or borrow a good condenser mic for vocals. if your vocals don't have that "transparent" open sound that only comes from a good condenser mic, your recording may lack that certain "something" that the pro recordings have. I use a Shure KSM32, and I really like the warmth and presence that I get for my voice.
make sure to "audition" several mics to find the right one for your singer because everybody's voice is different.
4) make sure that your mic preamps are of good quality. Mackie makes a little mixer that has good mic-pre's built right in. You also need the 48v phantom power of a mic-preamp to use a good condenser mic.
Note that many producers prefer the sound coloration of a tube pre-amp, but whether you're going for a "pure" sound or a tube-preamp colored sound, make sure that your signal path to the audio interface is as clean and transparent as possible.
5) to save money AND time, try recording the drum tracks at a local CHEAP studio. Then, get a digital burn to CD of the individual drum tracks. You can then "fly" (import) these tracks into your own multi-track system to continue working on the project on your own time.
I always have poor luck recording drums at my studio because i'm just not set up for it. So, I do exactly what I described above with an engineer that I trust to record good, solid drum tones.
Then, I pull those tracks into my system and continue from there, with no more money spent on sessions. he's happy for the "easy" business, and I'm happy that i can just "plug and play" for the rest of my instrumental and vocal tracks.
6) almost always double track your rhythm guitars. for the layman, this means play the exact same parts twice, one on each track. then, pan one slightly left, the other slightly right.
7) the latest multi-track software has all sorts of cool effects and bells and whistles. for the most part, IGNORE THEM! here's what you need to use:
channel EQs/levels/pans
channel compression for vocals and bass (maybe guitar)
send effect reverbs and/or delays for vocals, guitar solos
grouped compression/room reverb for drums
mild chorus for bass
master effects: extremely mild reverb/graphic EQ/high quality compression
for most situations, that's all you need
8) during mixing, compare your mixes to one or more favorite tracks by an artist that you want your mixes to sound like. my personal favorite for my most recent CD was Vanden Plas, although I also used tracks by Symphony-X and ARK.
9) Try your mixes in as many CD players as possible, taking notes along the way. Then, go back to the console and remix based on your notes. Repeat until mix=kick-ass.
Whew! that was a lot of territory. I hope that some of this will be helpful to any aspiring producers/engineers out there.
NAD
What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse
Quick question (and I'm sure it's been answered here somewhere so I apologize) but if I eventually want to record *acoustic* instruments (whether it be guitar or bass) and I go with the PC recording approach, is it the case of getting a microphone to plug into the soundcard and then essentially playing the instrument into the mic?
Ayeka
Hell Bent For Leather!
Nobody seems to know
This has been a great thread for me. I'm gonna just back over to my own and try and remember everything I've read
This has been a great thread for me. I'm gonna just back over to my own and try and remember everything I've read
Unsumed
Badger Boy
Hmmm... Strange that I haven't seen this thread before. This is my kind of discussion :Spin:.Adrian said:You can always mic up the drums like Zeppelin and toss one mic into a large room somewhere in front of the kit.
My girlfriend recently took some recording classes and says mic'ing individual drums sucks, and she said no matter how careful you are there's always some bleeding into other mics. I don't know much about triggers, but I would think those would help with the bleeding, not sure of the sound integrity though.
I personally use a cheap digital 4-track and even cheaper drum machine and then burn the files to a CD via a free (read: shitty) mixing program. Sound quality isn't perfect, but far from bad.
I work as an engineer and in my opinion the leakage between the mics is what makes the sound interesting. Trigger mics are something I only use if a band requests it, because I think they often leave the recording sounding flat and boring. Of course, if you want to use a lot of compression on the drums, micing the drums individually will make this more difficult because of the leakage, but if the drummer is good enough you seldom need to use much compression.
I usually use 11 tracks/microphones when recording drums (if there are 3 toms on the kit). I always mic all the drums individually + 2 condensor mics to pick up the room. For the specially interested I'll list what I most often use for a basic recording, and where
:Drums:
Kick (front) - Shure Beta 52A
Kick (inside) - Shure SM 57
Snare (over) - Shure SM 57 through a TL Audio tube amp/compressor
Snare (under) - Shure SM 57
Toms - 3 x Sennheiser e 908 D
Overhead - 2 x ADK SC-1
Room - 2 x ADK A-51TL
Bass:
Klarkteknik DI Box through a DBX tube amp/compressor
+ AKG D-112
Guitar:
2 x Shure SM 57 (for each amp)
POD Pro 2 (for solos)
Keyboards:
Klark Teknik DI Boxes
Vocals:
ADK A-51TL Through a Focusrite Red 8 tube amp
