Hello :)

[Metalus]

So im going into my school's studio within a month and a half to record a song or 2 for my band (we play metal). The room is equipped with a Yamaha O2R, Mackie HDR2496 and Mackie HR824 monitors. They have a good selection of mics as well (it escapes me what mics they have right now).

I am a bit nervous about all this coming up seeing as i will be at the helm, tracking everything. On the other hand im pretty excited, but im still worried about a few things.

How should i mic the overheads? What specific mics should i try? what kind of guitar tracking techniques should i try? How do i bring a metronome into the board for the drummer?

I have more questions but i dont wanna bother you guys too much. Any tips and suggestions will be highly appreciated . Thanks in advance to everyone for their help.

 

[cobhc]

1. Check out Oz's Drum Recording guide as far as miking overheads.

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/217656-acoustic-drums-metal-guide.html

2. As far as recording guitar, just do a bit of looking around the forum, use the search and you should be able to find what you need.

3. Bringing the metronome into the board for the drummer is something I don't know about sorry. I don't have much experience with hardware, being as though I don't have any and mix completely in the box.


Hope this helps.

 

[Metalus]

Thanks man. I think i have read that article before. Imma go refresh my memory on it. Thanks again

 

[smy1]

One very important thing that I remember from when I used to do recordings at my school (some friggin 16 years ago ...):

SEND EVERYONE AWAY WHO DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE RECORDING!!!

Seriously, if you record drums, nobody should be there except you and the drummer. If you record guitars only you and the guitarist (not the other guitarist who isn't playing at that time). There is nothing worse than a bunch of hyped and nervous teenagers who get on each others nerves cause they are insecure and want to be cool.

Don't even get me started about girls at the recording ...

 

[Metalus]

Thanks man. I actually discussed this with some of my bandmembers the other day. Nothing worse than being constantly distracted.

 

[grywolf627]

One very important thing that I remember from when I used to do recordings at my school (some friggin 16 years ago ...):

SEND EVERYONE AWAY WHO DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE RECORDING!!!

Seriously, if you record drums, nobody should be there except you and the drummer. If you record guitars only you and the guitarist (not the other guitarist who isn't playing at that time). There is nothing worse than a bunch of hyped and nervous teenagers who get on each others nerves cause they are insecure and want to be cool.

Don't even get me started about girls at the recording ...

+1000 And especially to the "girls at the recording". No girl friends. No wives. No significant others. No "managers", and no backseat producers. Even for well seasoned studio pro's, this is a distraction. There's nothing worse than trying to focus on your job, getting you point and ideas across to the musicians, helping them to be at ease and coax a great performance out of them, all the while trying to play kiddie wrangler and baby sitter. Uggh, the headaches I went through back when I was at school...many, many moons ago.

Wish I could help you about the metronome, but it's been a long time since I've had my hands on a real mixing desk.

 

[Metalus]

Thanks man. Any suggestions on what type of mic or mic brand i should use for my vocalist in terms of screaming? I heard that the 57 is usually the way to go.

 

[JBroll]

Erm...

Not really. It can be used well, but just slapping a 57 on the stand without knowing your shit really well is a recipe for fail cake with shit icing. Picking a mic that fits the vocalist should only be done with the mics available. You can guess 'Well, the SM7 might work well, or maybe we could try that AT3035, but OOH we have a U87...' but I wouldn't do shit until you can actually start placing the vocalist in the context of the mix.

Jeff

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Be sure to get the Direct Input signal of your guitar recorded!!! 2-1 odds say that half the guys on this board will get twice as good metal tone as most engineers out there. And half of them will probably reamp you for free!

 

[Metalus]

I have been considering DI'ing the guitars. The problem is i only have 16 tracks available. I think when i get to the SSL or the Oxford later on, i will definitely DI the tracks.

By the way, are there any specific Metronome's out there that i could bring in via line in into the board (Yamaha O2R)?

 

[-Noodles-]

think of your track sheet then, if you only have 16 tracks available.

Kick
Snare
OHL
OHR
BASS DI
GTRL
GTRL DI
GTRR
GTRR DI
VOX
VOX2

There's 11 tracks, which is plenty for a first time (adding toms, and more guitars will add more).
Don't worry about triple tracking the guitars, worry about getting them to sound great. That way you'll learn a lot more than just having a big horrible sounding mess at the end of it.

What you have available in regards to a metronome?
If you have a hardware one which has an output (3.mm jack) then you can get a 1/4" to 3.5mm jack and plug it in on your last channel. That can then be sent to the headphone mix you've set up on the aux channel for the drummer's headphone mix.
If you only have software ones, then you need the same cable, and someway of getting a laptop to the studio.