Sputnik Music Forums

Sputnik Music Forums (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/index.php)
-   The Jam Session (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10)
-   -   Home recording guide (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187860)

moaner 06-07-2005 04:36 AM

:lol: no worries


"Wait up guys, i've got to do my ride"..." :lol:

Nicko_Shmicko 06-07-2005 04:48 AM

hehehe yeah 10 hours in the studio recording the drums for one song

moaner 06-07-2005 08:30 AM

actually, although wee may laugh, i beleive i read somehwere that the drum solo on the intro to "time" (PF) by nick mason had to be done a drum at a time, because nick mason didn't have enough roto toms, and so had to record one, retune the drum record enother etc... apparently it took ages.

airborne50caliber 06-07-2005 08:40 AM

[QUOTE=moaner]actually, although wee may laugh, i beleive i read somehwere that the drum solo on the intro to "time" (PF) by nick mason had to be done a drum at a time, because nick mason didn't have enough roto toms, and so had to record one, retune the drum record enother etc... apparently it took ages.[/QUOTE]

...Borrow more roto toms???

moaner 06-07-2005 08:52 AM

:lol:

who knows. they sure could afford them.

taztonik 07-12-2005 02:29 PM

sorry... im new to this, but what is a lead? Also, ya know how lots of metal bands have distorted guitars, but they still sound clear? Well i have protools (digi 001 rack) and when i record distorted guitars, they sound crappy, and if i wanna put on another harmonized part or something it just sounds EXTRA crappy. Where as bands that record in a studio, it sounds really nice and clear. Ive tried adding distortion on the little onscreen mixer... ive tried using my distortion pedal... and ive tried recording distortion from the amp. Nothing works... can you help? is there a way to get that sound without spending lots of money?

allthegoodnamesweregone 07-12-2005 03:18 PM

mic an amp

AshesOfHate 07-12-2005 11:41 PM

i have a question....i am a one man band. Like i d everything then i am trying to find a good drum kit for the drums. I was wondering exactly what stuff do i need since i have to recored one thing at a time...like do i only need one mic. I plan on getting a better computer and a program i just was wondering what stuff dont i need that you listed.

Phototropic 07-13-2005 02:57 AM

[B]AshesOfHate[/B]

I like you was in a one-man band for 3 years, then a singer joined

Basically I did it like this

Bought a Tascam 4-track tape recorder, and recorded a couple of songs using my guitar

Experimented a lot with layering guitars

After awhile I bought a Fostex VF-80 digital 8-track and has been the best thing I've bought since :)

The things I use for every song are

Guitar: Leads to line in or a Condensor mic to mic up my amp (bout £35)

Bass: Same as Above

Drums: If you're going to record a full kit you'll need a set of drum mics, about £180 I think, but if you want a lot better quality you might have to pay a bit more, I use my Mac to program drums

Vocals: Use the same mic for acoustic guitar (£35)

Hope this has helped

AshesOfHate 07-13-2005 08:54 PM

Thanks alot man....im gonna use a comp program for drums and mixing and stuff. But thanks alot you answered just what i wanted

airborne50caliber 07-14-2005 03:33 AM

Phototropic, are you DeadInLove or did you steal his avatar?

Phototropic 07-14-2005 03:50 AM

[QUOTE=AshesOfHate]Thanks alot man....im gonna use a comp program for drums and mixing and stuff. But thanks alot you answered just what i wanted[/QUOTE]

Anytime, good luck

[QUOTE=airborne50caliber]Phototropic, are you DeadInLove or did you steal his avatar?[/QUOTE]

Yeah I had my account name changed :D

Thanks for noticing :thumb:

soheaven 07-14-2005 03:59 AM

wow, this is VERY helpful. Thank you so much!

moaner 07-14-2005 04:18 AM

[QUOTE=Phototropic]Anytime, good luck



Yeah I had my account name changed :D

Thanks for noticing :thumb:[/QUOTE]

your new name is better than your old one.

congratulations.

Phototropic 07-14-2005 04:30 AM

Cheers man, tis a Kyuss song :p :D

moaner 07-14-2005 04:58 AM

shhhh.

pretend its just a cool word you made up.

Phototropic 07-14-2005 05:09 AM

Oh ok

*pretends* :thumb:

SaM_tHe_DrUmMeR 07-14-2005 10:23 AM

Drum recording
 
Hi there, I've only read up to lesson 3 and so far it's AMAZING, but I have a question...

Well, me and my band have played a lot of shows in the year we've been together, it's been incradibly fun and we're going for recording in a 'in-home recording studio'. Now, in all the shows i've played, the technician I always had always told me that we don't really need mics for cymbals (in a show) because they're so loud anyways... which is true because you hear them FINE. But now... i'm guessing recording could be different?... do you reallllllllllly need mics for cymbals... or would the other mics pic up anyways? And also.. you probably don't need mics for each cymbal you have right? Because.. I have a pretty intense set of cymbals.. and for renting mics it would cost a lot if you know what I mean. So.. can you help please! And thanks again for this awesome thread.

Phototropic 07-14-2005 10:32 AM

Sam, I [I]think[/I] although don't hold me to this

The overhead mics pick up the sound of the cymbals as well as the over-all kit

You usually have 2 overhead mics set above the drum kit about 4-5 ft

airborne50caliber 07-14-2005 10:51 AM

The function of the overheads depends on what you are doing.

Case 1: You are a minimalist who wants to record the whole drum kit with a good quality stereo pair of overheads. You find a good compromise in positioning for picking up drums and cymbals in a good blend, then you may want to add close mics for the snare and bass. In any case, the overheads are picking up the whole kit.

Case 2: You are looking for a punchy rock sound and decide to close-mic every section of the kit. In this case the two overheads will be more spaced from one another than in case 1, and will be closer to the kit because they only need to pick up cymbals, not get an accurate stereo image.

In case 1, everything will be picked up by the overheads. In case 2, you will need 2 overheads in addition to your drum kit mics. The hihat is more often than not left to its own devices: it will be picked up by the overheads and will spill into the other mics: in this case your open hihat sound will be far-sounding and continous, you will not be able to hear the single hits (usually) and this is desirable for certain engineers. When you want to distinguish your hihat sound, every single hit, and want it to be very front-end in the mix, you would mic it up separately with a small diaphragm condenser.

SaM_tHe_DrUmMeR 07-14-2005 11:00 AM

Alright cool cool... thanks

LgndryOutlaw 07-17-2005 02:02 PM

Umm... I read up to page 10 and I don't know if it has been posted yet, but... is there a link to the printable lessons yet? Or can someone send it to me at [email]a3r0sm17h@yahoo.com[/email] ? Thanks in advance.

zandordandor 07-17-2005 04:50 PM

Hey.. I need some advice about recording.. I got a PODxt hooked up on my PC for recording, but I would like to get some drums in too but I have no idea what samplers or MIDI's are as I'm a total noob in this area! Could anyone be so kind to explain this stuff for me or share a link? Many thanks!

hantge30 07-18-2005 09:00 AM

OK i need somone to go into more detail about sound proofing(or close) i heard blankets help but how many-and theres like sound isulation-will that help-im on a tight budget-thanks!

shishin 07-18-2005 05:19 PM

I have a question about stereo inputs. Can I make them into mono channels with some kindf of adapter, cause that would save me tons.[drummer has 13 mics....]
Oh, and I'm buying a firewire interface and If I use a mixer to put all the channels into one will I still be able to mix each drum as a seperate track or is it stuck like that? [ I know its a little hard to understand, but I'm tired and thats the best i can do]

shishin 07-18-2005 05:20 PM

[QUOTE=hantge30]OK i need somone to go into more detail about sound proofing(or close) i heard blankets help but how many-and theres like sound isulation-will that help-im on a tight budget-thanks![/QUOTE]

If you can get carpet padding and put it up on walls or just throw it everywhere that helps, and its really cheap++.

spongeboobs 07-21-2005 12:47 PM

recording software
 
heh i downloaded something called fruity loops and it look really great but i plug my guitair in to my computer but how do i make it record to the program.



And 1 other thing u guys r saying to put a microphone to the amp? y dont u just have a seprate chord plug into ur head phone jack of ur anp and into the computer that would give u the best quality i think but tell me if i dont under stand the hole microphone next to the amp. :thumb:

moaner 07-21-2005 12:52 PM

You mic your amp because the power amplifer and speaker have a large effect on the tone.

XxRoycexX 07-22-2005 03:57 PM

It all depends on your amp. If your using solid state such as line6 or through a fx box with a pre-amp; its best to record through the (line in) jack. (if your sound card isnt a generic one). If it is a generic soundcard you will notice a constant buzzing from the hard drive in your recordings. You dont need a top of the line sound card to make really good demos and such. I went out and bought a audigy II for 60$ (can) and it sounds crystall clear. I use fruityloops 3.5.6 for mixing and havent even thought of upgrading to the pro. Its awsome. For just recording the guitar get total recorder or ar wizard 3.0 or somthing not windows recorder it sucks. Oh and record as mono not stereo or else it will only record on one speaker, this happens with alot of solid state amps. once you have a rough recording put it in a wave editor to take out blank sound and noise unwanted (the best prog for that would be wavelab. once thats done you import it into fruityloops in the samples folder. And then you can place your riffs into the digital mixing board. This all takes a ton of patience for a noob as i once was digital recording. There are many other programs to do this stuff out there, this is just my choice of progs, seems to work fine. Check out a couple of my recorded tracks to hear the quality of a 60 dollar sound card and tell me if it sounds good ;) >> [url]http://www.sectionz.com/detail.asp?rType=mp3&SZID=19603#[/url]

Wire 08-10-2005 10:42 PM

Yes, I enjoyed this thread so much that I felt I should register, and share my own $0.02 as well!

First off, theabstract, great work on the lessons, you make great suggestions and way to get started. Kudos to you, you have done a great job.

Now, my additions :)


When I first started home recording in 2000 I made TONS of begginer mistakes.

I had decent software (Cakewalk 9.0...in my opinion the best version of this software! Homestudio blows!), an okay card (Soundblaster Audigy), a behrringer 1202 mixer, and a Shure SM58 (the worst mic on the face of the planet! Many will disagree, but I hate it!)

The fun thing was micing things in close, I got a terrible sound. I got this crappy clipping in my ears. But the levels on the board and in the softwear were both in the green.

This clipping was coming from the mic strip. There are two major items on the strip that can cause clipping, the volume and the gain or trim knob. The volume is usually the slider, and the gain/trim is the tiny knob underneath the input. The gain knob is just like that on your amp, the higher the gain, the more 'distortion' your going to experiance. When I record guitar, I usually keep this VERY VERY low, and bring the strip and master volumes up to get my recording level high enough in the software.


I also was recording for a good 3 years without any kind of preamps. Preamps are nessacary it seems while recording. They beef up your sound, and just make it overall warmer. My current low-cost fav is the 'Joemeek ThreeQ". It's about $300 Canadian.

As implied earlier, a decent mic can go from making your Mesa boogie Dual Rectifier sound like a menacing titan, or it could make it sound like a Marshall MG10. (Funny though how Eric Clapton did many records with low powered practice amps) Therefore if you only have $150 in your budget for a mic, get an Shure SM57!

The SM57 is the workhorse of the home studio. You can do vocals, guitar amps, snare drums, toms, overheads, even kick drum with it. (Yes kick drum. It's best used on the batter head and blended with another kick mic thats on the front). If your going to buy only one mic this year, and you don't have one already, get a Shure SM57!!!!

What I did for three years before shelling for a new sound card, I went Stereo out from my behrringer mixer into the 'aux' ins (RCA) on the front of my audigy box. This worked for quite a while, but added A LOT of background hiss. I recomend poping the wallet for a $150 Maudio box or a Edirol UA-25 USB box. These two boxes can both recieve two balanced input signals (that you can bounce to two different audio tracks), the UA-25 even has midi in/outs which is a nice feture to have!

If your working off of your computer you probably have noticed an area to use 'plugins'. Plugins have been a saving grace for me on numerous occasions. Waves makes a great package called 'Rennisance' that I use quite often. It's pretty pricy, but definatly worth the cash! (or you can probably get a 30day demo of it from your local music retailer and just skip your comptuers **** back every 30 days to enjoy it longer!)

The big plugin that always finds its way onto ALMOST every track I record now is the Rcomp by Waves. Compression is a pretty much a must have in this day and age of music. Pretty much compression squeezes the audible frequency range to make things sound louder. using Compression is an art, as too much is bad, and not enough can make it sound weak. My big gripe with compression is hte fact that it seems to cut out the highs and lows.

[QUOTE=www.tweakheadz.com]What is a Compressor? OK, Imagine you had a vocalist who would whisper words quietly and then belt out some loud screams. You, the engineer, has to record such a take. You find the whispers are too quiet unless you boost the fader and the screams require you to quickly lower the fader so you don't overload the recorder. That is the time-honored technique called "riding the gain" (gain is another word for volume). A compressor is an audio circuit that automatically rides the gain. It pumps up the volume when things get quiet and slams down the peaks when they get loud. The goal of the compressor is to achieve a more uniform, more consistent audio signal that is optimum for recording and listening. [/QUOTE]


Finally, I will further emphaise the fact that MONITORS ARE GOD!!!!! They will aid you in the 'it sounds good at home but crappy in the car!'

Actually, one of my first tests on most 'mixes' is to throw the mix on my iPod and jump in the car and listen to it. Most people listen to their music in the car, so if my newly recorded track sounds great on my dads stock Ford Tempo stereo, and great on the system in my RX-7...then it should sound good in any car!

The acoustics of your room can disrupt the sound of your mix as well. I for one mix in a very crappy room, even with monitors the vocals sound clear as day and everything else sounds like poo, or like its way off in the background. On headphones the SAME MIX sounds evenly balanced and well put together. In the car....the vocals disapear. It's a game, a frusterating one, but one that should be mastered!



After five years of doing the most frusterating thing I have ever done in my life, I also find it the most rewarding. While I do not have the best gear in the world, I would like to think I still do good indie recordings. (checkout [url]www.myspace.com/rolodexrock/[/url] for an idea) This is my setup:

System:
AMD Athlon system 1.2GHZ with 512 ram (OLD and lame for recording!)
Mini-Mac (VST linked with my AMD. The AMD is my main machine)
Comptuer link box (Allows me to work both machines from one monitor, keyboard, mouse!)
Cubase SX3 (I had a protools Digit02 rack system and hated it!!!!! That and you can link mulitple computers together to split the workload!)
PreSonus Firepod (This is the greatest device I have EVER used! So worth the $750!!!!!!)
JoeMeek ThreeQ (compressor, EQ, and preamp all in little 1/2 space rack unit! and it sounds GREAT!!!!)
EVERY Waves plugin currently available (A staple in all of my recordings)
BlueSky Media Desk monitor system (Hey, if it's good enough for Lucas Sound it's good enough for me!)

Mics:
Audix OM2 Vocal
Audix OM5 Vocal
Audix OM7 Vocal
Audix IM5 Instrument (like the SM57, but better!)
Shure SM57 x2
Audix DP5 Drum mic kit
Audix Fireball Wind Instruments
Blue BlueBird Condensor (multi-purpose)
AKG C1000S x2 Condensor (multi-purpose)

TONS of high-grade bulk cable. (low quality cable has lots of noise)

Wire 08-10-2005 11:40 PM

More quick tips:

1: if you got a 'single shower' (not a shower/bath combo!) record vocals in the shower with the door closed! Laugh not! I find this is a great way to record vocals. It gives you a great natural room reverb that is hard to beat with plugins! Also, the enclosed quarters gives you the 'vocal room' effect used in high-quality studios for pretty much nothing!

2. Smaller amps are wicked for guitar. I use a Vox AC30 live, but in the studio I disconnect the interal spearkers and goto a smaller 25 watt powered single 12' speaker cab. I prop the cab up on a stool or chair, angle it upward about 30 degrees and mic it with my bluebird or Audix I5 staring right into the cone. I then take a second SM57 or Audix I5 and back mic the cab. The mic usually sits about 5mm from the speaker paper. Send each mic to separate inputs and each input to sepearte tracks. Blend to taste and record. (this will help the lower range frequencies to not overpower the mids....which is what guitar is mosty made up of!)

For gutiar mics it really depends on the sound you want. I use a Sennisher E609 for more percussive peices, a 57 for rhythm tracks, and the I5 for lead tracks.

3. For bass I like to use the combo method again. But this time with four inputs.
A: Mic'd bass cab (D6)
B: Straight into the sound card
C: Ampeg SVT DI
D: MXR Bass Distortion DI
Once again, plug them all into sperate ins and tracks and mix to taste.

4: For Acoustic guitar, two mics (one of which I forgot to mention earlier) are what I primarily use. And if the guitar has a built in pickup, I also use that.
A: SM57 on the frett board
B: Sennisher E609 on the sound hole
C: internal pickup.
Believe it or not, the internal pickup is usually set the quietest, and the 57 loudest... Dunno how it works out that way...but it does. :P

4. Recording everything at once is the best way to capture a rock bands 'live' feel. It is a hard thing to do with multiple input soundcards, and even harder if you just got a stereo input box... I've done it both ways!

For a stereo input box: Three mixers for this mehod are required. Usually your local music shop can rent you what you need. One mixer handels JUST drums and runs stereo out into a smaller mixers stereo ins. Mixer two handels guitars and bass and runs stereo into the smaller mixer. If you wish to do vocals, straight in to the smaller mixer is the way to go. Headphone out from the smaller mixer into a headphone splitter and off to however many sets of headphones you need for each musician.

Mix every instrument seperatley. Starting with the drums. Move your guitar amps into seperate rooms/areas as to help get rid of that terrible microphone bleed. Also, hit the 'low end roll off' switch on all channels but the 'bass' and 'bass drum' channels. To help get rid of low end rumbles. Get everyone to jam on the track for a while while you mix everyone on the smaller mixer. Hit record! You can also muti-track vocals into the mix at latter date (my preferance!) [url]http://www.rolodexmusic.net/lwh.mp3[/url] is an example of this method.

For multi-in boxes: I had an 8 channel in for the following method:
Rhythm guitar went one mic into input 1 (guitar was in a seperate room)
bass split signal into two DI's, mixed into a mini-mixer, mono out to input 2
Kick drum input 3
snare drum input 4
overheads inputs 5 and 6
toms were sent to a mixer, then stereo out to inputs 7 and 8
Each input had a seperate track in Cubase.
This yields great results that give you that 'live feel' and the flexability of a 'muli-track' recording. (ie mixing things later and re-recording fudged gutiar/bass parts) as long as the drummer dosn't screw up....it's allllllll good! [url]http://www.rolodexmusic.net/trebuchet.mp3[/url] (a great show of what you can do in this method with vocals and guitars added later!)

Finally... what if you want to get rid of the terrible mic bleed from that loud guitar amp even though it was 30 feet away, down a hall, and locked in the bathroom? Simple. Same situation as above, but use a Pod or Tonelab to do the guitar tracks. Use the gutiar/bass tracks as scratch tracks. What this enables you to do is record more guitar and bass later without having the original 'live' recordings guitar tones bleeding into the drum overheads. Go back later, add in the guitar parts later, and there you have it. Multi-track with that 'live' feel!

5. Learn when to use certain techniques:
Seems like a given...but the two main techniques I'm talking about are 'mulitrack' (one instrument at a time) and 'live off the floor' (my perfered way of recording)

Multi-track is great for more technical music. Usually a 'click' track will be the 'bed' track (first track laid) and is played to keep the drummer in time. Then another 'click' made for the guitarists, bassists, etc is made if the time signature differes from the drummer and they record their tracks. This is great for making everything match up perfect. It's the perfectionists dream! Great for technical stuff, metal, country, ska, pretty much everything! The major con to this however is that it does suck out a bit of the life force. When your not playing with other musicians at the same time your adrenaline dosn't get pumping as hard, and can make the recording lose 'life'.

Life off the floor gives you that 'feel' of a live band. I find its great for bands that are very straight ahead and basic. I also encourage this method for when a song has a solo, as the soloist can feed off the energy of the song and his/her bandmates. Making for an amazing solo! I have found that the best 'solos' in the bands I've recorded were played this way, instead of 'dubbed in' at a later date.


I hope the above info was helpful to some, and I'll answer any questions I can.

While I don't have tons of experiance, I've only been doing this 5 years. I still got a lot to learn, and I could have used all the tips in this thread when I was getting started too.... I just want to lend a helping hand! :)

kevbud187 08-11-2005 11:57 PM

dude you f[COLOR=Black]uc[/COLOR]king rock! i'm gonna use some of this advice for my studio/label now.

punkrock760 08-14-2005 02:54 AM

thanks \m/

Joe 08-14-2005 03:39 PM

so i've tried several times in several threads but this one seems to get posts so i'll try it here.

i've got a mixer and i'm going to buy mics to amp my guitar cab, but for software do i need the interface? i'm not sure what it does. guitar center guys suggested protools with the interface but it's $200 more than I want to spend. and also is there an easy way recording drums with just the on screen midi and not buying a keyboard or drum kit?

Up)iN)SmOke 08-14-2005 10:37 PM

sry if this sounds newbie but how do u plug ur guitar into ur sound card??????

Joe 08-14-2005 11:22 PM

[QUOTE=Up)iN)SmOke]sry if this sounds newbie but how do u plug ur guitar into ur sound card??????[/QUOTE]

well i'm not very educated about this either, but is your soundcard just like the line in or something? if so, then you take your guitar and use a normal plug and get a 1/4" to a 1/8" adapter. or you can buy a new chord, one end 1/4" and one 1/8"

Wire 08-21-2005 11:14 PM

[QUOTE=gocaps99]well i'm not very educated about this either, but is your soundcard just like the line in or something? if so, then you take your guitar and use a normal plug and get a 1/4" to a 1/8" adapter. or you can buy a new chord, one end 1/4" and one 1/8"[/QUOTE]


Get the interface, you'll save yourself a lot of troubles.


To plug your guitar straight into your computer (which will sound like poo) you CAN go from your guitar LINE in (not Mic in) right into the computer via a 1/4' mono cable to a 1/8' mono cable.


To really get a better sound you should get an interface, like the pro-tools system. But if it's $200 more than you wanna spend... Then I think your SOL.

Decent software is $100 to start with. Then an interface that has at least two line/mic in's is at least another $200. More if it's Midi.

The pro-tools Mbox sells for just under $500 here in Canada and is a good starting point.


To get your guitar to sound half decent by plugging directly into your soundcard I highly recomend pickuping up a copy of Native Instruments Guitar rig or Guitar Combos' software. ($450 for rig, $200 for Combos) and that will give you an okay tone.


WHAT EVER YOU DO when recording tones, DO NOT (and this is a hard thing for a lot of people I've talked to that are getting into this) go from your SPEAKER OUT of your amp head or combo (on many this is the only kind of output that are on your amp!) into your sound card or interface. You will smell smoke and have either a toasty computer or interface...neither of which is really covered under waranty. To make matters worse you may also fry the output transformers on your amp... to give you an idea of this non-waranty repair its about $200 per transformer... usualy 2 per amp...and $50 an hour for shop time.


Your best and safest bet for recording and getting started is:

Protools Mbox or Presonus Firebox (the firebox comes with Cubase SL recording software)
Shure SM57 microphone
25 foot mic-cable.

That should give you what you need to get started easily.

Riding The Short Bus 08-22-2005 11:23 AM

wow theabstracts you have helped so much. Thanks

Joe 08-22-2005 07:08 PM

[QUOTE=Wire]Get the interface, you'll save yourself a lot of troubles.


To plug your guitar straight into your computer (which will sound like poo) you CAN go from your guitar LINE in (not Mic in) right into the computer via a 1/4' mono cable to a 1/8' mono cable.


To really get a better sound you should get an interface, like the pro-tools system. But if it's $200 more than you wanna spend... Then I think your SOL.

Decent software is $100 to start with. Then an interface that has at least two line/mic in's is at least another $200. More if it's Midi.

The pro-tools Mbox sells for just under $500 here in Canada and is a good starting point.


To get your guitar to sound half decent by plugging directly into your soundcard I highly recomend pickuping up a copy of Native Instruments Guitar rig or Guitar Combos' software. ($450 for rig, $200 for Combos) and that will give you an okay tone.


WHAT EVER YOU DO when recording tones, DO NOT (and this is a hard thing for a lot of people I've talked to that are getting into this) go from your SPEAKER OUT of your amp head or combo (on many this is the only kind of output that are on your amp!) into your sound card or interface. You will smell smoke and have either a toasty computer or interface...neither of which is really covered under waranty. To make matters worse you may also fry the output transformers on your amp... to give you an idea of this non-waranty repair its about $200 per transformer... usualy 2 per amp...and $50 an hour for shop time.


Your best and safest bet for recording and getting started is:

Protools Mbox or Presonus Firebox (the firebox comes with Cubase SL recording software)
Shure SM57 microphone
25 foot mic-cable.

That should give you what you need to get started easily.[/QUOTE]


Finally! Thank you very much.


Ok so tell me some more. What actually is the interface? What do you plug it into and what do you run to it? What does it do? Do both of the programs you recommended have it and which do you like better? I have a mixer already, do I run...

Guitar -> Pedals/Amp -> Shure SM57 microphone -> Mixer -> Interface -> Software? that makes sense to me, but I'm not very smart when it comes to this stuff

jam9383 08-22-2005 08:16 PM

[QUOTE=theabstract]OK folks It's time for

[B][U]LESSON 3 PART 3[/U][/B]

Hey all, i'm still at home sick so i just thought i might aswell get this done...

All right guitars and bass. Well theres and age old question when it comes to recording guitar and bass... To mic the amp or to go strait in... the answer: well you decide i'll just run through both options

[U][B]GUITAR[/B][/U]

Micing: to mic a guitar amp, a dynamic mic is used, athough a large diapham condenser can be used. The closer you put the mic to the speaker, the more in your face it is in the mix and vice versa. SHURE SM57, are pretty much the standard mic used by producers everywhere for guitar amps.

Direct In: Pretty much a big fat no no in the world of recording. Guitars sound small and lifeless when going direct in...UNLESS, you have an amp simulator like a V-amp or a POD, in which case, going direct in sounds awsome, and you have no problem of the guitar amp mic picking up the drums or whatever!

[U][B]BASS[/B][/U]

Micing: you can get a very good bass sound by micing an amp, however you need a great mic that can handle the...well...basiness. This is where having a job comes in handy because mics that handle low end sounds can be partuculary expensive. The good news is that you can use the same mic on your kick drum, so maybe your drummer will go halves, or maybe not?

Direct in: Bass direct in can sound good. Isuggest going out of the line out of the bass amp and into some rack gear, like compressors limitors etc. Spending alot of time, can get you a great warm sound. A amp modeler like a Bass V-amp is reallly good too.

Both: If your sound card has a few inputs, then this is your best option! Mic the amp and go direct in, record them onto separate tracks and blend the two in the mix. The mic should have a big phat warm tone, and the direct in will have your more mid-high end sounds and sultle pick noises etc.

Remember: the better your instrument is, the better it will sound once recorded..
Next Lesson: recording vocals, (i might put off piano for a while cos I don't think many people will find it interesting, stop me if i'm wrong)
Have Fun Amigoes![/QUOTE]

Is this the kind of V-Amp thats being reffered to or is it some program
[url]http://www.musiciansnews.com/guitars/99/behringer_x_v_amp_guitar_recording_live_sound_multi_effect_p.shtml[/url]


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:09 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.