Hello, This is my first post on here... So hi everyone. This summer my band are trying the cheap option of recording. Our drummer owns about 7 acres of land and has this huge shed, where we plan to record. We are recording onto Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, and our setup is Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Drums, Rythmn Guitar, Lead Guitar and bass Guitar. We play sort of Grungey music... Im just looking for some different ideas on mic placement etc... and should we attempt to treat the room were recording in in anyway- remember it is pretty big and we have a lot of time to spend on the recordings.

Thanks, Paul x

so...is it safe to assume that you are using your live gear to record? How are you going into the computer? sm 57 and 58s, standard live drum mics etc? something along the lines of a mackie board? give a list of your recording gear and perhaps you will get more of a response...

Paul Crawford

Alas, The inevitable reply, the part that is going to make us look like complete beginners i fear. Well...

At the moment we have four very standard Numark mic's, and because we cant afford drum mics right now, we were going to use the numarks for the drums, basically set up like two overheads (for crash & hi tom/ride & low tom), one between hi hats and snare too pick up both of them, and one aiming into the bass drum.

We can either record Guitars through the amplifier line-outs or by micing the amps, but because we have as much volume as we like to play with we'll probably mic them. Same thing for bass.

Need some advice for vocals though, we havent got any really professional equipment to use, I'm currently trying to get an SM-57.

Paul

Nothing wrong with being complete beginners, you gotta start somewhere.

What do you have between the mics & the computer, ie. mic preamps & sound card? How many tracks can you record at once?

I would definitely mic the guitars, direct guitars usually sound like crap. Bass may be ok direct depending on the bass & the DI you're using. Micing the bass amp with a cheap mic might not get you the sound you want. Best to record one track direct & one miced then compare them & decide on one or the other or both.

A 57 would be a good investment as would a cheap (but good) condensor like the Studio Projects B1.

Hi Paul!

I agree with Cop. There's a world of difference between mic-ing and direct inject. The more you can record with a mic the better off you are. You will need to do something with the room, even if it's heavy blankets, etc., but you should get some decent results for starting out.

My setup is very sparse (right now, hopefully that changes soon ) but the experiments I've done bear out what Cop's saying. I'm nowhere near an expert, just throwing in 2 cents

SM-57s are a must IMO. They can do so much so well. Acoustic guitars, electric cabs, snare drums, vocals. There are always a few on ebay under $100 floating around. I think I picked up the last one for $75. Sure Unidynes might work as well if you can find those cheaper. But... there are pitfalls there, they are older and you take your chances when you buy them, but they're dirt cheap. Those supposedly have the same insides as the 57. The 57s are a must though. Agree on the SPs as well, a friend of mine uses a C1 (I believe it is) and gets really nice vocal tracks. Look on ebay there too.

A couple of other real good budget mics would be two or three models of the Marshalls (someone help with model numbers) and a modded Apex 460 tube - look for the thread here at studioforums somewhere. I have one and it's really pretty amazing. I didn't do my mod, but from reading the threads it looks pretty simple if you know how to use a soldering gun. This is an inexpensive way to get some nice sound.

On your Cakewalk app. You may have seen this already but... Sound Card Tips

The thing there I noticed is that you want to try to get your card to record at 24-bit if at all possible. This makes a difference.

Keep us up to date on your project, post some stuff when you start recording, it would be cool to hear your progress

-Adam

Don't be afraid to use the sounds the room gives you. If the band is tight enough to track the drums and bass without the other elements-do so; this will give you a great basic canvas to build upon. Lip sync vocals, count measures until the guitar solo is over, use poster board with lyrics written or something to keep the drums and bass together within the structure of the songs. If you decide to run the Bass direct, experiment with the drum sounds. If you get some "non-radio sounds", get the most interesting "non-radio sounds" and use this to your advantage. I agree that the highest bit level possible will make your choices sound intentional not amateurish. What will you monitor on? The vic-firth extreme isolation headphones would be a great investment if the entire rig is going to be in one room without any isolation...you can use these for tracking without any bleed. (Or if you wanted to you could record the ghost image of the monitor bleed and use it in your final mix.) I would try not to monitor on headphones if possible. Check your mixes everywhere especially if you are not mixing in a treated room.

If you have all the time in the world, enjoy yourself...I wish I had the time and freedom you have to learn again.

Have fun!
Paul Crawford

oh by the way, yes you really should get some 57's.