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#234825 by gtZip
Sun Jun 15, 2014 7:53 pm
If you are, what do you like for online resources?

In your opinion, what's the best forum?

Which is better, Duelling Mixes or Mix Coach ?

If there are more than two of us here, we could start making threads about recording stuff.
Haven't really seen much of that here, and it would be something new to talk about vs. what posts have devolved into now.

:)

#234827 by Cajundaddy
Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:24 pm
Well GT I dabble in home recording, have done it for a long time, and I'm still not very good at it. I have decent gear but after working with seasoned pros and watching them go through the process I feel like I am playing "Stella By Starlight" with Guthrie Govan in the room.

#234828 by VinnyViolin
Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:55 pm
I've been a home recordist since about 1980 or so.

Best? I don't know ... I don't browse recording forums very often.
I find that many folks are concerned with getting the types of sounds that I actually take care to avoid .... like popular contemporary kick & snare drum sounds for instance. I guess it helps to know what not do do.

I've probably spent the most time at the UAD forum
http://uadforum.com/forum.php since those are the plug-ins I use the most, and the info is also often very applicable in a general sense, even if I do not have a particular plug-in, since they are modeled on designs of classic gear.

A lot of music I listen to are old recordings, casually made recordings, field recordings, and or made in poorly equipped studios in far away lands etc. so I am used to, and actually like mixes that would bum out a real audio engineer.

More Lee Perry influence than Eddie Kramer.

#234829 by GuitarMikeB
Sun Jun 15, 2014 11:18 pm
I do plenty of home recording. I'm on the homerecording.com forums, some very knowledgeable folks there. I usually don't participate in the "MP3 Clinic" section of those forums, where people post there mixes for criticisms, as you need to listen and comment on a lot of others' stuff before you get much assistance, and many of the comments are very niggling regarding mix suggestions ('the kick drum hits should have a tenth of a second more attack in the compression". "EQ -0.5dB at 900 Hz with a narrow Q on the cymbal".

As I use Reaper as my DAW, I sometimes use the Reaper forums, but mostly for tips, templates, etc.

#234830 by MikeTalbot
Mon Jun 16, 2014 2:39 am
I'd welcome such threads. My first serious attempt was Friday and it was a fiasco. I had a skilled friend working with me but the mic and the room defeated us.

Talbot

#234833 by gtZip
Mon Jun 16, 2014 4:01 am
Would you mind running through the details Talbot?

#234835 by GuitarMikeB
Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:34 am
A bad room can kill a recording, that's for sure. You can close-mic with a dynamic mic, hang up some duvets/moving blankets to tame some reflections, but true acoustic treatment (bass traps) can make a real difference.

#234839 by gtZip
Mon Jun 16, 2014 4:49 pm
You can make bass traps n such at home with a little material.
Or hillbilly McGiver it.

#234840 by MikeTalbot
Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:19 pm
GT

Me and a partner in musical crime tried like hell to get a decent recording using only a Shure 58. What we got was a lot of bass guitar.

We adjusted volumes in such a way that at times we could hardly hear the bass - but that's what got recorded. We moved the mike around, switched instruments, amps etc but not much luck. We were playing first class instruments through very nice amps to no avail. We weren't playing particularly loud either.

Mic wise we apparently were sending a boy to do a man's job.

I have Reaper software and an MR-Audio external sound card - so I reckon it's the mic and / or the acoustics. Will have to hang some stuff on the walls again...and get a better mic.

Open to any and all suggestions.

thx
Talbot

#234845 by VinnyViolin
Mon Jun 16, 2014 7:21 pm
Are you sure (oops, pun) it is a genuine SM58?
http://youtu.be/uPvuNz-guMU

How big is the room?

#234848 by gtZip
Mon Jun 16, 2014 9:24 pm
MikeTalbot wrote:GT

Me and a partner in musical crime tried like hell to get a decent recording using only a Shure 58. What we got was a lot of bass guitar.

We adjusted volumes in such a way that at times we could hardly hear the bass - but that's what got recorded. We moved the mike around, switched instruments, amps etc but not much luck. We were playing first class instruments through very nice amps to no avail. We weren't playing particularly loud either.

Mic wise we apparently were sending a boy to do a man's job.

I have Reaper software and an MR-Audio external sound card - so I reckon it's the mic and / or the acoustics. Will have to hang some stuff on the walls again...and get a better mic.

Open to any and all suggestions.

thx
Talbot


Trying to record live?
As in multi amps at the same time?

If it was one amp at a time, it could be that mic.
On your reaper mixer, you don't want the signal to go above 0, or Unity on the meter.

#234849 by MikeTalbot
Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:04 pm
In response to Vin and GT:

Room is rather small & my pal was unimpressed by the acoustics.

We were recording bass and guitar simultaneously with a drum track playing through a practice amp.

I realized afterwards that I needed more skills than I have. Was off today and spent much of it learning Reaper, MIDI and so on.

Been looking at an M-Audio Keystation 49 as a midi controller since having drums seems to me to be crucial. Having other instrument voicings if pretty nice too.

Do you all think one instrument at a time is better? In the past I've done it all sorts of ways but it was always someone smarter than me at the controls. My friend routinely records our sessions when I play bass with his band and it sounds fine. (but that's at his place - uses pro-tools)

Talbot

#234858 by VinnyViolin
Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:55 am
MikeTalbot wrote:In response to Vin and GT:

Room is rather small & my pal was unimpressed by the acoustics.

We were recording bass and guitar simultaneously with a drum track playing through a practice amp.

I realized afterwards that I needed more skills than I have. Was off today and spent much of it learning Reaper, MIDI and so on.

Been looking at an M-Audio Keystation 49 as a midi controller since having drums seems to me to be crucial. Having other instrument voicings if pretty nice too.

Do you all think one instrument at a time is better? In the past I've done it all sorts of ways but it was always someone smarter than me at the controls. My friend routinely records our sessions when I play bass with his band and it sounds fine. (but that's at his place - uses pro-tools)

Talbot

Given one SM58 and a small room with bad acoustics, I think you would get the best results sonically by recording close mic'ed one at a time on separate passes with headphones.

With a few carefully placed mics and a nice room ... then recording "live" with both playing at the same time, might capture a more inspired performance with good sound.

#234866 by GuitarMikeB
Tue Jun 17, 2014 1:06 pm
Yeah, what Vinny said - close mic, one instrument at a time with headphones to hear the drum track/click track.

What you don't hear with multiple amps going - but the mic does - are the building up of bass sound waves from the untreated corners of the room. Corners include not only wall-to-wall but wall-to-ceiling and wall-to-floor.

I built 6 2'x4'x4" bass traps for under $250 because I had to have the insulation shipped to me (Lowes/Home Depot don't carry Roxul or Owens Corning 703 or 705, but they may order it for you, minimum order, though). Blankets and duvets won't do a thing for standing bass waves, but will help with flutter echo. When you clamp your hands loudly in the room do you hear a quick echo/reverb? that's flutter and isn't good when recording.
Any bass trapping you can do will improve the room, the more the better.

#234872 by gtZip
Tue Jun 17, 2014 5:52 pm
Unfortunately it's normally one instrument at a time.

You could get second hand mixer, get a live mix that sounds workable through some headphones, and then feed the mixer into your soundcard/interface if you want to do all instruments at once.
That will require at least two mics though.

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