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Sharklaar
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1884 Posts |
 Posted - 18/07/2012 : 22:27:05
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Sounding pretty good. With the studio becoming prohibitively expensive we've decided to record a load of stuff ourselves.
So far... I've programmed some midi backing drum tracks using Reaper, and this evening we recorded the bass and both guitars. Rather than mic'ing up a cab, we used our guitarist's Eleven Rack thing - it digitally emulates various combinations of amps and cabs. It sounds pretty feckin awesome.
We spent £15 on the room for the evening, and we've done so far what would have cost about £200 in the studio, and the quality I think is going to be just as good by the time we've mixed and mastered it. Having so much more control over everything ourselves feels really good too.
I'll be doing the drums in a couple of weeks, got tennis elbow at the moment so I'm resting it for a while. I'll post up the results when we're done with track 1  |
http://www.blackhawkdown.org.uk |
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drummerant
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1378 Posts |
Posted - 19/07/2012 : 13:14:08
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Although I'm doing the same thing as you, you will never get the same results as a studio with the right "engineer". I've learnt that within the first recording I've done! But I still prefer to record myself, unless it is with my mate luke! HE IS THE BEST! :p
But I'm sure it will sound good! :D |
www.fvfdrums.co.uk |
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Sharklaar
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1884 Posts |
Posted - 19/07/2012 : 15:04:56
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| Well we've had a reasonable amount of studio experience between us, and we've got a LOT of collective geekiness and music knowledge, so I think we should be able to do alright. The guitars with the backing track sounded really good actually, but it all hinges on how we do with recording the drums... |
http://www.blackhawkdown.org.uk |
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stakka
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2592 Posts |
Posted - 20/07/2012 : 00:50:04
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It's good fun innit!
I've been immensely enjoying getting to grips with my recently acquired Protools studio, experimentation and trial and error look to be the key. But I have also dredged through some very helpful reference books and there is a lot of good things to pick up, especially on the mixing front. Recording drums certainly look to be the most challenging though and often we have left in my TD12 rough tracking for the time being, which according to many casual listeners are better than expected. But before I go too mad on drums I have signed up for a couple of days pro training with an old friend who runs sound engineering courses and hope to gain a fair amount there . A set of mics purchase therefore looms soon no doubt!
Although the recording is fun I'm finding the mixing to be where I enjoy my time most, even if it does involve listening to every nanosecond of a track 5 billion times over ! |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14790 Posts |
Posted - 20/07/2012 : 09:11:18
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| I used to hate recording, but when I started myself (on old and tired reel to reel tape decks) I gradually found my way into something so absorbing that it can chew away big chunks of my time. A proper studio will usually get better results, but DIY is so satisfying when you get good results. The best thing is that I have started listening to what I do more with "producers' ears" than purely playing what I like playing on various instruments: I tailor what I play and the sound my instruments make to the track, rather than to my "selfish' muso instincts, and the end result is all the better for that. Playing various instruments and getting heavily into DIY recording has made me much more aware musically. I wish I had started far earlier! |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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Sharklaar
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1884 Posts |
Posted - 29/07/2012 : 20:56:46
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Bass (who's doing the mixing) sent out a copy of our track with bass, guitars, vox and backing vox this evening. I think we could end up with some good results - this one's really a tester to see how it's all going to work and to try out the rooms we're recording in. The vocals sound a bit boxy at the moment and 'separate' from the rest of the mix. And the drums are still just programmed with Addictive Drums - recording drums next week at some point....
Going to post a mix up after the drums are done.
Thus far, nowhere near production quality but very encouraging that we have the skills and equipment to do it. The drums however will be the trickiest part... |
http://www.blackhawkdown.org.uk |
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Danny Sticks
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1704 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2012 : 17:02:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Sharklaar
Thus far, nowhere near production quality but very encouraging that we have the skills and equipment to do it. The drums however will be the trickiest part...
Yep - drums always are. The best results i've had have been from simplicity - 4 mics; kick, snare and two carefully (trial and error) positioned overheads. One kind-of at the toms and the other cymbals. Recordings like that have sounded pretty good.
I think with multi-miking everything its a lot to manage at the end - but of course will produce great results if done correctly. I suppose it boild down to time...
My main issue with home recording is volume - the output is just always low which is frustrating!
Although i've been a member of this forum since 2003 or something, i've only just realised there was a recording section ! haha
Will be useful to post up some of my home stuff that i've just started doing with me on vdrums and piano (novice). |
The Bucket - www.bucketoftentacles.co.uk |
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Sharklaar
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1884 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2012 : 19:30:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Danny Sticks
quote:
Originally posted by Sharklaar
Thus far, nowhere near production quality but very encouraging that we have the skills and equipment to do it. The drums however will be the trickiest part...
Yep - drums always are. The best results i've had have been from simplicity - 4 mics; kick, snare and two carefully (trial and error) positioned overheads. One kind-of at the toms and the other cymbals. Recordings like that have sounded pretty good.
I think with multi-miking everything its a lot to manage at the end - but of course will produce great results if done correctly. I suppose it boild down to time...
My main issue with home recording is volume - the output is just always low which is frustrating!
Although i've been a member of this forum since 2003 or something, i've only just realised there was a recording section ! haha
Will be useful to post up some of my home stuff that i've just started doing with me on vdrums and piano (novice).
Well my dad's just invested in a mic set for his PA, we'll be borrowing them on Wednesday to do the first attempt.
We have:
1 x bass
1 x snare
3 x tom
2 x overheads
Might draft in a vocal mic for the hi-hats too.
We've got the vocals and banjos recorded to the guide track I programmed, so once the drums are done we'll have one track, possibly ready by next weekend. Can't wait to hear it done... although I suspect we'll probably re-record the lot a number of times. |
http://www.blackhawkdown.org.uk |
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dogface
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
927 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2012 : 10:59:15
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quote:
Originally posted by Danny Sticks
quote:
Originally posted by Sharklaar
Thus far, nowhere near production quality but very encouraging that we have the skills and equipment to do it. The drums however will be the trickiest part...
Yep - drums always are. The best results i've had have been from simplicity - 4 mics; kick, snare and two carefully (trial and error) positioned overheads. One kind-of at the toms and the other cymbals. Recordings like that have sounded pretty good.
I think with multi-miking everything its a lot to manage at the end - but of course will produce great results if done correctly. I suppose it boild down to time...
My main issue with home recording is volume - the output is just always low which is frustrating!
Although i've been a member of this forum since 2003 or something, i've only just realised there was a recording section ! haha
Will be useful to post up some of my home stuff that i've just started doing with me on vdrums and piano (novice).
Care to elaborate? The output of what is low? Output of the mics? |
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Danny Sticks
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1704 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2012 : 10:41:55
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quote:
Originally posted by dogface
quote:
Originally posted by Danny Sticks
quote:
Originally posted by Sharklaar
Thus far, nowhere near production quality but very encouraging that we have the skills and equipment to do it. The drums however will be the trickiest part...
Yep - drums always are. The best results i've had have been from simplicity - 4 mics; kick, snare and two carefully (trial and error) positioned overheads. One kind-of at the toms and the other cymbals. Recordings like that have sounded pretty good.
I think with multi-miking everything its a lot to manage at the end - but of course will produce great results if done correctly. I suppose it boild down to time...
My main issue with home recording is volume - the output is just always low which is frustrating!
Although i've been a member of this forum since 2003 or something, i've only just realised there was a recording section ! haha
Will be useful to post up some of my home stuff that i've just started doing with me on vdrums and piano (novice).
Care to elaborate? The output of what is low? Output of the mics?
I mean the the final output volume of the recording. I've got everything as high as it can go on the software without distorting - do an audio mixdown and then put it on a normal stereo and you really have to crank it to get a similar output to a "proper" cd.
I know its to do with mastering really to get those levels, but i've never done that myself. Even recordings i've been involved with which have been mastered seem to suffer from it a bit. |
The Bucket - www.bucketoftentacles.co.uk |
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dogface
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
927 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2012 : 14:18:38
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| Getting more perceived volume is all about compression. You can compress individual tracks and/or the whole mix and it should make everything seem that bit louder. Are you using any compression? |
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stakka
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2592 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2012 : 21:20:56
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There could be all kinds of things going on if you have volume issues of the magnitude you mention. . Careful compression can be the key to the final bump up in volume but you need to make sure you do not have any issues with things like cancellation, mono compatability etc well before you do the final mix tweaking.
When you near the final stages of mixing then a common / well recommended trick is to load a professional mix of a known track on a spare track of your DAW and then compare your mix to that. It would be a stretch to think you will get similar quality but at least you will see if you are somewhere close on overall volume.
On the compression front use carefull compression on individual tracks to get some stability to the individual track but then look at either multi band compression on a final mix bus or I even like to use parallel compression to get the overall loudness up. |
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stakka
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2592 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2012 : 13:12:19
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| ...... oh, and another key cause of high meters but low volume is that the low frequencies carry a lot of energy and therefore can make the meters peak at lower volumes. I always chuck a high pass filter on all DAW channels, including the bass drum (although set only for very low frequencies) and this should keep a lot of high energy but unnecessary frequencies out of the mix and therefore allow faders to go up on the more relevant sounds |
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Danny Sticks
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1704 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2012 : 13:33:25
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Thanks guys - i really am an utter novice so on my own stuff don't even use compression - generally just reverb and other effects where required. I'm only really just starting out doing my own stuff so need to start exploring what can be done! Cheers
Sorry Shark for hijacking your thread! |
The Bucket - www.bucketoftentacles.co.uk |
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Started recordin some tunes this evening...
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