I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

[J Moose]

:wrf: :laugh:

Gotta love it!

It looks like I'm going to be hosting a clinic on "basic recording" at the Guitar Center in Springfield, NJ sometime in the next 60 days or so. They'd like it to be about the basic 'recording 101' stuff like microphone placement, recording vocals & acoustic guitar...the concepts of things like DI boxes and maybe some basic mixing, FX treatment & such.

So considering that my audience is going of people like you (the greater you) with probably anywhere from moderate to zero recording experience rather then guys like me who have been hanging mics & turning knobs day in & out for 10 years...what should I cover?!?

I've been doing this for such a long time that its WAY easy for me to go over the deep end & move too far to fast or spew off on some tangent. :27:

I'm guessing that we'll in the "pro" audio room with a PT setup of somekind...probably a few microphones, maybe record some guitars & vocals or maybe I should just talk about the ideas thought process behind picking & placing microphones; how to vibe the session and make sure everyone is kool & comfertable. Should we have a prerecorded backing track of drums & whatever & add parts to "build" a song or is that overkill for this? Obviously I think we should be passing signal at some point since it IS a recording clinic!

:smack:

Tell me what you'd want & expect to see, hear & learn from an hour long (plus or minus) clinic on recording with someone who doesnt' work for someone who sells gear for a living. I just use it!

Thanks!

 

[Voxman]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

I think you should do a complete pre recording! bring some basic gear and show them how you did it.
the making a song is a total overkill!

 

[seafoamer]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

If I were u, i wouldn't do it.

 

[xerxes]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

tell me when, ill go!

 

[J Moose]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

I think you should do a complete pre recording! bring some basic gear and show them how you did it.
the making a song is a total overkill!

I dunno' about that.

I want to try & keep it relevent to what people might have access to at home & keep it very general unless we get an audience of super experienced people.

If I were to bring in a whole song (like I might for a mixing thing) and dissect it....well...it probably wouldn't be a great example. Typically I'm in situations where the equipment is almost always 'top-shelf' & we have rooms to match. If the artist has enough dough (and you might be SHOCKED at what qualifies as "enough") we'll go someplace like this to cut basics; http://www.redrockrecording.com

If there's no money we might take over a VFW hall for a few days or I'll haul gear into their rehersal spot, take over the bass players house or whatever.

I digress.

Anyway...any record I produce for one band usually has no bearing on what I might do on the next one. It's because every situation & song is unique...and yeah...there's some general stuff that I always do like checking phase with one-speaker mono & taking time to find the right position for each mic but it REALLY does always vary. Maybe for band "X" I'll hang 5 or 6 mics on the drum kit & use lots of reverb on the record. If band "H"s music calls for 15 mics on the drum kit & the mixes to be dry as a bone then so-be-it!

So yeah...I think I want to keep it more open-ended. I don't want people walking out thinking that they need bajillion dollar microphones to capture good sounds...

Lets say I did bring in a whole recording & loaded that into Toolz for the demo...hit play and we've got anywhere from 20 to 30+ tracks...drums all broken out, 6 or 7 various guitars & all that jazz...what would you hope to get out of that besides hearing "good" individual tones from all the instruments?

Foamboy - Why wouldn't you do this? 'Cause Guitarget generally sucks? LOL

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

I think you should have some stuff pre-recorded that you can't record or don't have time to get into while there (specifically: drums).

I'd then demonstrate the basics of mic positioning and what mics will give what sounds, etc... then record a guitar and bass line live, so they see what's going on, then do the vocal how to, add those on top, and then add in your pre-recorded drums and do a little on-the-spot mixing, just to show them the basics of how a song gets recorded and tuned up.

Definately, DEFINATELY leave time for an open Q&A. If anything, that might be the most helpful/informative section of the tutorial, actually.

 

[seafoamer]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

Foamboy - Why wouldn't you do this? 'Cause Guitarget generally sucks? LOL

mostly cuz GC's one & only vested interest is in sellin' mics, pres, monitors etc. They just ain't doin' it for the love of the Art of recording music.

 

[vinterland]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

In only one hour its really hard to get much of anything done. I honestly don't know what I'd do. In that short time I imagine there would be much more in terms of questions than understanding. Good luck though!

 

[J Moose]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

mostly cuz GC's one & only vested interest is in sellin' mics, pres, monitors etc. They just ain't doin' it for the love of the Art of recording music.

Yeah...dig it.

But check this out.

Its kinda my show. I'm in tight at the one store...the store manager thought it was a great idea to the point of not caring (LOL) and the audio guy I deal with it is doing it because he gets an IPod out of the deal.

So...since it was kinda my idea anyway (thrown out half jokingly) it's my gig so I get a chance to promote the good stuff...the love & art of recording music & all my mad azz skillz.

The dream is that I can pontificate for an hour or two & educate some kids on the basics so they can get half-way decent demos on their own & maybe...just maybe some of 'em will call me to mix it or say; "fuk it, instead of spending $5K on crap gear, lets have Moose do the whole thing" or maybe I'll help 'em acoustically treat their room or something.

I'd LOVE talk about that for a few minutes...it's a HUGE thing.

And I'm sure that Guitar Center will sell some microphones & 4-tracks or whatever too.

I know I'm good for AT least a pack of strings. :blackeye:

HOHOHOHOHO!

 

[Voxman]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

I dunno' about that.

I want to try & keep it relevent to what people might have access to at home & keep it very general unless we get an audience of super experienced people.

If I were to bring in a whole song (like I might for a mixing thing) and dissect it....well...it probably wouldn't be a great example. Typically I'm in situations where the equipment is almost always 'top-shelf' & we have rooms to match. If the artist has enough dough (and you might be SHOCKED at what qualifies as "enough") we'll go someplace like this to cut basics; http://www.redrockrecording.com

If there's no money we might take over a VFW hall for a few days or I'll haul gear into their rehersal spot, take over the bass players house or whatever.

I digress.

Anyway...any record I produce for one band usually has no bearing on what I might do on the next one. It's because every situation & song is unique...and yeah...there's some general stuff that I always do like checking phase with one-speaker mono & taking time to find the right position for each mic but it REALLY does always vary. Maybe for band "X" I'll hang 5 or 6 mics on the drum kit & use lots of reverb on the record. If band "H"s music calls for 15 mics on the drum kit & the mixes to be dry as a bone then so-be-it!

So yeah...I think I want to keep it more open-ended. I don't want people walking out thinking that they need bajillion dollar microphones to capture good sounds...

Lets say I did bring in a whole recording & loaded that into Toolz for the demo...hit play and we've got anywhere from 20 to 30+ tracks...drums all broken out, 6 or 7 various guitars & all that jazz...what would you hope to get out of that besides hearing "good" individual tones from all the instruments?

Foamboy - Why wouldn't you do this? 'Cause Guitarget generally sucks? LOL

Let`s say you do the drums the first 30 minutes,what about those drummers dropping by after 45 min.?

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

Lemme think... Mic placement is one thing to learn, But IMO it's more taste and experiment than a exact science. (But,I could be wrong:13: ) I guess there is a few Do's and Don'ts in Mic placement. Like avoiding phase issue's.
In today's world of digital recording Compression is vital. I'm a total spaze with a compressor.:smack: I could really use a tutorial on how to properly compress my signal.

 

[SCOTT502]

Re: I got roped into doing a recording clinic at Guitarget! What should I cover?!?

every situation & song is unique...and yeah...there's some general stuff that I always do like checking phase with one-speaker mono & taking time to find the right position for each mic but it REALLY does always vary. Maybe for band "X" I'll hang 5 or 6 mics on the drum kit & use lots of reverb on the record. If band "H"s music calls for 15 mics on the drum kit & the mixes to be dry as a bone then so-be-it!

I don't want people walking out thinking that they need bajillion dollar microphones to capture good sounds...

The dream is that I can pontificate for an hour or two & educate some kids on the basics so they can get half-way decent demos on their own

maybe I'll help 'em acoustically treat their room or something.

I'd LOVE talk about that for a few minutes...it's a HUGE thing.

This sounds great already. I think DSS3's point is a good one too, take a pre-recorded drum track in because you could spend a week on this topic alone i'm sure and not scratch the surface. Record bass and guitar and touch on vocals.

Definatly talk about room treatment. I'm just finding out how very important that subject is!