Recording For Newbs Part 1

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shogunlegend

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as we all know from the now slightly famous clip that sucked, i need to learn how to record. lately i've began to question things like mic type/brands/etc.., placement, direct recording vs. mic recording, blah blah blah... so far, i have a rhythm playing on a radio or computer and put a mic between it and my amp in order to record. i realize this is a pathetic setup, but then again, i've never really taken recording seriously.

anyway, what are the fundamentals of recording?

how do you know what generally sounds good?

what are the pros/cons of direct vs. miced recording?

what's the basic theory of mic placement?

not being super cheap or anything, what is an economical way of getting decent recordings?

i know there have been scattered threads about recording, but i'd like to consolidate this information for recording newbs like me. can you guys offer some professional guidance?
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

The first decision to make is what recording format you will be most comfortable using. The options these days can generally be divided into computer based or stand alone dedicated recorders. If you have a reasonably fast and powerful computer, there are a wide range of software recording programs that can turn your computer into an effective DAW. (digital audio workstation) If you prefer the idea of a dedicated piece of hardware recording equipment, there are also many options and certain advantages to this type of recording. You will also need to think about what other instruments you want to record and how many tracks you might need to do so. These initial decisions will shape a lot of what comes afterwards, but there are other factors which will be common to both approaches.

Generally, you are going to get a better result from micing an amp than going direct, but there are obviously many very good direct boxes with their own multi effects which can be very effective, particularly if there are limitations to the amount of noise you can make.

There are many excellent microphones to choose from to mic a guitar amp, but I would recommend going with "old faithful" first, a Shure SM57. It is a microphone which will never go to waste, and will get you a good representation of what is coming from the amp. Any mic will need some form of preamplification before it gets to your recorder, and again there are many options of how to achieve this. A computer based system will generally need some sort of audio interface, which contains AD/DA converters, ie, they convert an analog signal into a digital signal on the "way in" and vice versa on the "way out" to your speakers. It can also contain the mic preamps. Most dedicated hardware recorders have their own mixer, which will include mic preamps.

Mic placement is a matter of experimentation, but you will generally find a good starting point in placing the mic off center of the speaker. You will find the center of the cone is usually very bright, to the point of being brittle, but then as you move the mic away from the center, the signal will become warmer and less harsh. One of the best methods of experimenting with mic placement is to use a set of headphones that you know well, and to physically move the mic around to various positions and check the response. You can also experiment with placing the mic at an angle (45 degrees) to the front of the amp. This works well with SM57's and is my own preferred micing technique. So the mic ends up off center, at 45 degrees, pointing in towards the center of the cone.

I realise that this post will lauch a whole new bunch of questions for you, but at least it's a start.


Cheers...........................wahwah
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

and an excellent start indeed. great information for me to get started, thanks so much wah wah. by the way, i've heard of these sm57 mics before and am going to purchase one this weekend
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

not to add confusion, but this dude's 57 and 58 clones are very similar and cheaper:

http://cgi.ebay.com/GLS-Audio-ES-57...hZ009QQcategoryZ15198QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

recording is a really personal thing: some people love micing, some love micing but can't make noise and have to go direct. some love to go direct but out of a tube head only, some use a POD, some use a sansamp, it goes on and on. virtual cabinet emulation, a DI box with cabinet emulation, re-amping, total virtual amps, recording a clean guitar and then applying an amp sim after that. it can't really all be tackled in one thread, but you can't go wrong from throwing a mic in front of an amp and hitting record.

with one-man recording, just do one thing at a time. program the drums and import those into your recording program (at the very least as a stereo track, but you could get crazy and have each drum piece on its own track), then record one guitar that you'll pan to the left 90 to 100 percent, then another for the right. then a bass track in the centerish position and vocals if you do 'em.

mixing is another beast though, as is mastering. I find a lot of stuff on homerecording.com useful. there's some pages dedicated to kicking things off. the whole process is kind of daunting but the trial and error is fun. you'll think your recordings don't sound so hot, but you know what, at least you got your riffs saved and down the road they'll provide some enjoyment for you.
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

Dankstar, you just saved me $70 on the purchase of a mic. Thanks much.
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

PFDarkside said:
Wah wah, what kind of mic pres do you like?
Click to expand...

I have two sets of mic pres that I love and which cover a wide variety of applications. First is an all tube pre custom made for me by a New Zealander named Greg Brice. It is based on a late 60's Pultec circuit, using vintage Mullard tubes. I have it in a rack with an all tube mono compressor made by the same guy, and together they make an incredibly warm and fat "front end" for mics and instruments before they enter the digital domain. The pre also has its own 48v phantom power, phase inversion and a high pass filter. Here's a photo of the pair, with the mic pre on the bottom.

IMG_0110.jpg


The second set of pres are in my Metric Halo ULN-2 audio interface, and they are just stunning, offering a richly detailed, high headroom alternative to the tube pre. Matched to the Metric Halo's excellent AD/DA converters, they make a brilliant combination. I will often try both types of pres on any given signal, they each have their fortes. For stuff like acoustic guitars or certain types of voices, the Metric Halo pres are beautifully transparent but still very warm and musical, as opposed to a lot of modern pres which have the transparency but are sterile. (Mackie, Behringer.) For anything that benefits from extra warmth and some juicy harmonic distortion, they go through the Brice pre. Here's a photo of the Metric Halo ULN-2.

IMG_0356.jpg





Cheers.........................wahwah
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

he he, i see it makes a nice printer stand too : popworm:
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

Carl762 said:
Dankstar, you just saved me $70 on the purchase of a mic. Thanks much.
Click to expand...

cool! hope it works well for ya - I use the 57 clone. I might get the 58 clone down the road just to have one with the attached windscreen.
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

innerdreamrecords.co said:
If you really want to get serious about audio and recording I would suggest Bob Katz "Mastering Audio" book. It's not about mastering though it covers that. Pretty dry but it's very good. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct03/articles/bobkatz.htm
Click to expand...

that sounds like a cool-ass book, but when i checked on it a few weeks ago, i was afraid that it was a little too technical for me at this point. is this material appropriate for beginners without much technical audio knowledge?
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

Wah Wah... that's a slick looking LA-2a style comp there! Love how the rack screws are hidden behind the panel & he got all the "secret" controls out front where they belong!! Nice myspace too... all around tasty stuff.

Anyway, if you read a bit online or in magazines about the "big" records you'll see people talk about preamps like API, Neve, Telefunken or smaller companies like Daking, Shadow Hills or Great River. Most all are transformer based, solid-state and might've been pulled from classic '70s recording consoles that have been chopped for the modules. Daking & Chandler are building "new" units based on the old designs... There are plenty of great tube units as well like the Telefunken V72 & modern "clean" things like Grace & Avalon... all with different shading & tonal characteristics. I pick them based on the tones they offer and match them to the microphone and instruments...

Those are all at about $1000 and up PER channel! So, recording drums with 12 mics... that's 12 preamps...plus the rest of the bands inputs...

On the other end of the spectrum... I'd recommend a little 4-8 channel mixing console like a Smackie VLZ or Soundcraft. They'll be fine for most purposes and having the mixer with some EQ and aux sends will open up a lot of signal flow possbilites as opposed to using preamps built into an computer A/D interface.

If your new to recording as well, getting a standalone recorder rather then computer software might be a better way to go... be a little less fustrating since you won't have to deal with latency rates and all that. Just plug & play.

Might save some money as well... tradeoff is some flexibity. For all my toys I still enjoy putting ideas down on a 4-track. It's just so immediate and I can get ideas down fast & not have to wrestle with technology.

Aside from demo studios & real "budget" stuff, about 96% of the world is still putting microphones in front of amps. You can't go too wrong with an SM57 and really, I wouldn't go cheaper here unless you just don't care. The sound starts with the mic and will only be "as good" as the microphone that's in fron of whatever your recording.

View the purchase as something that you'll have for life... and really, with some mics costing upwards of $6000 each, $90 for an SM57 really isn't a whole lot of money. Besides, some of those 'cheap' dynamics can't take the sheer power & abuse that the more expensive ones can... the diaphragm will "fold" when placed in front of a loud source like a raging half-stack or a snare drum. Not to mention that an SM57 makes a GREAT hammer when you need one!

shogunlegend said:
how do you know what generally sounds good?
Click to expand...

The bajillion dollar question! Sometimes the answer changes from day to day... hour to hour... might depend on how good the coffee is too.

The only "solid" answer I have for that one is two-fold. Comes down to listening and experience.

Becoming a good "recordist" isn't all that different then learning how to play guitar. Everyone sucks at first. Gradually, it gets better. After awhile it's pretty good and might eventually be great with a lot of practice!

For all my experience, not a single day goes by where I'm not listening to some other bit of music and doing an A/B comparison to something else... maybe something that an artist brought in or just to keep my wits about me after listening to the same song over & over for five straight hours... take 20 minutes to "readjust" and then back into the frey...

Having "good" monitors that you can really trust, and a good acoustically tuned room will also help 'ya figure out if what your getting is any "good" or not. I can't... just CAN'T overstate the importance of room tuning and monitors. Without those two things in place, your as good as lost.

Good books to read...

Back in the day I aquired a copy of "Modern Recording Techniques" but that might be a hair deep yet? Need to look up the author too... Maybe go to the local chain bookstore and scan through a few 'home recording' kind of books until you find one that doesn't seem too daunting. FWIW I've glanced over Bob Katz's book and while it's got a lot of good theory, I don't think much of it...

I'd recommend picking up a good magazine or two and devouring those from cover to cover. 'EQ' is a great read that has everything from some basics to more advanced things & plenty of great interviews, I still read that one every month but only 'cause they send it to me!

Though I haven't looked at a copy in years, 'Recording' is probably one of the best for someone just getting into it. Not very advanced or technical like "Mix" or Electronic Musician... Both EQ and Recording should be really easy to find...

http://www.recordingmag.com/
http://www.eqmag.com/

Peace.
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

wahwah said:
I have two sets of mic pres that I love and which cover a wide variety of applications. First is an all tube pre custom made for me by a New Zealander named Greg Brice.

<SNIP>
Click to expand...
Wow, cool stuff. :)

Thanks for the info here wah wah and J Moose. It seems in my limited experience that recording is similar to guitar playing, in that you need a certain basic level of equipment to get good results, but after that technique and experience hold far more importance than equipment. If you've got a PC with a good A/D, a few "good" mics and and a decent preamp/compressor combo, you can really do a good job.
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

shogunlegend said:
that sounds like a cool-ass book, but when i checked on it a few weeks ago, i was afraid that it was a little too technical for me at this point. is this material appropriate for beginners without much technical audio knowledge?
Click to expand...

You might be right. A good way to learn is from forums as well, there are also some more basic books out on setting up a home studio and recording. Can't remember the names right now. It takes years to really get it down for most but you have to start somewhere and some people take to it like ducks to water.
 
Re: Recording For Newbs Part 1

PFDarkside said:
Thanks for the info here wah wah and J Moose. It seems in my limited experience that recording is similar to guitar playing, in that you need a certain basic level of equipment to get good results, but after that technique and experience hold far more importance than equipment. If you've got a PC with a good A/D, a few "good" mics and and a decent preamp/compressor combo, you can really do a good job.
Click to expand...

Pretty much.

Rooms tuning & monitors are really key though.

A few years ago I ended up doing some work in a small studio with a really questionable acoustic design and some horrible 3-way monitor setup with a crazy subwoofer and I couldn't get a handle on ANYTHING. I resorted to using headphones so I could hear what things sounded like. Only tracking overdubs so it was 'workable' but I could never mix in an environment like that, no matter how good the gear was.

The book I was thinking of is "Modern Recording Techniques" by Huber & Runstein. My copy is well over 10 years old but I'm sure there's a newer edition out.

If it interests anyone I have a sizeable pile of recording mags here that I was about to launch into recylcing... All from the last year or so... not sure how many total but it's a good stack. If someone wants them I'd be more then happy to send 'em out for the cost of shipping, just PM me.
 
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