Danbass7 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Hey. Im recording with my band in a few weeks time , has anyone got any useful advice/tips ? cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Learn the piece thoroughly, relax and don't let any mistakes go through. They will p*** you off for decades!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayfan Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Rehearse rehearse rehearse before you go in. Don't waste studio time on discussing how the song goes. You can do that in a rehearsal room. Leave plenty of time to do the vocals, sadly it's the thing that people notice over everything else. Oh and make sure everyone tunes up before every take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Bring spares and have fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subthumper Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Yeah defo all the advice so far is good.The more pre production work you do the easier the recording will be.Its very easy to waste lots of time and money in a studio and come out with something your not 100% happy with. Make sure everyone aggrees with the plan and tell the engineer what your looking for,otherwise he'll just do the best he can. Make sure all the guitars are well set up especially with regard to intonation and also that the drums are tuned properly and that the drummer arrives on time cos setting up the drum sound usually takes the longest. Dont forget to take plenty of food,there's nothing less productive than everyone trying to survive all day on coffee and fags. Good luck,hope all goes well. Cheers Just Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonestar Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 as someone who suffers from "red light fever" ie when recording something I've played hundreds of times becomes a ten take job. I found this useful idea from Nathan east's DVD: When in the studio imagine you're playing live and when playing live imagine you're in the studio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) [quote name='Subthumper' post='122811' date='Jan 18 2008, 01:01 PM']Dont forget to take plenty of food,there's nothing less productive than everyone trying to survive all day on coffee and fags.[/quote] plus the one...my few stints in studios have benefited from pretending you're going camping...take twice as much food as you think you'll need. oh and a book - recording can be a very boring process have fun ! Edited January 18, 2008 by ahpook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazm Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Don't get drunk and listen to the engineer's advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Don't stick something in because you can. Do it because whatever you are recording needs it. This goes for production and overplaying. Good Luck G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danbass7 Posted January 19, 2008 Author Share Posted January 19, 2008 Cheers for all the advice. Ill no doubt get the red light fever. Its a 2 day 2 song job so its not like im exactly low on time. All of this is going to help a lot im sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 get all your "engineering" discussions done before you go in - so he knows what you want. maybe write it down (briefly) so he can go over it while you set up. lotsa mics - insurance for you, the sound you want will be in one or a combination of some. when you get in, concentrate on your task - playing. let him concentrate on his - recording. mixing is a different story - and that is where it's handy to have those extra mics, so you are not manipulating less sound in more ways to try and get what you wanted - and thought you had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 [quote name='Danbass7' post='123262' date='Jan 19 2008, 09:47 AM']Cheers for all the advice. Ill no doubt get the red light fever.[/quote] i think everyone does...i even get red light fever when i'm recording myself, on my own !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 [quote]lotsa mics - insurance for you, the sound you want will be in one or a combination of some.[/quote] I disagree with this a little. Go one step back. Use one mic and a di and make sure they sound good before you start recording. This is much better than hoping to 'find' the sound later when mixing. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 one mic? let me guess, a 58, 3 inches from the speaker at an angle from the cone? highly over rated approach, effective and simple for like work, but misses SOOOO much. if you've got plenty of time for playing with mic placement, great. spend a day of your two days making sure each players single mic is in the perfect spot, or trust the engineer to put it exactly where you would have. hahaha. studios have lots of mics, take advantage of it. whether your final uses all of them is moot - the point is to go in thinking about playing instead of messing with mic placement, which is tedious and time consuming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 (edited) I am an engineer and have lots of experience. Getting it right to start with is the best way to do it in my opinion. [quote]one mic? let me guess, a 58, 3 inches from the speaker at an angle from the cone? highly over rated approach[/quote] Generally i like to use a Neumann or AKG 414 about a foot back from the whole cab. I generally think dynamic microphones don't work as well or compliment the DI well. The point i was making was that the engineer will have his own tricks and saying to him "just chuck up another 2 mics aimlessly hust incase" wont help. His one placed through experience and practice will always be closer to what you are after than 3 put up randomly. Especially if you don't understand phase cancellation (a side effect of using more than 1 mic) which can ruin your bass sound all together. Tell the engineer what you want. Listen to his set up. If its not right, say, dont rely on EQ, compression or any of that to fix it later. Moving a mic and inch is much quicker than faffing about with a dozen channels of audio. Good luck G Edited January 21, 2008 by slaphappygarry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 and the point I made was "let the engineer do his job", and concentrate on playing, rather than nitpicking over what one mic sounds like moved 3" this way or that. that is what you are paying him for. if he is half competent, he won't randomly place mics - and if he places them aimlessly, you made your first mistake by hiring him, and should RUN out of there. as you point out he will have a pretty good idea of what HE wants. sadly, this may not be what you want - but if you have a close, mid, and far, (or DI for those who don't like the sound of their amp) all placed with his immense knowledge and taste - and you took a quick listen to make sure he isn't stone deaf, what you want will be there. and what you want may be entirely different doing your solo mic test than when mixing with the rest of the band. it seems pretty obvious to me that what you want and what I want are somewhat different - and that is why the engineer shouldn't have any problem adding another mic or two. it ain't that tough. I've been on both ends of the stick - it isn't that hard to get a very good sound, but I've had sessions end before the drums were set up because of differences between the expert drummer and the expert engineer. focusing on playing, and devote the time to that - if the playing is good, everything else is secondary. if the playing is bad, nothing else is worth anything. my home studio recordings have been done without ANY eq, compression, etc, and even now that I'm starting to look at an overall mix for thirteen tunes, polishing the turd so to speak - I don't think it's going to involve much more than adjusting the levels and panning on a couple mics. the ones I paid a pro studio for did - and I sure am glad I insisted on multiple mics instead of relying on what the engineer thought I should sound like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 (edited) I think we are agreeing on the same thing: [quote]if you have a close, mid, and far, (or DI for those who don't like the sound of their amp) all placed with his immense knowledge and taste[/quote] is what i was saying. Its the old poor workman best tools syndrome. A good engineer and one mic will be better than a crap one and every mic under the sun. [quote]lotsa mics - insurance for you[/quote] using lots of mics is not the same as using immense knowledge and taste. I still feel getting the source right is paramount but if you find what you need later, and it works for you, great. The other point i made is phase cancellation. If you get that wrong then the extra microphones will detract from the bass sound, not add to it so take lots of care when using more than one mic. Cheers Garry Edited January 20, 2008 by slaphappygarry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 perhaps I'm wrong, but when this fellow says he's recording in a few weeks, I'm assuming he's going into a studio with an engineer. if phase cancellation etc are issues in that situation, his selection was wrong and nothing is going to help them. if he had said "we set up a room to record", the issues/advice should be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 *Sigh* Ok. Have it your way. I have lost interest in discussing this with you. I clearly do things differently to you. Neither method is wrong. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Personally i love a D112 for bass but i think thats not the point here. Dont where anything with zips. Nothing that rattles. Keys, money etc all in control room. Tell ur band to do the same. If u move alot. Take a spare pair of socks and take ur shoes off. Oh and if the engineer doesnt get a sound u like. Tell him before its too late! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 there are plenty of "right" methods - but some engineers clearly favor certain set ups and sounds over others, and UNLESS you pick an engineer specifically because of that, you might not get what YOU want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) Which is exactly why you should get it right to start with and not rely on sorting it later. If you want to argue your point any further drop me a pm. G Edited January 22, 2008 by slaphappygarry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 mind boggling - but common. you have a specific mic and placement you prefer. fair enough, but it seems to end with that. too bad for the client that isn't after your preferred sound. what the heck is so hard about setting up another mic - right at the start? yes, get it right, at the start. and get as many right options, right at the start. you can't use what isn't there, you can't decide that for a certain tune/style what you thought you wanted isn't as good as the extra bit. all you can say is that it sounds as you expected it would, which with immense knowledge and experience means it sounds pretty much the same no matter who or what you record. unless you are relying on sorting it later. pretty much what I ran into with the drummer who walked out before we were finished setting up. he had been mixing live sound as well, for over a decade, plus had plenty of recording experience - and the engineer was not interested in knowing how he preferred to mic his drums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaphappygarry Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 (edited) [quote]you have a specific mic and placement you prefer. fair enough, but it seems to end with that. too bad for the client that isn't after your preferred sound.[/quote] Where did i say that? I am all for experimenting. There is not a specific mic or placement i use. It changes for player and rigs. Like i say nothing is right straight off an my starting methods change all the time but i feel that any playing about should be done at the start. With a DI and a good condensor you should be covered Dan. By all means throw up as many additional mics as you wish but make sure you are happy with your sound then because, from my experiences, its no fun trying to come to a compromise later on. At the end of the day being a good engineer is all about compromise. Going along with the clients wishes and doing the job properly being the top priorities. I get some good work and repeat custom from clients so feel happy in the knowledge i am doing what i am supposed too. When someone says 'i am not sure about that sound' the solution is not another mic. From experience moving the first mic 2" is so much more powerful than adding more signals to the instrument. [quote]yes, get it right, at the start. and get as many right options, right at the start.[/quote] Bingo. Thats a fair compromise. So long as you are happy from the start Dan you will be covered and will sound good. We are now detracting from the thread. PM me if you want to continue this. G Edited January 23, 2008 by slaphappygarry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 [quote name='Gazm' post='123197' date='Jan 18 2008, 11:36 PM']Don't get drunk and listen to the engineer's advice.[/quote] Don't get drunk? If you usually play drunk, get drunk. I do - it's fine But then I think a certain amount of beer suits me / my playing style. Just do what you do. Some of the best music ever has been made by drunkeds. In fact I usually overbuy beer. I hate being distracted by thinking I'm running out of it. And make sure you throw your empties in the bin unless you wanna look for the full can after each song / create an atmosphere fit for tramps. but yeah - listen to the engineer. Even if you think you know what you should be doing. They usually know the idiosyncrasies of their equipment and space much more than you do after only being in there an hour. If you use the same studio a couple of times, it's much easier (and they listen more) if you say "can we get it like this?". I think like anything it's hard for everyone to get on the same hymn sheet first time, and bands sometimes have unfair expectations of engineers who've sometimes not even heard your band. Sometimes best to do a take or two and then go and listen to them. +1 for the food. Food, beer, fags. Whiskey / wine for after. +1 for camping, I've been stuck in a rehearsal studio with no bog roll before. Spares, spares and more spares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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