Topic: Help recording guitars and real drums

Hi,

when recording the band, I usually do it like this; record drums (real version on as many tracks as needed) + rest of the band playing together in another room with just 1 microphone; the rest of the band track is just for orientation; then record instruments one-by-one, based on the drum track. However, this requires to have 2 rooms (so that orientation track does not bleed into basic drums track) and some equipment to be able to setup proper monitoring in both rooms – drummer needs to hear the rest of the band in his earphones, rest of the band needs to hear drums, but rest of the band must not bleed into real drum track). Unfortunately, the band has not made any of the resulting tracks public, so I can’t show you what is the result… 🙁

If you (or your friends) have never recorded at all, then I fear it’s going to be tricky…

Microphones generally require a preamplifier, some even need an extra 48V, called “phantom power”, and most of them have XLR connectors. When you say you have 4 inputs, I assume they are line inputs…? If so, I’d say your best bet is to maybe get the band to rent a small mixer.

Next, you’ll have to decide whether to record them during a live performance, all at once, or one by one – with a limited amount of inputs, this may be the only choice.
However, it may not capture the performance ‘feel’ as nicely, and you may need many takes, depending on their playing skill. There’s also a problem with this if your equipment doesn’t have a way to monitor the inputs directly (without latency).

Here’re some quick, general tips on recording instruments:

Voice – Many people prefer large diaphragm mics (likely needs +48V) for vocals, though some great recordings have been made just with an SM57. How closely you position it to the singer is largely a matter of taste, and whether the recording room has a “good” sound.

Guitars (you didn’t mention if they’re acoustic or electric, so this is for electric only): If the band uses amp modelers (such as POD), or amplifiers with a line output, recording them this way may be easier than using microphones. Otherwise place one microphone (best use a dynamic one, like an SM57, but pretty much anything will do) directly in front of the amplifier. Depending on how the sound should be, place it either to directly face the speaker (on-axis), to face one of the corners, or very close to the speaker but rotated 90° away from it (off-axis). If they play with distortion, try to turn it down a little, especially if you’ll be layering guitar tracks (as used on most recordings).

Drums – In my opinion, the best way to capture the sound of a drumkit is using a (matched) pair of microphones as overheads. If you have additional microphones, use them on the snare and bass drum. This very much depends on the style of music style, though. A metal recording probably won’t work as well without mics on snare & bass, but more jazzy stuff does.

I honestly have no idea how to record a trumpet! 🙂 Anyway, I hope this helps a little.

@LiquidProj3ct wrote:

My sound card (Edirol UA-4fx) only have one input, their sound card (a M-Audio, that they didn’t plugged yet a single time) they *think* it has 4 line inputs

Okay, so it seems you have one XLR input with phantom power and one Hi-Z guitar input. That’s a good start… only the drums might be a problem.

There’s also a problem with this if your equipment doesn’t have a way to monitor the inputs directly (without latency).

I think that my Edirol can monitor directly. I don’t understand the importance of this, although?

If you record the musicians separately, the gutarists or singer, for example, will have to play while listening to the playback from your computer. Even at the smallest buffer size of your audio interface, it will introduce a delay, which is often enough to throw the performance off… You probably know it if you play any software synthesizers with a MIDI keyboard or such. For audio input, there’s a way around this, called “direct monitoring”, in which you can listen directly to the signal the audio interface receives, without it being passed through to Podium and back out again (this is called software monitoring, I believe). The recording will be in time with the playback!

Quick question, all the mics I use in the Drums will capture another drums sounds too, doesn’t it? Example, if I have a mic near the snare, inevitablely, it will capture another residual sounds, as the kick.

If you use overhead mics, which is the standard way to capture cymbals, but can also be used alone, without an extra microphone on every kit piece, it will record the whole drum kit in stereo. Here’s an example: http://z.about.com/d/homerecording/1/0/P/-/-/-/overheads.jpg (just the two mics above the cymbals). If you record the kitpieces separately, there’ll of course be some “crosstalk” going on. It shouldn’t be a problem, though, as the microphones are usually placed very close to the drums.

@kyran wrote:

The best way to record trumpets or other brass is using a dynamic mic (sm57) close to the end of the instrument.

😯 – I’m doing exactly the opposite for the trumpets and trombones; large-diaphragm condenser, and put it cca 1m in front of the instrument. There is usually no need for additional reverb mixed in later, and the sound is pretty and natural; however, good sounding room is a must in this case 😉

@pavouk100 wrote:

@kyran wrote:

The best way to record trumpets or other brass is using a dynamic mic (sm57) close to the end of the instrument.

😯 – I’m doing exactly the opposite for the trumpets and trombones; large-diaphragm condenser, and put it cca 1m in front of the instrument. There is usually no need for additional reverb mixed in later, and the sound is pretty and natural; however, good sounding room is a must in this case 😉

There is no general rule to all of this 🙂
I mostly don’t have good sounding rooms available to me when recording, so I try to get everything as dry as possible. I try to use dynamics as much as possible, because they contain less room.
But now you’ve got me interested, so the next time I’m going to try your method as well 🙂

(Again: I’m no specialist, I sort of rolled into recording bands, I’m still learning, and as the audio track I posted proves, there’s lots of room for improvement 😉 )

LiquidProj3ct, there’s some good advice coming your way in this thread. I’ll just a add a couple other things that I’ve learned so far. I’m not a pro, but I have recorded others a few times and here’s what I’d add to the quilt:

1. Remember that it’s supposed to be fun. Stress is contagious. If you are relaxed and focused it will translate to the band and make the whole process come out better.

2. You’re the engineer not the producer. Avoid making comments on the performance unless asked.

3. Mic placement will do more towards getting a good recording than almost anything else you do. There is a direct relationship between mic placement and the time it will take to mix the session.

4. Templates are your friend. Once you get the mic levels set, the tracks marked with meaningful names and such, save it as a template. This will allow to move quickly between sets, songs, takes and whatever else. The band will appreciate that when they were ready to go, so were you.

5. Take notes. As many as you need. This will be what you refer to later on when the band is not there and you are mixing the session.

6. Did I mention mic placement? 🙂

Have fun! Can’t wait to hear how things turn out.