HELP! I need a way to record

P

punkband1

New member
I'm in a band and we're pretty good but we just can't find a good way to record a demo. We don't really have the money to pay for a recording studio, but i do know a guy who would let us borrow this digital 4-track. I'll list the equiptment that i have for my PA that i have built up over the years from all the christmas and birthday money i have recieved:

Mackie CR1604 VLZ PRO (I really love this thing, it's great!)
DBX 166XL Dual Channel Compressor (This thing is pretty nice for the money)
Alesis 230EQ Dual 31 band EQ ( I think that's what it's called)
Mackie 1400i PowerAmp ( This is pretty nice)
2 Peavey 12" PA cabinets (I forgot what the model name is)
2 Yamaha SI15IV 15" PA Cabinets
4 Shure SM57's
1 Electro-Voice N/D 767
a couple of boom stands and cables for the mics.

There, man, that's a lot of shit. Anyway, now i'll list the instruments in the band:

Lead Guitar - 2X12 Crate Vintage Club 50
Bass Guitar - Some shitty old Peavey 18" thingamabob
Drums - Premier XPK 5 piece. He has mics for each of the drums but he hasn't gotten over-heads yet. He has high-hat's, a 14" and 16" crash, a 18" crash/ride, and a 21" ride.
Trumpet - Logan plays trumpet, he's cool.

We might add a second guitarist, a sax, and a trombone.

So that's the situation and it would be really great if you could help me out.

Thanks for everything,

Johnny Oreo
 
Hey,
If I were you, I'd plug that digi 4 track in to the Macki mixer and start playing with the gear that you have. You may find that you don't need any more than that.

Rule #1: Trust your ears when recording and playing back and editing.

Rule #2: K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid. The best results are usually achieved with simple setups.

[This message has been edited by Grizzly (edited 01-02-2000).]
 
the 1604 has stereo groups, so mic the entire drum kit into the mixing board and get that sounding right, then mic your guitar with a 57 into the minidisc 4track and get that sounding right, and go Direct into the minidisc 4track with the bass. Now assign the drum channels in stereo outs to channels 1 and 2 on the 4track while 3 is guitar, and 4 is bass. after you record your songs music you can bounce in stereo over track 3 and 4 on the 4track since minidisc has the capability of bouncing to tracks that already have data on them. Now you have a stereo mix of instruments on 3rd and 4th tracks. this leaves you with the ability to record vocals on tracks 1 and 2 now, so thats backup and lead. or if there is lead guitar part, or something like that. good luck. its easier then it reads.
 
wow great explanation kristian, i couldnt of explained it better myself(im serious, i couldnt of) haha. yeah follow that punkband and you should get a real good sound, the only thing i wanna add is if you have any money to spend get some overheads the C-1000 are real good, pair of those or a good condenser, the rode, or octava, both good good. good luck.
 
Since I've been making experimental music for quite awhile, I have learned one thing for sure: recording can be done in about a zillion ways. You can sync four jamboxes up by putting a tone at the beginning of the tape. Use each jambox to record something different. Hell, you have a mixer, mic your drums into that, adjust levels, send into the first jambox direct. You're into punk right? DIY.
Whatever. With all the equipment you have, you should have no problem being creative. You could send everything to a VCR, since you have the mixer... I have done tape editing on VHS tapes by unscrewing them, and finding a razor blade. IF you have more than one VHS, you can use them to bounce tracks aside, and mixdown to something else later on. VHS has some decent quality sound if you record on slow speed.

None of this will get you the professional results that most people drool over, but then again, sometimes, that's not the point.

DaveX http://www.angelfire.com/il/davexpooh
 
DaveX: The highest quality to be obtained from a VHS HiFi mixdown is with FAST speed.
This is called SP. Forget about EP and LP.
Tape is so cheap, it's not worth sacrificing quality to get 6 hours on a tape.
 
The simplest way is the GBV way. Run the drums, rhythm guitar, and bass through the mixer. Get it mixed good. Record it to tracks 1 and 2 (or just 1 if you want mono). Then use tracks 3 and 4 for vocals and lead, or vocals and trumpet, or vocals and background vocals, etc.
 
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