Just HOW good are you?

[rushfan33]

For those of you with home/project studios that charge bands, are you honestly "equipped" to accomodate the many different styles of music and their relative recording styles? Do you recognize the difference in the styles of recording?

For example, if you have a studio drumset already miced and ready to record, would you leave it the same way if on saturday you recorded a rock band, and then on Sunday recorded country band?

What kind of adjustments do you make for different styles of music?

just curious...
RF

[Sonic Misfit]

The example of the drum kit is a good one. Firstly, I never leave the kit miked up. Always put away the microphones. Secondly, you need a good selection of drums. I have four different snare drums, a Noble-Cooley for Metal, an old Gretch for the Jazz, a DW for country, and a Pearl Piccolo for the other stuff like Cajun.

For the Latin music, you will need to switch out the toms for Timbales at times (I use LPs). Also, a good set of maple Congas is essential.

That is just dealing with the drum kits. You also need a good selection of real guitar amps. (No a Pod doesn't always fill the bill, but you will still need a couple of these as well.)

Rather than go on, it is obvious that to accommodate all the different styles, you need to make a significant investment. (I forgot to mention the baby grand piano, which is a "must" for Jazz.)

[rushfan33]

Thanks for the reply..... My question was directed more to the skill of the engineer more than the amount or quality of gear. I should've worded my question a little different. More to the point, I'm wondering if many of us have found a "comfortable" techinque that yields nice results, and then use that across the board, or do we adjust for the music, musician and genre of music.

Thanks,
John

[mrface2112]

<<I'm wondering if many of us have found a "comfortable" techinque that yields nice results, and then use that across the board, or do we adjust for the music, musician and genre of music>>


i think the answer is "a little of both". i mean, your style of recording, your approach to getting sounds and tones, your baseline "defaults", your way of mixing, etc., are all going to be stylistic flavorings that you're going to bring to the table, regardless of the genre or style of music. it's what makes you be you (for better or for worse!). when someone drafts you to do the engineering or mixing, they're choosing the way that you capture and represent the magic.

and certainly an engineer worth their salt is going to realise that there's usually a "societal norm" for how certain genres are "supposed" to sound.

the truly skilled engineer will be able to apply themselves and their flavor to the applicable genre and hopefully make something that's worth listening to.

now, am i any good at all that nonsense i babbled above? probably not. i record the way i record and i mix they way i mix, and whether any of it is "right" or not (be it technically or true to genre) has never crossed my mind. all i know is that i usually like what i come up with (although i'm always finding faults or something that could be "better"), as do those i associate with, and in the end that's all that really matters to me.


wade

PS--a good sub-question of this would be "how many of you regularly record more than a couple styles of music?" i would think that most of us tend to see work in (and focus on?) one or two semi-related styles (rock and related, hiphop and related, etc) and that's about it.

[chessrock]

Originally posted by rushfan33
More to the point, I'm wondering if many of us have found a "comfortable" techinque that yields nice results, and then use that across the board, or do we adjust for the music, musician and genre of music.

Both. I've found a few comfortable techniques I like to use most of the time, but I leave a lot of room/flexibility to adjust/modify them to the situation.

[TexRoadkill]

You have to have some frame of reference to start with. Otherwise you are just going to be randomly placing the mic every time and that would take forever. Mic placement isn't really about genre so much as it is about a tracks sound.

You wouldn't really have to mic a guitar cab differently for blues or metal but you might for lead or rhythm in any style.

Drums sounds are a bit more specific with mic technique/selection and since I don't have a house kit every session is a new journey.

[Recording Engineer]

Well, style of music will help me choose mics, preamps, compressors, and what combinations to use, as well as miking techniques and placement, and room acoustics, I will use.

On the otherhand, sometimes, my descions on the above will remain the same, regardless of style of music. For example, I will record rock or rap vocal overdubs with the same signal path and in the same acoustic setting, all the time.

But no matter what, the goal is always to make it sound good, as long as you keep in the back of your mind that "good" for one style of music is not always or necessarily "good" for another. Also, remember, decisions need to be made on behalf of what is best for the song and/or mix.