Don't blame the equipment...

[wbcsound]

I finally got a chance to create an archival site for my old band Floodwaters on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/floodwaterstexas). Why am I posting about it here?

The songs uploaded were all from our original demos which got us plenty of gigs. Here was our setup:

All drums were recorded with 3 mics: SM57 on snare, unknown model Samson bass drum mic, and no name brand dynamic overhead (Fostex?) to Fostex 2-track (4 track only allowing 2 tracks at a time) cassette (bass drum and over head to one track and snare to the other) and transfered to Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 using an SB Live sound card.

Guitars were a Valvestate Marshall Half stack miced with the SM57 or a Line 6 Flextone direct into the Fostex as a mic pre and into the SB live line in.

Vocals were also an SM57 into the Fostex as a mic pre and into the SB live line in.

Keyboard (Korg X5D) and bass were also recorded direct using the above method.

The vast majority of processing was done with Cakewalks bundled effects or printed during tracking (guitar effects).

Does it sound like a pro NY studio using $10,000 mic pres? Absolutely not but it got the job done on an absolute shoestring budget with bare minimal equipment. All this was done in 1999 on a pitiful computer by today's standards (early Pentium) and we had to constantly bounce tracks because the box just didn't have the memory to run a bunch of tracks with effects.

Moral of the story? Don't blame the equipment, just find a way to get it done the best you can...

[greyharmonix]

it sounds pretty damn good! so you recorded the snare separately after doing it with just two mics playing it as an entire kit? i don't get how you got the vocals to sound so good with a sm57. ive sang into an a sm57 and it sounds too flat, but your recording didn't sound flat. anyway that was a cool way of saying be a good musician first and foremost.

[wbcsound]

Originally Posted by greyharmonix

it sounds pretty damn good! so you recorded the snare separately after doing it with just two mics playing it as an entire kit? i don't get how you got the vocals to sound so good with a sm57. ive sang into an a sm57 and it sounds too flat, but your recording didn't sound flat. anyway that was a cool way of saying be a good musician first and foremost.

The Fostex had 4 inputs, but you could only record 2 tracks at a time and we had 3 mics. So bass drum and over head were recorded to one track and snare to the other. We kept the snare separate so we could add compression and figured the bass drum and overhead's frequencies were far apart enough to allow a degree of processing on the highs and lows separately.

An SM57 was my first real mic and I became very familiar with it's sound. I even used it live for vocals with the band in those days. I don't recall all the processing for the vocals, but we didn't have a good room for vocals so we really worked on our mic technique in order to sing right up on the mic doing multiple takes until we got a clean one without any pops. Of course that resulted in a boosted low end due to the proximity effect, but we cut the lows cut significantly and likely boosted in the upper mids. I used to have a free Direct X High Frequency Stimulator from RGC audio (now owned by Cakewalk) which I used frequently back in those days and may have used it as well.

The dates on the demos were 1999, but that was for the finished tracks. I recall spending months experimenting with EQ, compression, and reverb to get the sound where I wanted it.

[omtayslick]

The '57 can be a very good vocal mic. I just depends on the voice.

[tmix]

It sounds really good to me!
While it is nice to have good tools, nothing helps more than experience,talent and patience.

Do you still play in the band or have you closed up shop?

[wbcsound]

Originally Posted by tmix

It sounds really good to me!
While it is nice to have good tools, nothing helps more than experience,talent and patience.

Do you still play in the band or have you closed up shop?

The band broke up in the early 2000's. I'm hoping to put a new group together this year and release a solo album. In the mean time, I'm busy with www.frugalguitarist.com.

[tmix]

Cool!
Checked out your site.
Are you still local to the DFW metro?

If you ever need drumtracks for anything or a facility to accommodate a goodly sized number of folks (or heck..just to blab) give me a shout.
I am in the South Arlington Area.

[wbcsound]

Originally Posted by tmix

Cool!
Checked out your site.
Are you still local to the DFW metro?

If you ever need drumtracks for anything or a facility to accommodate a goodly sized number of folks (or heck..just to blab) give me a shout.
I am in the South Arlington Area.

Yes, I'm in Plano. Thanks for the offer, I may be needing some drumtracks for my solo project...