new to recording... help....

[timandjes]

I have a Christian band on a low budget. I want to record our music so I bought a tascam 414 mkII. My first attempt to record was connecting my electric piano into a 1/4 line in on track 1, then using my Shure SM 58 suspended overhead to record the drums on track 2... Poor quality, too much noise.... I got some advice in the Microphone forum that the SM58 was not a good drum mic & that I should use a direct box to correct any possible
impedance problems instead of connecting my piano directly to the 4 track. How about the Tascam's dedicated guitar input? Could I connect the piano there without a direct box or is the direct box a good idea anyway?

What advice could anyone give on what mics, how many, and where to put them, that would be good for drums, piano, & guitar? Also, any advice on eliminating noise in general while recording with my 4 track would be appreciated.....

[The Green Hornet]

Yo TimANDjes:

If you research around this site, you will find many answers to your recording questions.

But, here is another good place for you to get help.

www.recordingeq.com

Happy researching

Green Hornet

[Axe4Yahweh]

Originally posted by timandjes
I have a Christian band on a low budget. I want to record our music so I bought a tascam 414 mkII. My first attempt to record was connecting my electric piano into a 1/4 line in on track 1, then using my Shure SM 58 suspended overhead to record the drums on track 2... Poor quality, too much noise.... I got some advice in the Microphone forum that the SM58 was not a good drum mic & that I should use a direct box to correct any possible
impedance problems instead of connecting my piano directly to the 4 track. How about the Tascam's dedicated guitar input? Could I connect the piano there without a direct box or is the direct box a good idea anyway?

What advice could anyone give on what mics, how many, and where to put them, that would be good for drums, piano, & guitar? Also, any advice on eliminating noise in general while recording with my 4 track would be appreciated.....

Blessings Bro!

I too just bought a Tascam 414 MKII. What kind of electric piano are you using? Do you have a keyboard amp that you can use with it? What kind of noise are you talking about?

From my old days in the 70's, the saying on the mininum number of mics for a drum set went like this: The Kick, the Snare, and two in the air. That's 4 mics minimum. You Mic the Bass Drum by itself. Put the Snare mic between the snare and Hi Hat using a Boom stand. (ya have to experiment with placement to get a good mix of the two) You use another mic on a boom stand above and between the mounted tom(s) in such a way that it also catches sound from some of the cymbals overhead. You then place a mic on a boom stand over the floor tom, also in such a way as to catch some sound of the cymbal(s) overhead. All this takes some experimentation with mic placement.

The SM-58 is a great vocal mic but for instruments, the SM-57 is better. There are many alternatives to these mics. Some good, some not so good.

Hope this helps some...

Blessings on your endever!

BHS;

CR
Bethel

Bethel and Stormy Monday MP3's:
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/.../singles.shtml

[timandjes]

Thanks... My band has a piano player that plays an upright non-electric piano. I (the drummer) bought the recording equip. so I'm just trying to learn to use it. Since my piano player isn't here @ my house, I'm just using a cheap Casio elect. piano, (by no means top of the line.... I just today got a Nady 3-pc drum mic set & it does MUCH better than my one suspended SM 58. Still, my recordigs have a "lack of crispness" than those of the professionals.... It could be my cheap piano &/or the thin 1/8 to 1/4 wire & adapter I'm using to connect it to my Tascam... Do you think so?

[Axe4Yahweh]

Originally posted by timandjes
Thanks... My band has a piano player that plays an upright non-electric piano. I (the drummer) bought the recording equip. so I'm just trying to learn to use it. Since my piano player isn't here @ my house, I'm just using a cheap Casio elect. piano, (by no means top of the line.... I just today got a Nady 3-pc drum mic set & it does MUCH better than my one suspended SM 58. Still, my recordigs have a "lack of crispness" than those of the professionals.... It could be my cheap piano &/or the thin 1/8 to 1/4 wire & adapter I'm using to connect it to my Tascam... Do you think so?

The Casio ought to be able to go direct without a prob. It's going to take alot of experimenting to get the sound that you want. It's also going to take some effects such as reverb and delay.

One suggestion I can give is have your EQ set flat when you record then you can add or subtract Highs and Lows on mixdown.
I use a computer and CDex to record as a wave on mixdown and then to convert to MP3 format for uploading. That conversion takes alot of the noise out and equals out the volume with compression and makes it much louder.

I have never mic'd a piano and I would imagine it would take two mics to do it properly. I pray that he is going to use an electronic keyboard live!!! LOL

Yes your cords could have alot of effect on your sound, especially if they are cheap or even worse, non-shielded wire.

Say ya like those Nady Drum Mics? Sharon, our drummer is looking at the 5 piece set.

One suggestion on the drums. Use some duct take on the front head of the bass drum and the bottom of the toms if they are causing some sort of echo or whatever. You will get a much more "Crisp" sound.

BHS;

CR
Bethel

Bethel MP3's: http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/.../singles.shtml

[timandjes]

Someone suggested that I connect my elect piano to a direct box, then into my Tascam 414 MKII. I bout a Horizon Straightline Passive Direct Box today. It has a Hi-Z input, a Hi-Z output, a lo-Z output, & a "ground lift" switch. It didn't come with any instructions. I hooked it up today with my piano into the hi-Z in and an xlr cable from the lo-Z out to my Tascam. The recording produced does sound much better than before but does anyone know what the ground lift is & should I turn it on or not? Also, is this direct box what I'd use if my guitar player wants to record via line in to my Tascam?

I know, I know.... I'm a recording dummy...

[MichaelM]

I bought a 414mk2 in January, and have just been messing around with it at home, with guitar and drums and vocals with me and my brother, sometime soon I'm going to record a demo for my band.

Anway the hi-Z guitar in on the 414 is fine for clean guitar, but just don't run distortion pedals through it. Sounds thin and fuzzy and crap. Mic up the amp.

That might be blatantly obvious to most of you but I'm learning from experience.

[Axe4Yahweh]

Originally posted by timandjes
Someone suggested that I connect my elect piano to a direct box, then into my Tascam 414 MKII. I bout a Horizon Straightline Passive Direct Box today. It has a Hi-Z input, a Hi-Z output, a lo-Z output, & a "ground lift" switch. It didn't come with any instructions. I hooked it up today with my piano into the hi-Z in and an xlr cable from the lo-Z out to my Tascam. The recording produced does sound much better than before but does anyone know what the ground lift is & should I turn it on or not? Also, is this direct box what I'd use if my guitar player wants to record via line in to my Tascam?

I know, I know.... I'm a recording dummy...

Sometimes you can pickup noise or hum even on a transformer balanced line and the Ground Lift generally will take care of it.

BHS;

CR
Bethel

Bethel MP3's: http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/.../singles.shtml

[Blackburn]

Yo Timandjes,

Just so you know...you can probably find some helpful micing tips in the microphone thread.

The easiest way to mic a piano would be by using a spaced pair of condesner mics, preferably cardioid pattern. Position one aimed at the low strings and one aimed at the high strings. You can pan them apart, as far as you want to, to get some stereo seperation and you will be in business.

jason