i need help please

[nl553]

Hey I am a beginner at recording and im wondering if anyone out there could give me some advice on recording vocals. I have a pretty good mic hooked up to the 4 track and I have that hooked in the mixer but I cant seem to get a good recording of vocals without a pre-amp and even with that it is not the best. I would like to know where the best place to record in a house is or any other advice anyone could give me

[Gidge]

how do you have the 4-track going into the mixer....or am i confused?......

[nl553]

You see, thats what im talking about i really dont know as much as i should. I can put together a pretty good recording but in the long run i really dont know what im doing. How should i have the 4 track hooked up?

[pchorman]

OK guy, I saw your post on the mic forum and asked you for some specifics. Let's start from the beginning. You may not need the mixer here at all. Answer these questions:

1. It seems like you have only one mic - is that the case?

2. Does the mic plug mate with the 4-track? If not, is that what you're doing with the mixer, trying to interface the two?

3. What type of mic and 4-track are you dealing with? (Have you checked out the manual? Even if you bought it used you can probably get the manual off the internet.)

Tell us what you plugged where and what settings you used.

4. Is this an April fool's joke?

[nl553]

Thanks for replying pchorman.I have 2 mics but I only use one because the other is just stupid ( no need to explain). The mic I do use is a unidirectional mic from radio shack (now I know I should have not bought it from there) but I have to make the best of what I have. It plugs directly into the 4 track. The 4 track is an old tascam recorder but it works better than any other track recorder I've ever had, and I have had a couple. The mixer is just there for the EQ. everything else is ok i have the key board going into the 4 track and the drum machine going into the 4 track

[pchorman]

alright, so you arm the tracks and record and what happens? no signal, or just too low or what? do you have signal level meters on that tascam and are they registering? gotta give some more details dude.

[nl553]

Ok when I record the beat everything is cool it sounds great but when I record the vocals the sound is all clustered. Then on top of that the vocals sound sour it hurts my ears but its not to high and I don't know what volume to record the vocals at. Sometimes the mic sounds to loud and it shuts out the beat and then other times it sounds to low. Should I record the mic at the same volume as the beat? Also where do I put the master volume when I record? I have signal level meters too. sorry for the lack of info but i really don't know a lot about this. thanks for you help

[Blackburn]

Just a thought...

You can go to your local book store and pick up a book on basic recording techniques. This may not make you an instant pro but, at least, it might answer some of your questions. Getting started is the hardest part... so get out there and search for some answers.

[MrBlackthorne]

I bought "Home Recording Made Easy" and "Recording and Production Techniques", both by Paul White in my early 8-track days. They were pretty helpful in learning about miking, bouncing tracks, adding MIDI, blah blah....

They're not black magic, or anything, but may be helpful...

Rick

[Aren]

nl553 -

Ok. I still didn't really understand what exactly is it that you're doing, but I'm going to review with yuo some basic procedures.
After you record the drum machine (which I presume, you're ok. with), most people record a bass line, or some basic chords (guitar, keyboard, etc.). Vocals usually come in last, or towards the end. If you only have four tracks, I presume one would be used for the drum beat, one keyboard track, one guitar track and one vocal track. Correct me if I'm wrong.
After you have a beat reference (drums), and a pitch reference (keyboard), you are ready to record the vocals. When setting the gain (volume) for your microphone, watch the level meter carefully. The optimum gain (with analogue tpae, that is), is achieved when the meters hit the red zone only during your loudest parts. During "Normal" parts, it should read at -5 or something of a sort. Recording too loud would result in distortion, and too soft would result in a noisy signal.
After you have your four tracks done, you should start the mixing process (give yourself a bit of a rest before you start. Your ears are still tired from recording). First get the drums and vocals to sit well together, then slowly add the other parts. Always watch those meters, that should not hit the red too much. If they do, this is where the master volume comes handy. If you mix-down to your computer, watch the computer's level meter carefully, because when recording to digital, once you hit 0dB, (Red), even for a second, you're toast. If you're mixing down to tape, don't worry about it too much.

This should get you started. Hope I helped.
Now go and record something!

Oren