How do you guys record?

[RampageGL]

Hey Im hoping you guys can help, I record witht he MR8 and it comes out decent, but I can only use extended mode b/c of the 128 card and I hvae no money for another, can you guys tell me some of your techniques? Ive heard some of your recordings and WOW they're so much better quality! here's my specs, hopefully you guys can give me tips!!

I use the MR8 for recording
I use the Nady StarPower mic that came with the pack to Mic amps
I have a CrateGFX212 guitar amp, which I usually mic to get the guitars because straight through makes it sound too distroted
I have a Crate BFX50 bass amp that I mic too which sounds pretty good
I run my bass through a zoom BFX708 proccessor pedal, then into the amp

I usually mic eveyrthing because straight through sounsd good, but too distoretd...the guitars still sound very distortd mic'd, and I just cant get a kickass sound. please help

[turntablist]

if I were you, getting a better mic would be my first priority.

[RampageGL]

Wish i could, but alas, I'm all outta money to spend...i just want to know some regular mixing techniques etc.

[turntablist]

ahhh i see. i wish i could help ya, but i have yet to realy sit down and track something out.

[bdbdbuck]

Are you watching your levels to make sure you're not clipping?


bd

[dyuob]

I'm using the "Bark" Mic that came with the musician's friend's MR 8 "kit".It's a cheapie mic, but I'm really enjoying it.
I agree with bdbdbuck, you might wnt to watch your levels, even a little distortion in digital recording is really ickky, unlike analog, where you can get away with some distortion. (of course, YMMV). Above all, keep trying different things, and keep a record of what works, and what doesn't.
Rememeber, it can take quite a long time to learn to use any peice of recording equipment, that's just part of the fun!

[teainthesahara]

Digital clipping is yucky, but i've clipped out some decent tracks (i want an outboard comp!!!)- and they sound like just that - a decent track with some nasty frosting on top! If you don't like the bread and butter of your sound - from your list, it seems that alot of stuff goes through that nady mic, and the mic will usually be the biggest influence on your sound quality. So i would suspect that the mic is the main thing you want to look at - learning new mixing techniques etc. is good, but it's not really going to fix anything that doesn't sound great to begin with. How about renting/borrowing a better mic ? Trade in that zoom pedal for an sm57? Just some ideas......

[RampageGL]

thanks for the tips everyone hehe and i dont think i'll be trading in my zoom pedal for a mic anytime soon that pedal is what gives my schecter model t and fender 75 jazz a huge growl....too bad I dont have a cabinet to get the full effect of the lows.....*drool*

[philsaudio]

Originally posted by turntablist
if I were you, getting a better mic would be my first priority.

I have a lot of mics. Expensive ones, cheep ones, giant killer ones etc.

The star power is perhaps 80% of the better (beta 58, sm58/57) vocal mics in sound. It lacks handling isolation so keeping it on a stand mitigates that problem.

Don't get me wrong, mics do matter, but that $10 star power is not a piece of S*it just because it cost $10 - or was it $6?

If you keep this up, before long you will have lots of great mics to choose from.

Like everyone advises watch you levels. Clipping anywhere in the chain can not be undone once it happens.