First post - First Project!

S

savageblues

New member
Hello everyone,

Im a brand spankin new member, and as you can see this is my first post here!

I am starting to make plans for my first real project:

I am in a band (10yrs) and we want to make a demo CD that we can hand out to bars/clubs etc for bookings. 5 songs, maybe three covers, two originals.

I bought a brand new Korg D1600, plus an SM58, an SM57. This has always been a dream of mine. The thing that appealed to me about the Korg was the 'all-inclusive' essentials to make a pro sounding CD.

I have no studio experience, but I have a good handle on the fundamentals I think. I have read a great deal here and at other links. This place is a great rescource!

Any advice from you experienced producer/engineers for our first project? I can rent microphones locally inexpensively.

Cheers!
 
Watch your effect levels. Most newby recordings drown everything in reverb because it sounds good soloed that way. Make sure it sounds good in the mix.
 
Thanks Chibi,

The D1600 has lots of effects so I am learning to tweak to parameters, generally down, not up (if you know what I mean). Usually I find presets too wet for my liking. I will try to lay off the compression and reverb as much as possible, still I will use some.

However, in future I am looking forward to trying some of the wacky-effects for some advantage (maybe some stereo flange or phase on the vocals during a pivotal song part).
 
Yo SavageBlOOZe:

If you can put your vocals on TWO tracks, it will give more presence.

As noted, don't drown your cuts with reverb; however, reverb is important to vocals. Muddy reverb hurts; clear reverb with a bit of delay, works more often than not.

Good luck.

Merry Christmas
Green Hornet
 
two things: Make good use of the mic multi effect (1 in 1 out X 2). I think this is just awesome. I went away a few weeks ago with an old ev mic and the korg, stumbled onto a project and got very nice sounds with this crappy old thing (I'm referring to the mic) using the mic multi assigned to the input. It is worth experimentation. The other effects are top notch although the presets are usually too wet. second - I'm gonna open a whole new can of worms with this one but here goes. Find a nice sounding room and get good drum sounds. Ok, 2 cans. I have a d1600 for my own project and I also record other folks as a side business. The hard drive is huge too. Right now I have half of my album (funk - drums, guitar, bass, horns, lots of vocals, etc.) a bluegrass group, a solo acoustic act, and a metal/industrial act in the hard drive. It's mind blowing! I have recorded as a musician in high budget professional studios both analog and digital, in a few small studios using a computer (pro tools, cubase), and now the korg. I can't say that it blows away the high budget studio because it does not but I am getting comparable results because it is a great machine and I have unlimited time to mess with it. Have fun, you made the right purchase. I'd love to hear how your project turns out.
 
All the previous posts have some good pointers...From a production standpoint..Do some Preproduction demos first{Ruff}..This will help you get familar with the mach. and techniques..A no pressure approch..then go for the real thing..most importantly... Have fun...Good luck

Don
 
The korg recorder may be all in one but their is one thing missing mics. You have a 57 and a 58 and thats a start but don't expect to get great vocals with those mics and your going to need more than two, to get a good drum sound.

For the drums I would rent more mics. Atleast get a pair of overhead mics(good quality small condensers) and either a D112 or a Beta 52 for kick drum. You can use the 57 you already have for snare.

For vocals their are a few nice mics in the $150 to $250 range. The studio projects C1 at $229 is pretty popular these days as the best bang for the buck vocal mic. There is also the Marshall electroics v67 at $149.

Check out the Microphones Forum.
 
Thanks to all for your responses.

I have been having a lot of fun with it, and I am finding my way around pretty well now. Right now its just low key projects with the automated drum tracks. I have been using the track editing to add the Intro's, fills, end parts.

I will rent some mics for the serious recording session with the band coming up between Christmas and new years. I think we will want to record live for 3 songs (covers), and build one original song from ground up.

I was looking at the Marshall MXL mikes - I will look for some revieww on these very reasonable models to find which one I should consider - If I recall there is the 1001, 2001? A good vocal mike (and acoustic instruments as well if possible) is what I need I guess.

I am glad to hear there are other Korg D1600 users out there so I can ask questions! There are a few things which irritate me about the Korg. Like when you are using effects in playback mode, and you assign say 1x2 effects to a few channels and then you go to switch to another effect class like the 1in -1out (8ofem)
then it forgets what you just did in the other effect category. Plus correct me if Im wrong but when you recall and play back a song "scene-read" registered with effects assigned, does it not forget what your settings were for each effect in use - it reverts back to the presets which are too wet? There are other things that I am sure there must be ways around. I havent figured out how to save effects with the edited settings and have the scene read work properly. Anyway enough of my incompetency.

When I get something completed, and I have the courage, Ill figure out how to post a sound file of somekind.

Thanks again for the encouraging responses.
 
I've read that the Marshall 2001's are not great mics. The v67 and the 603 are the mics by Marshall that people seem to like.

Their are some indepth reviews on the Microphone forum, use the bbs's search to find them.
 
The Green Hornet said:
Yo SavageBlOOZe:

If you can put your vocals on TWO tracks, it will give more presence.
Click to expand...

To expand on GH's advice. One other trick for creating a good vox atmosphere is to record 3 vox tracks. Set two of them back in the back hrad left and right and keep them pretty dry. Then keep your main right up the middle with some reverb to your liking. This fattens things up nicely without it sounding like your mix is dripping wet.

Good luck.
 
I assume you guys are talking about creating duplicate vocal tracks, not overdubbing 3 different vocal tracks right?

In other words use the same initial vocal track and bounce to two other tracks for use in mixdown.

I supose I do need to try the overdub vocal part to see what kind of effect that creates.

Marshall would sure have you believe the 2001 is a good condensor, and they are pretty cheap.

Still, at this point I am looking at the V67 and the Studio Projects C1. The Rode NT1 and AT3035 are in the same price range as these mikes as well. These are all going for around $370-$400 CDN dollars although they are sparse up here.

The V67 at $150 USF is pretty attractive at Mars Music, but I wonder if I will end up with huge brokerage /duty/shipping fees if I buy across border.

Anyone know if there is any difference electronically between the V67M and V67G (149.99 at Mars, $219 at Samash respectively).
 
savageblues said:
I assume you guys are talking about creating duplicate vocal tracks, not overdubbing 3 different vocal tracks right?

In other words use the same initial vocal track and bounce to two other tracks for use in mixdown.
Click to expand...

No. I am actually talking about recording 3 different vocal tracks. The different nuances in each track is what gives you that 'effect'.
 
iN RESPONSE TO THE LOST PRESET ANNOYANCE. OOOOH DAmn caps lock. I really gotta learn how to type without looking at the keys. Anyhoo, use the korg preset, dry it up to your liking and save this as a user preset. Next assign the input to this new user preset, save as a scene and presto!
 
savageblues: axemusic in AB has the C1 for $399, they are out of stock right now I think, I ordered one over 3 weeks ago. A week ago they called me and told me that their supplier was out of stock and had just gotten them in stock that day and they would drop ship me one. I'm still waiting, I'm going to call back again tomorrow.

The best part of dealing with axemusic they only charge 7% tax vs 15% just about everywhere else because they are in AB.

I'm hoping where those mics are new stock they are the ones with the new pads and highpass switches. Not that I will ever used them, its just because.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top