newbie pursuing recording

S

solarchaos

New member
Hi. I play in a punk/emo band and have been interested in recording for some time. I thought i knew what i was doing, but i was wrong. I was wondering if u guys could help me out. We have two vocalists, 2 guitarists, a bassiste, and a drummer. I was planning on using my computer to do some recording. I got a deal on a new behringer 1604 mixer (it has enough inputs for everything i need to record) basically i was just wondering what all i need to do for the best sound, was my purchase of the behringer mixer a wise one? i can still take it back, my band is getting together this weekend so i need some help fast, i was planning on micing everything and feeding it into the mixer and feeding it into the computer, i'm pretty sure i have the necessary cables, should i just put a microphone up to the guitar amps and feed that into the mixer? my bass amp has a ton of cool crap and it has an output which i was gonna send to the mixer, i was just wondering, what purpose to monitors serve? should i get some? what makes monitors different than regular speakers? does anyone have any really really useful links for newbies or just about recording? any book recommendations? thanx so much
 
Nah, you are on the right track!
Punk should be recorded live, so go for it! :)

Yup, you put the mics up to the amps. The bass can be fuller when recorded with a mic, but you may also get a clearer sound if you have a line output. Beware though that it isn't a speaker output, because that could burn your mixer!

I'd try to put up the mixer and monitors in a separate room from the one the band is in. That way you won't hear as much of the band, and you can hear better how the mix sound like in the monitors. Monitors basically are just another name for speakers, but what makes good studio monitors is not the same thing as what makes good hifi-speakers. Basically monitors should be as clear an exact as possible, to reveal flaws in the sound, while good hifi speakers should try to make everything sound good.
If you got the budget for it, monitors are a good investment. Otherwise find the most accurate speakers you have in your vicinity and start of with them. A set of trusty headphones is good too.

The most useful link I have is homerecording.com. :)
Read everything for a week. Your head will explode with useful knowledge! :)
 
Sounds like you'll be using 8 or 9 mics. You probably know this, but you're gonna need a soundcard that has loads of channels if you're planning to do this music live. Bass usually goes direct into the mixer. Put the vocalists on the same mic if you have to use four mics on the drums - they'll egg each other on.
 
i suppose it depends on what program you are using on your computer to record with.

i'd say record the band live (mic up the guitar amps and drums, DI the bass) and then overdub the vocals afterwards.

experiment and have fun!
 
if you are recording it live, your sound card is a big factor in what you can do. if you have only the standard stereo input, then you are gonna have to try and get everything mixed the way you want it BEFORE you record it. This means you have to eq everything, add effects, and creat a good mix so you can record live. Think of the computer as your mixdown deck, cause thats basically what it will be in this purpose. That way is very limited, because you really cant do much with your mix. You could consider tracking it-- you can do this even with a standard card, but you are limited to only recording one stereo track at a time. just use n tracks or something like that. youll be able to fool with your mixes alot more that way.

for example, get the drums all mixed and eq's, and buss it down, then have everfyone perform the song, but only send the buss to the card so you will only be recording the drums. Once you have that down, it will be easy to add on the additional tracks, and this will give you much more felxibility when mixing.

i hope this helps :)
 
all of this info really does help. i think we will try recording live and if we have problems we'll do it the way skyline suggested. sometime in the future i will have some money which i will use to build a computer so what are some like nice soundcards that have what i need but not way way too expensive?
 
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