recording your own band

T

theweinerqueens

New member
my buds and i have just started a little band. we want to record but don't know what equipment we need. can anyone suggest a good set-up for a reasonable price? how many channels do we need? i assume we need one each for bass, guitar, and vocals. what about the drums? if we mic drums do we need a seperate channel for each drum mic? can we plug all these things right into the mixer and record live, or do we need to record seperately using tracks and headphones?
 
"It is all contained within these walls"...

You could read for days about this just by browsing through the mulitude of threads posted and answered here. :D

Not trying to be a jerk, but it's all in here.

I'll start with some basics though...

Recording with a computer or a stand alone recorder? Computer requires audio interface (sound card) and software. Stand alone will be all self-contained - something by Roland, Yamaha, etc. that has a mixer, can record digital audio, maybe had a CD drive to record the finished songs to.

There's plenty of options either way, what's your fancy?
 
The typical way to record a garage band is to get an 8 channel firewire interface, like an Alesis or Presonus unit, and plug it into your pc or laptop. They have built in pres and usually come with cubase le or some similar sequencing software to get you started. Then all you need is 8 mics & you're good to go
 
yes i've been looking and reading for a few days on the site but i guess it's all a bit overwhelming.

i was thinking of getting a stand alone recorder, that is the only sort of thing i have actually seen in use by bands in my position.

what i found here seemed to suggest recording with tracks and then playback through headphones. i don't think i have ever seen this, i'm pretty sure the bands i have seen record are all plugged into a mixer or something and then they play live.

if i go stand alone style, do i need 8 channels if there is a bass, guitar, vocals, and drums?
 
1 for guitar
1 for bass
1 for vocals
1 for kick drum mic
1 for snare drum mic
2 for overhead drum mics

That's 7 minimum.

What my band does:

I have a mixer with 8 direct outs and 4 sub outs.
I have a soundcard with 8 inputs.
I have 4 direct outs and the 4 sub outs connected to my sound card.
That way we can record all of us at the same time.
We use an electronic drum set which saves us having to mic drums. Real drums sound so much better though so a good acoustic kit and a good set of drum mics is definitely on our wish list.



It's a pretty big question you are asking. Start at the beginning. What do you want to record? For what reason? A demo? Just to have recordings to practice to and as a tool for composing?
What equipment do you have already?
 
the purpose is to have our own music on a cd for us and our friends. we have no commericial potential or desire. all we want is to be able to play some rock n roll, put it on a cd for us to give away to people, and to play some parties that we throw.

we have no equipment yet, which is why i came here, i figured i could start from scratch and get just what we need if i consulted with people who know whats up.

thanks for the mic input, that's a big help.
 
theweinerqueens said:
the purpose is to have our own music on a cd for us and our friends. we have no commericial potential or desire. all we want is to be able to play some rock n roll, put it on a cd for us to give away to people, and to play some parties that we throw.

we have no equipment yet, which is why i came here, i figured i could start from scratch and get just what we need if i consulted with people who know whats up.

thanks for the mic input, that's a big help.
Click to expand...
Do you forsee yourself ever getting into recording professionally/semi-professionally? Or more appropriately, do you want to give yourself that option? The answer to this question is actually quite relevant, as if you're not looking into recording for anything more than facilitating a need to get songs recorded, and not for the enjoyment (AND PAIN!) of learning the tedious, arduous task of recording a band, it would very likely be a better idea to save up some cash and pay for pro-recording at least the first time around.

*Edit: and PLEASE tell me your band name is "The Weiner Queens" like your username :D Of course, 'weiner' is actually spelled 'wIEner', but it's still funny :P
 
theweinerqueens said:
the purpose is to have our own music on a cd for us and our friends. we have no commericial potential or desire. all we want is to be able to play some rock n roll, put it on a cd for us to give away to people, and to play some parties that we throw.

we have no equipment yet, which is why i came here, i figured i could start from scratch and get just what we need if i consulted with people who know whats up.

thanks for the mic input, that's a big help.
Click to expand...

No equipment as in no instruments, mixer, or speakers? Do you have guitar and Bass amps or do you use POD type things? Drum set? Cables? Any microphones?
Not trying to be a smart ass just what you have now really determines what the easiest way for you to start recording is.

Another big question would be what's your budget?
 
Well, just buying a bunch of new gear and whipping recordings together to pass out won't be a breeze. Maybe a better approach would be to record a practice? What do you run through when you practice?

I run though a small PA with a 12 channel mixer. Haven't tried it yet, but if you could get a decent mix, simply do a two-channel recording off the mixing board. Quick, and relatively easy if you have the patience to work on a mix. Just record the live jam - that's the vibe you want to record, isn't it?
 
we have all the instruments: drum set (5 drums and two cymbals). i have the bass and the amp, the guitar player has his amp, there is a crappy microphone and an amp for that. i meant that we had no recording equipment yet, i should have specified that.

we have recorded our practices but only with a portable cassette tape recorder and a digital camera set on the video setting. the sound is terrible and nothing i would want for my own personal enjoyment. we aren't great but we are better than that makes us sound.

we have no interest or intention of professionally recording. first of all we aren't that good, and second we all have other jobs, wives, and children. this is purely for our own enjoyment, but we still want to play some parties and make some recordings for fun.

the budget for recording mixer or software etc... is about $300 max. if that is even available. we wanted to record the live play.

the band name is pronounced the wiener queens. it was initially misspelled on purpose because we are a bunch of "wieners". unfortunately the joke isn't having the desired effect, as i get more people trying to correct the spelling as you did, so we are just going to change it and spell it right. i guess that was a bad idea.
 
theweinerqueens said:
we have all the instruments: drum set (5 drums and two cymbals). i have the bass and the amp, the guitar player has his amp, there is a crappy microphone and an amp for that. i meant that we had no recording equipment yet, i should have specified that.




the budget for recording mixer or software etc... is about $300 max. if that is even available. we wanted to record the live play.
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you arent going to find a stand-a-lone that will record more than 2 tracks simultaneously at that pricepoint, making "live" recording = two-track stereo. maybe something used, like a roland VS-880 or something? you really need at least 6-8 simultaneous tracks to record the instrumentation you mention as "live". otherwise, you will be stooping to things like mono drums. not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with that, and there have undoubtedly been some great recordings with similar technique or less (lots of jazz was recorded straight to 2 track, for example), but it is far from ideal. otherwise, a used interface might be available under $300 if you look for it, then you can get reaper for $40. this assumes that you have a computer to use. you will still need mics, etc in both scenarios.

if you dont need much flexibility and just want to... relive your rehearsals, maybe something like this would work for you?
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Tascam-DR1-Portable-Studio-Audio-Recorder?sku=241890

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Get a Zoom H2, put it in the right spot, get Sony soundforge and some mastering plug-ins, and figure it out that way. IMO it seems like overkill to do it the long way around for what it sounds like you want as an end result...
 
$300 is a pretty low budget to work with if starting from scratch (e.g. no mic's, no cables, no medium on which to record).

I'd say your best bet would be, first of all, to get used stuff off of craigslist.com. It kind of depends on your area, but in Minneapolis we've got a thriving craigslist community. For $300, you'll most likely be best-off with a 4-track tape recorder and 4 mic's. For a little more dough, you could grab a 4-8 input mixer (~50-200) and a couple more mic's. Throw a mic on the kick, & snare, and two as overheads, and one on each guitar/bass cab. If you wanna record vocals in one pass, you could track 'em & bus 'em as well. I'd record the instrumental in one pass, then do the vocals on separate tracks so you can mix 'em a bit later, and give yourself a couple of passes to get a good take!

That's what I'd do with a low budget anyway. It's how I learned how to record, and now I do it for a living! You never know where life will take you sometimes :)
 
isfahani said:
Get a Zoom H2, put it in the right spot, get Sony soundforge and some mastering plug-ins, and figure it out that way. IMO it seems like overkill to do it the long way around for what it sounds like you want as an end result...
Click to expand...

I've got the H2 and think it's a pretty cool little recorder for the price. I use it for Podcast recording, and have gotten great results recording off of a mixer line out. The built-in mics are actually pretty good too.
 
Something dead easy to fly and will net you perfectly good results for your purposes would be the following, which leaves you some cash for microphones, cables, stands, etc. Adats are a bit of a pot shot, admittedly, but providing it's been looked after, they are fine:

Tascam mixer:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tascam-8-Channe...ryZ23785QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Good quality, enough mic inputs, and good resale value. There's always a market for small Tascam mixers.

Adat:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alesis-adat-8-T...ryZ41477QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Adat with snake:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alesis-ADAT-LX-...ryZ41477QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This looks like a clean machine, and the 'snake' cable (required between mixer and recorder) is already money saved - oops, didn't check connector type, but likely what you need - 1/4 jacks (to the mack of the mixer).


Some people may sneer, and that's fair enough; but the above will be very easy to get your heads around, and is within budget.
 
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