I posted a similar guestion in the mic forum then got to thinking maybe someone here might have some good ideas too. Anyone got any suggestions for cuttind down on bleed over while recording multiple instruments? Like keeping bass guitar out of the drum track(s) and drums out of the vocal track. I'm recording in a 13X26 ft room, 2 vocals, 2 guitars, bass and drums. I have a second room which can bu used to isolate vocals but mainly work in one room with everyone playing at the same time. By the final mix things mostly blend together fairly well but more seperation would certainly make mixing a lot easier for me. I'm open to any ideas, tips or suggestions about placements, volume levels, EQing or anything which might help. Thanks guys, I value your experience and knowledge of what works and how to get it to work best.
Bleed over, HELP!!!!
- Thread starter Dani Pace
- Start date
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
I'd recommend three things together:
1.) Invest in an inexpensive headphone distribution amp and a few headphone extension cables. You can get the whole lot for about $100 total. Have your band members bring whatever headphones they may have lying around. Quality is not that important here, just something they can do some basic monitoring with while tracking.
2.) Take advantage of the second room. Use it first as a drum room, putting the drums in there and the bass in the main room with the rest of the group. Have everybody play the song, but record only the rhythm section (bass and drums).
3.) Now turn the drum room into a vocal booth, moving the vocalist only in there. Playback the already recorded rhythm tracks through the phones and record the rest of the parts, guitars and whatever else you have in the main room, and the vocals in room #2.
There are many variations on this setup you can try depending on artist's comfort and equipment restraints and such, but I think you should get the idea.
HTH,
G.
1.) Invest in an inexpensive headphone distribution amp and a few headphone extension cables. You can get the whole lot for about $100 total. Have your band members bring whatever headphones they may have lying around. Quality is not that important here, just something they can do some basic monitoring with while tracking.
2.) Take advantage of the second room. Use it first as a drum room, putting the drums in there and the bass in the main room with the rest of the group. Have everybody play the song, but record only the rhythm section (bass and drums).
3.) Now turn the drum room into a vocal booth, moving the vocalist only in there. Playback the already recorded rhythm tracks through the phones and record the rest of the parts, guitars and whatever else you have in the main room, and the vocals in room #2.
There are many variations on this setup you can try depending on artist's comfort and equipment restraints and such, but I think you should get the idea.
HTH,
G.
giraffe
i love negative rep
use everything you've got.
pull the couch out from the wall, then put the git and bass amps behind it and mic them there, put the singer in the separate room, and track the kit in the room proper.
in a pinch, use furniture, old tables (on their side, maybe with a blanket over it)
any dam thing at all as a gobo (portable sound wall)
gorilla baby!
pull the couch out from the wall, then put the git and bass amps behind it and mic them there, put the singer in the separate room, and track the kit in the room proper.
in a pinch, use furniture, old tables (on their side, maybe with a blanket over it)
any dam thing at all as a gobo (portable sound wall)
gorilla baby!
The everyone on headphones option is what I use and it works great. I have a couple Behringer HA4700 headphone amps ($109 @ Musicians Friend).
Drums -In room
Bass -You can use a DI for the bass.
Guitars -I have a couple old freezer boxes I put guitar amps in, -seriously.
I lined them with carpet and the guitar players can place the amps in there, crank it to "11" and it is barely audible outside the box. I run a mic cable in and put a 57 on the cone. Again, with headphones there is no bleed over to the drum mics, and the drums don't bleed into the git mics.
Vocals -I got a plexiglass sound barrier for the drums, and I use it for either the drums or to make a quick and dirty vocal booth. Hang a couple sleeping bags over it for some sound conditioning and it works fine.
The majority of bleed over is eliminated.
Drums -In room
Bass -You can use a DI for the bass.
Guitars -I have a couple old freezer boxes I put guitar amps in, -seriously.
I lined them with carpet and the guitar players can place the amps in there, crank it to "11" and it is barely audible outside the box. I run a mic cable in and put a 57 on the cone. Again, with headphones there is no bleed over to the drum mics, and the drums don't bleed into the git mics.
Vocals -I got a plexiglass sound barrier for the drums, and I use it for either the drums or to make a quick and dirty vocal booth. Hang a couple sleeping bags over it for some sound conditioning and it works fine.
The majority of bleed over is eliminated.
The biggest thing I think is to get the bass out of the drum tracking room. The easiest way to do this as indicated is to run the bass direct and monitor over headphones during tracking. You can reamp the bass later if you want an amp sound to mix with the direct tone. I track in a small room and don't have too much trouble with guitar bleed. I have a couple of 2x4 sheets of rigid fiberglass wrapped in burlap that work well as gobos around the guitar amp to shield it from the drums. It's best to overdub vocals after the instruments.