Recording with minimal equipment

[naarik]

Hey!

I'm new to this forum and I have a questsion!
My band want's to record a song, but we don't have time to go to studio (Flying away on Wednesday). So I would like to know that how can we record good quality music in our practise room. I know it sounds weird, but it's our last change to take part in one competiton. Our band consists of a drummer, 2 guitarists ( one of them sings) and a bassist.
In our practise room we have:
*Behringer PMP 3000 powered mixer
*2 x Shure Beta 58A dynamic vocal microphones
*Ofcourse bass/guitar amps, drum kit and speakers
*And I use Audacity in my laptop to record

What do you think we can get out of this systems?
(We dont expect to get high quality music out of this, but just to get the most out of this equipment)
Any help appriciated!

 

[tigerflystudio]

Hi dude. Okay, there's a couple of issues and options to think about (there are probably more, but these are the first things that spring to mind).

First off, you need to mic the drum kit up. Close-mic'ing and overheads usually sounds best. Close-mic'ing basically means positioning mics next to the drum batter-heads and recording each drum on separate inputs / tracks of your DAW for mixing individually later on. Overheads basically means positioning a pair of mics over the top of the drum kit a foot or two above the drummers head usually (as a start point, then move them around until you find the best sound).

If you only have access to the 2 mics you've states (the Shure's) then sadly, you're not going to capture a 'great' drum sound from them, but you might get a decent lo-fi sound, which might work well.

You could record the drums first (which everyone plugged into the mixer only - i.e. silently in the room) so the drummer can play along. Record his drum track, then record the bass guitar to the drums, then guitars to that, then finally vocals.

That process is called 'layering'. And it usually yields good results because you can re-do each 'take' until each performance is as good as it can be. You then mix / master at the end.

The only other option you have is recording the room sound (i.e. all of you playing at the same time). But it is very doubtful you'll get a good recording that way. Too many variables to try and control and if the recording isn't VERY good / natural / neutral at the source, it would be almost impossible to fix-in-the-mix later.

Hope this helps?
Let us know how you go on.

 

[tigerflystudio]

Just one extra thing... I strongly advizse trying to get / borrow a coupel of extra mics from somewhere for when you're recording the drums / vocals. A semi/decent condenser mic would be best. Try and mic the kit overhead, and stick one in the kick drum, too.

The drums are the key to a decent sounding song. Mess up there, and the sound of the whole track will be affected. If you;re doing rock stuff, so long as you're snare and kick sound decent, you'll get by.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Dude, if you don't have the time to go to a studio, you sure as hell don't have time to become a recording engineer or to build a studio. I suggest you just make an honest stereo recording. Buy a Zoom H2 or any other decent handheld stereo digital recorder. Set it for 16bit/44.1kHz, put on some headphones, and figure out where it needs to be in your room to best capture your performance. Push record, and play. Dump the WAV. file into your computer, and burn to CD. There's a whole lot more than you know to this recording thing. I think that's the best you can do for right now.-Richie

 

[Jouni]

Time being of essence, and VERY low on equipment.

One stereo pair. That's as bare bones as it gets, but I've had a lot of success with that minimalist approach.

A. IF you got time to record a say, hundred takes, the go ahead and mic the drummer first. one guitar playing along (if the drummer can't remember the song(s) without. Both mics as overheads, measure with a drumstick that they are equally far from the snare. At some point as I didn't want as much cymbals, but more of the drums, I placed the oveerheads in front of the kit, under the toms, above the bassdrums, in an X/Y setup... got more snare, bass and toms.

Then mic and record the others one by one. It takes a lot of takes for everyone to get it right.

B. My favorite. Just find a place where the stereopair gets the whole band. I usually get it putting an X/Y setup on the floor, in front of the drummer, pointing up and away from drums. Guitarcabinets placed on either side, and bass and vocals on the opposite to the drummer. But that always varies according to the gear and setup.

Record more takes as the whole band, find out where the stereopair works best. This leaves you time to "master" the recording, since "mixing" is impossible.

 

[Jim Lad]

Time being of essence, and VERY low on equipment.

One stereo pair. That's as bare bones as it gets, but I've had a lot of success with that minimalist approach.

Excellent advice.

 

[haymedic]

yup... either that or record everything separate... and i mean separate and slow going... once you have a floor/scratch recording, overdub everything... record each bass drum kick by itself... then every snare hit... then the cymbals... then the bass... then the gtr... etc... etc...

you might wind up with something really fun and different than what you are used to.

there is always a way... you just get what you get in the end... two ghetto blasters, an rca cable and a couple of adapters can make a recording. i've also heard great things done by one person with one mic and a laptop in a hotel room... using a guitar case for a kick drum and the coffee pot for a snare, one mic and minimal equipment made a 35 track recording. (that sounded really great, and interesting)

s

 

[Supercreep]

Do you think the contest should go to the least prepared of all the contestants?

Seems like you're a day late and a dollar short.

Jouni is giving you good advice. Me, I'd chalk it up to experience and try again next year.

Hey!

I'm new to this forum and I have a questsion!
My band want's to record a song, but we don't have time to go to studio (Flying away on Wednesday). So I would like to know that how can we record good quality music in our practise room. I know it sounds weird, but it's our last change to take part in one competiton. Our band consists of a drummer, 2 guitarists ( one of them sings) and a bassist.
In our practise room we have:
*Behringer PMP 3000 powered mixer
*2 x Shure Beta 58A dynamic vocal microphones
*Ofcourse bass/guitar amps, drum kit and speakers
*And I use Audacity in my laptop to record

What do you think we can get out of this systems?
(We dont expect to get high quality music out of this, but just to get the most out of this equipment)
Any help appriciated!