Home Recording's Dirty Little Secrets

  • Thread starter Thread starter guitarguy101
  • Start date Start date
G

guitarguy101

New member
The goal of this thread is to get as many small tips into one place. There's a couple little things my friends and people on here have told me, so I'm gonna list what I know. If you're interested, feel free to chime, maybe offer some advice too!
Here are about three things that I've learned that could benefit anyone:
1: Glynn Johns Mic Setup: Seriously, this changed my life. With four mics, a good room, and a lot of trial and error, you can get a perfect sound with a drum kit. If you want me to go into a full explanation, I will, but you could probably find better people on the internet. Basically, the gist of it is that you use two overheads, a snare mic, and a kick mic. Placement needs to be spot on for this to work.
2: Snare Mic Buffer: When miking a snare, cut out a square of about 6" by 6" cardboard and poke a whole for the mic to go through. Just put the head of the mic through. This will prevent leakage from the high hats, which will give you a purely snare sound with no leakage.
3: Paper Towels on Kick: Put paper towels where the beater meets the drum for extra attack and less boom.
These all pertain to drum miking (probably because it's so damn hard,) but ANY miking techniques are appreciated!
 
Hey no one has posted a reply here and I think this would be a very interesting thread.
 
Yeah I know, I'm sure the oldies on this site would have a lot to say to...
 
i think the snare buffer idea is a good one. will defo try this next time i record.

micing the kick drum is one of the thing i can't seem to get the way i want. it's always to boomy!! any suggestions? the beater is plastic and the mic about 4-6 inches away.
 
Nothing fancy just don't want this thread to die out so soon.

I had a problem with noise in the background while tracking a band so I miced up the noise with a second mic and flipped the phase on it and the bleeding noise was gone. Phase cancellation can work for you instead of against you sometimes.
 
guitarguy101 said:
Yeah I know, I'm sure the oldies on this site would have a lot to say to...
Click to expand...
Stop tracking so hot. The ruin of more recordings than I could possibly count. The sole ruin in many cases.

[/small tip]
 
Br3n said:
i think the snare buffer idea is a good one. will defo try this next time i record.

micing the kick drum is one of the thing i can't seem to get the way i want. it's always to boomy!! any suggestions? the beater is plastic and the mic about 4-6 inches away.
Click to expand...

Try putting the mic closer to the outer shell (far away from the middle.) Also, rap the head with paper towels and/or duct tape towels to wear the beater hits the skin. That takes a little of the boom out of a kick drum. If that doesn't work, try something thicker, like a wash cloth.
I've never tried this, but I've been meaning to try it. Hang a wash cloth right in front of the kick, and place the mic about 6 inches away. If u use a pop filter with the wash cloth, it may take some of the boom out to...like I said, don't know if it works tho.
 
guitarguy101 said:
So you'd say double tracking vox and guitar should be avoided?
Click to expand...
Gawd no -- Track as much as you want. But use normal and reasonable levels (and then MIX using normal and reasonable levels) when doing so.
 
guitarguy101 said:
This will prevent leakage from the high hats, which will give you a purely snare sound with no leakage.
Click to expand...

It'll significantly cut the bleed, but it won't cut it out completely.

guitarguy101 said:
3: Paper Towels on Kick: Put paper towels where the beater meets the drum for extra attack and less boom.
These all pertain to drum miking (probably because it's so damn hard,) but ANY miking techniques are appreciated!
Click to expand...

I've been doing that for a long time. I probably wouldn't say it gives more attack, but it gives kind of a nice, fuller sound. Another thing people swear by is putting a coin on the beater head. I've never tried it myself, but it's supposed to give you that distinct bass 'click'.
 
Auto tuning out-of-tune guitar leads, especially harmonizing guitar solos. I don't do this a lot (and usually when I do it I just use it on one or two notes), but sometimes it can totally tighten up a lead part. It's actually pretty unnoticeable if the guitar has some good distortion on it, and can save a lot of time that would otherwise be used for retracking a simple out-of-tune note or passage.
 
Auto tuning out-of-tune guitar leads, especially harmonizing guitar solos. I don't do this a lot (and usually , but sometimes it can totally tighten up a lead part. It's actually pretty unnoticeable if the guitar has some good distortion on it, and can save a lot of time that would otherwise be used for retracking a simple out-of-tune note or passage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top