A quick hello and a request for a shove in the right direction

[Steve Mac]

Hi, my name is Steve and I live in Turkey but spend a lot of time in the US. I am a singer/guitarist song writer who performs in local bars etc. I have never been into a recording studio nor have I ever done any recording at home.
However, with some time on my hands and a thirst for anything new, I would like to "have a go" at home recording and to that end have bought or already had the following equipment: Burns solid body guitar, Ovation custom Elite electro/acoustic guitar, TCHelicon MP 75 dynamic mike, Alesis SR 18 drum machine, TCHelicon Voicelive play GTX, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface, a very powerful PC and Reaper DAW. I also have a large spare room to work in.
Hopefully enough to get me started in my new hobby.
I am trying to achieve a quality recording of both covers, think solo acoustic sixties pop to modern country, and also my own songs and would like to add drums base and additional instruments such as slide guitar perhaps via the purchase of software such as Band in a Box or similar.
So to the request for advice, firstly is there any obvious points based on what I have against what I am trying to achieve. But more specifically, what order does one undertake the recording. For example, if I want the song to include, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, lead vocals, harmonies, harmonica, drums, base. Where do I start? Perhaps click track and playing the rhythm guitar, then vocals, then drums etc. or should I lay down a throwaway track first of guitar and vocals and the use that as a guide to be disposed of at the end.
Anyway that's me so any and all help gratefully received. I am slowly working my way through all of the posts here and it is full of great advice.
Cheers Steve.

 

[ecc83]

Hi Steve and welcome.

Not a bad selection of gear to start with but!
I would try to tradeup/sell the Scarlet 2i2 for another model with DIN MIDI ports because it would be a shame not to link up that Alesis drum machine.

It would also be best to get an interface with 2 mic inputs and a further 2, independent line inputs to take the output of said DM. There are many AIs on the market that will "do" but IMHO you will not do better than the Native Instruments KA6.

The TC mic is probably fine for vocals and guitar cabs but you might consider a Small Diaphragm Capacitor (aka condenser) mic for acoustic guitar?

Monitoring: How do you intend to listen to your creations? Headphones I bet you have but when/if you get "serious" you will, need some monitor loudspeakers.

Room treatment: You say you have a "nice big room" (lucky sod!) to record in but it will still stand some treatment I bet and how big is "big"?

Dave.

 

[Steve Mac]

Thanks for the advice Dave,
Interesting what you say about the Scarlett upgrade, I was just going to put the drum machine through the 2i2 as it was, having dialed in the sound on the machine itself, although if I buy Band in a Box I guess I will simply use that instead?
I literally haven't recorded anything yet but am reading everywhere I should get a condenser mike, so I will defo go down that route for vocals but I was just going to record the guitar straight in rather than miking it up, is this not the way to go?
Monitoring will be via headphones until I can find a decent pair of speakers.
The room is 25ft by 25ft and pretty much empty, so am working on damping down reflections.
Should be good to go in a few days. Again many thanks.
Cheers Steve

 

[ecc83]

Thanks for the advice Dave,
Interesting what you say about the Scarlett upgrade, I was just going to put the drum machine through the 2i2 as it was, having dialed in the sound on the machine itself, although if I buy Band in a Box I guess I will simply use that instead?
I literally haven't recorded anything yet but am reading everywhere I should get a condenser mike, so I will defo go down that route for vocals but I was just going to record the guitar straight in rather than miking it up, is this not the way to go?
Monitoring will be via headphones until I can find a decent pair of speakers.
The room is 25ft by 25ft and pretty much empty, so am working on damping down reflections.
Should be good to go in a few days. Again many thanks.
Cheers Steve

Well Steve my thinking was that the drum machine could be running and recording MIDI data as you sing/play along? Yes, you can record the DM output but with the 2i2 you are restricted to two input channels of audio and cannot capture MIDI data at all.

Don't buy a condenser mic for vocals (yet) at least not a big, sexy side address job, the small capacitor mics are much more useful in a poor acoustic and give less coloured results. The pickup system in acoustic guitars, even the rather good Fishman unit in my son's £500 Turner are rarely ever as good as the acoustic sound. IF, due to noises off etc you have to DI, you have to but a mic is almost always nicer.

The dynamic will I am sure be fine for vocals but then so will an SDC....Pop shield!

25 feet is a good dimension...ANOTHER 25 feet is not so good! Square rooms are the pits! Try to find some "large objects", solid shelving units, room dividers, sheets of Sterling board(!) to break it up in one direction. Maybe Ethan or one of the other acousticians can spare a few minutes to advise?

Dave.

 

[mjbphotos]

Yeah, check out the 'studio building' section of these forums for suggestions on room set up and building yoru own bass traps.

As for the recording process - whatever works best for you. I typically start with a click track (I actually use a repeating drum pattern from EZ Drummer), lay down a scratch guitar (sometimes piano) track to work out timing. Adjust the click track if I want to make any timing changes and then lay down another scratch guitar track (this may actually turn out to be a 'keeper'). Even if it is an acoustic track only (no drums) I'll still use the drum click to keep timing consistent. I'll usually have rhythm tracks and maybe vocals done before laying down the drums, then bass, then lead tracks, but it depends on the song itself.