Checklist for Metal Studio Startup! (advice needed)

[wishtheend]

woo! lots of newb questions.
*please bare with me*

Okay, so I've decided to jump in and get the things nessicary to record the melodic death-metal band I'm in. We are recording to a PC so, I'm kinding look for advice if there is any other gear you think I should add for our style (double bass, hard hitting drums, heavy distorted guitars, screaming, maybe some synth). Some bands that are inspiration for the kind of production we are wanting are: lamb of god, unearth, killswitch engage, avenged sevenfold

(all this in a rack case)

-Power Conditioner
-Firepod
-Compressor/Limter
-Noise Gate
-Headphone Amp

Now, I know CH1 & CH2 of the firepod have inserts, but can you route any signal out the daw to be allowed for processing? I'd probley do kick & snare at time of recording, but still would like to go back and compress toms, overheads, etc. The firepod reviews have been pretty good on the subject of preamps, but I'm curious if maybe another preamp might help to get a little more warmth out of the digital state of all this. Ah hell. Sorry if I'm asking too much. I'm just so close to diving in, I wanna make sure I don't leave anything out.

Last question. Any suggestions on some mics to get? We have some pretty cheap ones, but still have gotten them to sound pretty good with good placement.

-Nady 7-pc Kit (kick mic on floor tom, tom mics (have 4) on snare and guitars as well. 2 condensers for overheads, acoustic)
-Shure PG52 Kick mic (probley should have shelled out for the SM series, but we got it at a steal ($50) and the quality is surprisingly good)
-MXL V63M Condenser (vocals, acoustic, thinking of buying another to replace the current overhead pair)
-Shure SM58 (have one that we've been using just for a live mic. But the quality is pretty nice and gets used sparatically)

I know I should probley go out and grab at least 2 or 3 SM57's for snare/guitars. But any other recomendations for metal?

Thanks again for any of you that sat through this. And if you think I'm forgetting anything, please don't hesitate, let me know.

 

[matt rascal]

to get things started...

There are quite a few questions, but i'll start with a few of them.

You may want an SM57 for guitars, but the 58 should work just about as well (they are very similar mics). If you're only going to be recording one guitar at a time, you probably won't need 2 or 3 57's (and i'd recommend tracking one person at a time). My guess is that a 57 or 58 would sound better on the snare or maybe even the kick than one of the nadies.

What computer program are you using to record this? I would try not to use the analog compressor very much if you have a compressor in the program you're using.

For a nice heavy distored guitar tone, you might want to try double tracking the guitar or even adding a clean guitar into the mix (to make it meatier). You may want to try using the MXL or one of the overheads a few feet back in conjunction with the shure to achieve a bigger sounding guitar.

Also, consider micing the beater on the drum set.

Good luck with everything!

 

[wishtheend]

I'm not sure which program I'm going to use. But I do have Acid/Vegas, Cubase, & Sonar. And I do have a vast selection of VST's. At first I was thinking of recording everything and then only doing compression in a vst. But I've always heard analog vs. digital. So, would i be in the best inrest to invest in higher quality plugin's instead? I still like the idea of routing something back out, but you are probley right that the vst's would be as good.

The PG series Shure sounds alot better than what we got out of the 58. But I never knew that and the 57 are very close. I'll be trying that on the guitar cab. I orginally was going to get at least two (one for snare, one for guitar). Since we only have one SM58, I might just pick up one 57. We currently are running Mesa Dual Recitifer, so I'm going to try out that overdub trick.

Regarding the beater mic'ing. Would this be on the actual side where his feet are? Or on the inside, just beater head? I've heard you get mad bleed if outside the kick, but it might produce more of that "tick" we like in the kick.

Again thanks for the advice!

 

[HangDawg]

I would suggest returning the expensive software and buying better mics. Nady and PG series mics aren't going to cut it.

 

[wishtheend]

Okay, we'll it's a given better mics are always an option, and to be honest it's one of those things I'll probley upgrade every-so-often. I'm for shure going to grab a SM57 for use on snare and guitars. Another condenser to use on the overheads. But seriously, I've used nice kick mics and the PG52 is really good. I mean there's always top of the line, but who of us hear will have thousands to drop into a whole setup of nice mics?

 

[HangDawg]

Okay, we'll it's a given better mics are always an option, and to be honest it's one of those things I'll probley upgrade every-so-often. I'm for shure going to grab a SM57 for use on snare and guitars. Another condenser to use on the overheads. But seriously, I've used nice kick mics and the PG52 is really good. I mean there's always top of the line, but who of us hear will have thousands to drop into a whole setup of nice mics?

You'll spend over a grand on software that you probably don't need (isn't 1 piece of multitrack software enough) but you won't spend that on mics that you definately need. I don't understand your logic on this one. Sorry.

 

[wishtheend]

You'll spend over a grand on software that you probably don't need (isn't 1 piece of multitrack software enough) but you won't spend that on mics that you definately need. I don't understand your logic on this one. Sorry.

I'm too am confused. I do have the software already, so the investment isn't going there. I'm kinda working on a budget, and you mics seem to be that area you can always improve on until you are dropping hundreds into a single condenser. So I was lost when you said return expensive software... apologies.

 

[HangDawg]

I'm too am confused. I do have the software already, so the investment isn't going there. I'm kinda working on a budget, and you mics seem to be that area you can always improve on until you are dropping hundreds into a single condenser. So I was lost when you said return expensive software... apologies.

I guess you should have asked questions here first buying 2 different pieces of software that do the same thing. I would have recommended a couple better mics first and maybe something like n-tracks which is alot cheaper than Sonar or Cubase and would do the same job for you. Oh well, it's just money.

 

[wishtheend]

Okay, could someone answer me as if analog effects (compressor, noise gate etc) are going to prove better results than software plugins? If not, that's going to save a bunch.

Also, what area do you think I should upgrade first with mics?

-condensers
-instrument mic
-drum mics

I'm kind of looking at a 200-300 dollar limit on what I can spend after picking up the firepod for about $425.

 

[HangDawg]

Okay, could someone answer me as if analog effects (compressor, noise gate etc) are going to prove better results than software plugins? If not, that's going to save a bunch.

Also, what area do you think I should upgrade first with mics?

-condensers
-instrument mic
-drum mics

I'm kind of looking at a 200-300 dollar limit on what I can spend after picking up the firepod for about $425.

Both will provide acceptable results. Learning how to properly use a compressor will make more of a difference than whether it's hardware or software. You already said you have Sonar and Cubase and a plethora of vst plugins. That should be more than enough to keep you busy.


You'd be better off with 1 or 2 half decent mics than a six pack of crappy ones.

 

[matt rascal]

I'd say that the compressor and other effects that come with Sonar (especially if you have the sonitus suite) should do fine. Even cheap vst's are getting pretty good these days.

Are you planning on recording everything at the same time? If not, you'll only have to pick up one 57. If you can, I'd replace the Nady overheads because those will be picking up most of the set.