First session-thoughts, queries

[jimbredin]

hi

just finished recording for the first time with my band.
as far as the rest of the band were concerned it is just a demo so they're not too bothered but i'd like to get the best we can out of the investment we've made in the equipment.
set up:
pc: 2.6 intel p4 processor, 1GB ram
audiophile 2496
yamaha mg10/2
shure sm 57 to record guitars and bass
sennheiser e835 for vocals
drums: kick:sm57, snare: sm58, overheads: e835 and a 2nd sm58.
audacity

band:
tony voc
me guitar, mexican strat traynor all tube 40 watt combo
john guitar backing voc, some sort of epiphone, same amp
philip bass, tanglewood rebel 4K bass, ashdown mag300 1x15 combo
anne drums

we recorded one at a time: guitar first, bass, guitar, vocals and finally drums

1) i'm assuming that although quite basic audacity won't diminish the sound quality. i understand that its functions are quite limited but i reckon i'm better off keeping things simple(in terms of effects) for the moment. plus its free and i'm a great believer in open source projects.

2) since im the engineer, mixer, masterer and i basically haven't got a clue,
the quality of the recording was pretty terrible. going with what i've picked up on this forum i messed with the mic placement on the amps but i found it hard to decide what was best. i know i should use my ears but for somebody with very little experience its quite difficult. all i could determine was that the centre of the speaker cone produced a harsh sound and the edge a more bassy sound. i went for somewhere in between.

3)i know the mics are not at all suitable but i tried to do the best with what we had. we had to rent the 2 58s cos we only own 2 mics for jamming and gigging. they were all the PA crowd could give us.

4)i had to edit the vocals a little cos they were clipping in the chorus which is sung a lot louder than the verse. what technique is usually employed to get around the varying loudness of the source?

5)the bass drum sounded very echo-y. i know nothing about drums and our drummer doesnt know much about tuning them. we didn't remove the front skin which was our problem i think.

6)the overall volume of the recording wasn't as loud as your typical song either but i didnt want to turn it up to avoid it distorting. how would i get it louder?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

james

 

[Sanjanjoseph]

1. audacity is i realy good open source program-got it on an ubuntu linux cd...-but yeah thats the best youve got for free...i think you might be able to download plugins(ya know, for effects and things)...which can be free and still decent.
2. your mics arent so bad-and you dont always have to close mic btw
3. try normalizing to bring up the volume
4. just a question. did you record all at ounce or inst then vocals, or all seperately?...if you did it seperately then you could adjust everything on its own (volume, ect.)...
5.the drums being in/out of tune wont give them an echo sound (for the most part atleast) but for them to sound good, your drummer should learn. the place ment may be causeing the echo...i dunno really, im not much of a drum expert.


good luck jim!

 

[rweiss]

Hmm... sm57 on kick? how's that working out? ...Anyway I'm going to assume it's the way the drum's tuned. Tell the drummer to loosen the batter head as much as possible without it being totally flabby, and keep the front head tuned only a little bit tighter. Also, dampen the batter head as much as is needed to obtain the sound you want (I don't damped the front heads, maybe a little if need be) - that should get you in the right field for a good sounding kick. My emad head broke a little while ago and I had to use a really crappy stock head but it turned out sounding *really* great after a bit of tuning and dampening. Anything's possible!

Also, you record drums last??? ...Erm...
Unless you've got a good drummer and all of you are using a metronome, I can't see how this could possibly be sounding good. If you're recording instruments seperately, most people go with drums first so the others can keep time off of them (after all, it's their job!) and not the other way around. Anyway, do what you will.

Goodluck.

 

[Tifstorey]

I was going to say about the drums! If you got a tight recording then great, but im sure it was hard work, especially for the drummer! Get the drummer recording to a click track and get a nice steady beat down. Then add instruments one at a time, leaving vocals till last.

4> vocals clipping.... Basically 'ride the faders' keep them nice and high up in levels until he hits the chorus then drop them down a bit so it doesnt clip. You might even want to keep the faders low to start with and have his vocals generally quiet throughout the track and then when he sings the chorus they will be louder and wont clip. Thats more playing around to find out what sound you want to get.

2> Mic placements on the amps. You say it gets distorted if in the middle and adds alot more bass on the rims. How loud did you have the amps when you were recording? Hopefully not as loud as you would when your gigging/jamming? If that answer is yes....Turn them down

5> Bass drum sounding echoey... Have you anything inside the bass drum? Try putting a duvet or something inside it if you dont and that will reduce the echo. To be honest with you, your not going to get the greatest kick drum sound from a SM57. They werent designed for that im afraid so the freq pickups wont get the sound you would from a proper kick drum mic.

I think thats it... dont ask me why ive answered them all in incorrect order..

Good luck!!!