Gear For Next recording project

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brotman

Member
Hey Guys.

Im in a lo-fi ish rock band and we are starting to plan some recordings for an album. I am looking into maybe getting a couple pieces of gear before we start. If you guys want to make a couple of suggestions I'd appreciate it. The other option is spending the money on going into a studio to track drums/bass instead of getting more gear, which I am leaning toward.

I've been really happy with my gear for what we do but was looking into a better preamp or possibly vocal mic.
The Really Nice Preamp and Focusrite ISA One both caught my eye. (the music is at thestammer.bandcamp.com if you have any inclination to see what I was able to do with most of this gear in my old basement.)



Gear:
Oktava mk319
AKG d112
AKG c2000b x2
Golden Age Ribbon
MXL 990 (mostly set up permanently for demos, very harsh mic)
MXL 991
Shure sm57/58

Presonus Blue Tube (not so into this gear, probably going to ebay it. Thought it would be more like the TubePre)
Art Tube MP studio v3
Presonus Firepod/FP10


anyway. thanks for looking and if you have any advice before we start on the album id really appreciate it!!
 
Hey there,
I took a listen to your bandcamp.


So, there are two main areas where people fall down in home recording.

One is the production, mixing editing, effects etc,
and the other is the performance.

It sounds to me like you guys have it down solid enough. You know what you're doing musically, and the recording is certainly lo-fi, but not unlistenable.

If it was me, I'd tell the band you're doing a single as a test.
Pick one song. Record it, but record it well. Experiment. Make sure that everything sounds as close to the final target BEFORE you start any mixing.
Do mix it, but not to fix things.
If you take that as your view from the beginning you'll do well.

Bring it here to the mp3 clinic. Take the advice but be prepared to do 100 mixes and re record stuff.
There are plenty of guys here who can offer really good advice.

Once you have it nailed, you're equipped to do the rest of the album.

BTW, 'same lines' could be lou reed, in a good way. :)
and FWIW I usually encourage people to just go to a studio instead of buying gear to record an album, but you sound like you're a lot further on than most.
 
Once again, steen has managed to hit the nail on the head before any one else gets a chance to play :rolleyes:

I had a quick listen to the bandcamp stuff and i totally agree with everything steen said; the performances are solid and, although towards the lo-fi end of the spectrum, it's still easy to listen to and enjoyable.

IF you want to invest in gear, albeit now or later on, i completely agree with what you're saying about adding a nice preamp and a nice vocal mic. There's plenty of people talking about the ISA One around here, as well as the GAP Pre-73, and although i've not tried the RNP, i do love both the RNC and RNLA so can only imagine that the pre is just as good. They all have their own flavours so, really, just take your pick. The ISA is very clean and very full whereas the GAP pre-73 is more vintage sounding (which, by the bandcamp songs i'm guessing may work quite well).

A nice LDC would, imo, have more of an impact to the sound. Based on what you've already got, and based on the sound you guys have going, i'm say possibly look down the smoother/darker sounding mics rather than something overly bright. I'm still a big fan of the Avantone stuff (CK6, CK7, CV12) and, although i'm a huge fan of sE, you'd probably have to look at the mid priced stuff (i.e Gemini and variants of, and the Z5600a) as some of budget stuff can be a bit "plasticy" in the high end. Also, something with multiple polar patterns would open up more room for experimentation and could easily pull multiple duites, i.e room mics for drums and electric guitar, bass amp, acoustic guitar etc.

Finally, as always, the space you record and mix in will have quite a big impact on the sound of your recordings and mixes. If you've not already, i'd put treating your rooms appropriately at the top of the list before investing in more gear. With the gear you've got there's no reason why you can't make great sounding recordings, but if the room sucks it's much harder.
 
thanks!

Hey, thanks for the advice!

After writing this all out and seeing what you guys have said, I think that we are going to get two days for tracking drums/bass in a studio, since its easier to get the band to split that cost, and then sell the blue tube and get the focusrite preamp and maybe another vocal mic and track guitars/vocals/overdubs/everything else at the practice space. I had been considering trying to do vocals in a day at a studio but it sounds like too much pressure and money for right now.

I forgot to mention that we have a decent sized practice space now with an angled ceiling so it should sound better than the EP recording. (The EP was done in a closet and a concrete basement.) Im going to get about six rockwool panels for the room i mix in so I will bring them to the practice spot while recording.

thanks so much for listening to the bandcamp! I will definitely make use of the boards and mp3 clinic while mixing. Also, I appreciate the lou reed comment! He is definitely one of my favorite artists.
 
Funny, I had toyed with the idea of suggesting splitting the work like that.
At very least I'd suggest doing the vocals at your leisure.
For me, that's the part that can really take up time and can really fall apart under pressure.

Those rockwool panels will make a huge difference to your vocal recording if your room isn't desirable sounding.

Best of luck!
 
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