help with recording

[kylosius]

i'm not to pleased with stuff i've been recording. i am equipped with a Yamaha MT400 and a Peavey Microphone. i recently did a rough version of a song i plan to put on my own album. it sounded fairly decent. so i burned it onto a cd (with some other tracks of course) but for some reason it lacked prescence (didn't fill the speakers very well. is there any way i can overcome this problem? if so i would greatly apreciate it. just to let everyone know what i am recording with.
fender stage 100
kramer focus (with a bartolini single coil in bridge position) for rythm
epi les paul (on one track for bass. i accomplished it)
there is no drums yet as i don't have a drum set or drum machine. can anyone recommend a household item i could bang on for a drum so i can get a beat going.
for some reason AOL isn't letting me upload anything. i will upload the demo at a later time.

 

[getuhgrip]

I can't let this one get away!

Ok, look....ya got no drums. But let's assume you live in a country with grocery stores and weekly refuge removal. What's this got to do with the price of guitar picks in federal prison, you ask?
Pay attention! If you've got access to a grocery store, you're mere moments away from assembling the hottest improvised drum kit on the planet! And I'm gonna tell ya how it's done. Why?
Because I like you!
Anyway, 5 and 10lb coffe cans make excellent toms and you can control their tone by varying the amount of coffee in them. Quaker Oats oatmeal containers make awesome smaller, high pitched tom toms. Now we're off to the food wrap section!
Renyolds aluminum foil is great for snares on a snare drum and can be used as sizzels on cymbals also!
Right about now you're wondering what the reference to "trash pickup" was all about.
It's been proven time and time again that there's no substitue for a 30gallon plastic trash can when it comes to a powerfull and authorative Bass Drum. And there's no finer cymbal than a steel trash can lid.
I'm going to leave the easy part up to your own imagination: hardware. Some how you'll have to find a way to mount your new drums to one another. You can mount your cymbals to mop handles. Use hose clamps to fasten the cymbal stands to your bass drum. You can get 1/2" copper tubing at the hardware store. This is handy for bulding a custom rack mount for your toms.

Be creative and don't be afraid to experiment, and remember:
Rock and Roll is a way of life, and percussion is an art form!

Rock on, dude!
And welcome to the site!

 

[BrettB]

hehe, I got some great percussion effects on a demo from my previous band, also buy hitting some cans. Some Eq'ing, cutting a good loop, and it gave it a tremendous drive.

Don't always follow conventions

 

[chessrock]

You forgot to mention the siverwear . . .

Soundgarden actually made for great use out of spoons in their popular mid-90's hit "Spoon Man."

 

[blackbuck]

well, is it vocals that sound weak or the guitar? if it's vocal, try a tube preamp and a compressor. Also, try doubling the vocal track.

For guitar, try DOUBLING each track. You may want to change how you have mic'd up the amplifier.

No Bass guitar? That fills out sound alot. Also, drums, even a crappy drum machine goes along way towards filling the sound out.

 

[A Reel Person]

There are a lot of techniques, tips & trix to maximize your sound.

Some are: adding compression, EQ, changing mics, varying mic placement, varying the intensity of your performance, etc.

I think the one thing that will give you overall bigger, punchier, fuller sound, is to trade up to a larger tape format. F/I, a 1/4" reel 4-track, or a 1/2" reel 8-track, will sound HUGE as compared to a 4-track cassette. The difference would be noticeable, right out of the box. That, of course, is not a technique, it's an all-out system upgrade, and does require more money to be spent.

Besides a basic format upgrade, all those other tips & tricks, above, would basically be no-cost or low-cost items, stuff you could play with and experiment with in the studio.

The wider reel tape formats will hold a heck of a lot more raw magnetism than a cassette, and therefore, will sound bigger. That's 100% guaranteed.