How can I get better recordings?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wx3
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wx3

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Hi I've been trying to do some recording. I have limited equipment and I can't buy anymore. I have a Mackie 1202 vlz-pro mixer (from my pa) and two mikes A shure sm-57 and a shure performance gear mike of some sort (it's a vocal mike). We play on a few strats threw fender and marshall amps. I also have a computer (obviously) and its fairly new. 1.3ghz 256mb ramm 80gb hard drive, soundblaster card with a line in. So with out buying anything over a couple dollars? HOw could I hook this all up to get the best sound possible. I know im doing something wrong because my recroding dont sound much better then with the computer mike. Ugg... Thanks for your help

Chris
 
oh yeah

Oh yeah i forgot to add

We are recording mostly, electric guitars, bass and vocals but we do acoustic on occation and also fool around with my keyboard.

Chris
 
Well, first question: Do you want to record everything at once, or one instrument at a time?

Secondly: When you say that the 1202 is "from your PA" what does that mean? What you should use the 1202 for is as a preamp for your microphones. So put the mics in the 1202 and the 1202 outs to the soundcard in.

Third question: What is the sound of the room you are recording in? Is it dead, or is there a lot of echo and resonance?
 
Apart from more knowledge a better soundcard and a condensor mic will do wonders for your setup.
 
Yeah I'm pluging the mikes into the 1202 and then into the computer via the mixers outputs. But what do you mean by mike pre's? Are you talking about phantom power because I always thought that was only for condenser mikes. Also I don't really know much about acoustics but i'm recording in my living room, where my computer happens to be. COuld this be my problem. What is the best way to mike the guitar amps. And how should i set up the eq.

Any help apreciated.
 
What reccording/editing programs are you using on your computer?
 
...but i'm recording in my living room, where my computer happens to be. COuld this be my problem....
Click to expand...
My guesses:
1. -A SBLive can do pretty good, run right. Recording in the same room is definitely part of the problem. Get longer cables so that you can place the computer in one room, and record in another.
.....
2. -Another test to try to find where the noise is coming from is to set up the stuff as if you're recording, then record 10 seconds of silence with each mic you've got (one mic at a time). Stop recording, unplug all the mics, record another ten seconds-with just the mixer plugged in, and no mics. Then stop recording, unplug the mixer, and then record ten more seconds from the soundcard's line-in, with nothing plugged into the soundcard at all...... The reason that you do this is that you can compare these ten-second "silences" and figure out what part of your setup is noisiest.
......
3. -You should be recording everything separately. The reason for this is so that you can have each instrument/sound in a separate track, and put a different EQ on each track to maximize it's sound.
~
 
Yeah I've been using cool edit pro 2, and by pa I meant, the 1202's main perpose is in my pa system, but i wanted to do some recording so i un hooked every thing and tried to plug the mixer into my computer.
 
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