How do YOU do it?

[Bguzaldo]

I think it would be kind of cool if a bunch of people literally went thru from beginning to end and describe exactly how they recorded an average session. I know that may be hard to define since different sounds require different techniques. But I think it could be neat to see how other people do it. So maybe some people will say 'never thought of it that way' or maybe you get the 'wow why didn't I think of that' effect. I think a lot of people do a lot of things differently when recording and I'd be interesting to see the whole process.

Well I hope if you have plenty of time on your hands you wouldn't mind putting your mind on display for everyone here.

Include if you'd like:
-Mic's
-Placement
-Consoles, interfaces, DAW
-Rack Gear (settings if your really bored)
-Mixing
-Mastering
-Basic logic and theories
-Whatever you want

Have fun, sound as cool and important as you want learn from others and even yourself

Thanks a pantsful
-Barrett

 

[Bguzaldo]

My Example

I figured since i started this i should give my process

If its a band:
I like to set up the drum set with 4 mic's, OH in G/J arrangement usually a rodeNT1000 over the snare and the GT67 just above the floor tom(sometimes substituted with audix f15's). Then a 57 on the snare and a CAD kick mic i have in the bass drum. I like to put a really thick blanket over the kick so i can crank it without getting any bleed from the other drums/cymbals. I usually go right into my FIREpod, but recently i put the OH's into an MPA and the snare into my Eureka, the kick still goes into the FIREpod. I have a method of soundproofing that is entirely my own process to my knowledge. I built these big wooden frames that are 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall for the drums. I put fiberglass insulation in them and then wrapped them in fabric. I place these around the drum set. I set up 5 of them in a circle around the set.

Then i set up the guitar with a stereo'd pair of 609's putting one in the center of each cone, or for one speaker cabs i put on in the middle for the body and then one on the edge of the cone for character, i put the guitar amp as far from the drums as i can.

The bass i use an audix f12 which i found to be pretty good in front of a cab(working towards hopefully a sansamp RBI or a U5 DI) then ill put the bass cab far from the guitar and drums to prevent bleed.

I Tell everyone to play the song were about to record as i set the gain meters on the firepod and preamps so that they don't clip and i leave plenty of headroom for the drums, then I'll record maybe a 30 second sample of the song to see how everything sounds together, then i either re position mic's change mics or continue to track. I record the initial guitar track and drums and bass altogether at first.

I'll track until we have a flawlass base track with the drums, bass, and main guitar track as perfect as we can get.

At this point the drummer and bassist are done.

Then I go back with the guitarist, place one 57 in a good place on the amp and then record a L and R track panned 100 to each side. Depending on the style for these tracks ill go into the eureka or the mpa. I usually do this for only choruses or parts that need more power. Most times if the entire song is distorted and its a punk or rock song, I'll just have the guitarist do the whole song 2 more times. Then well add in the solo's, extra licks/layers. If they're looking for a more emphasized solo I'll do it in stereo (609's again)if not ill do it with a 57 and pan it just a little to the right or left. I'll soundproof it the same way but with 4x4 foot panels.

After this we move on to vocals. I'll usually set up my panels in a square or rectangle, it's the poor man's way of having a room inside a room. I use my NT1000 into my Eureka since it has compression.

Then well add in any other instruments, shakers, bells, keyboards, tambourines, etc. usually just thru the GT67

Tracking is done.....

On to mixing...

I like to start with drums, Im a bass player myself, but i find drums are the most fun for anything. I work on my stereo image first, ill eq my overheads until i have a nice even sound with good tom tones. I usually like a really wide image for my drums. I like to mess around with 20-40 hz for overheads. Then onto snare. I like to add reverb most times then crank 20khz and that range until i get a nice crack to the snare since the OH's pick up most of the body of the snare. I try to keep my frequencies clean, not too much struggle for frequencies, i notch out as much as i can in general. Then bass drum i try to get a nice tone that will cut thru, i actually use my basic eq then i have another plug-in eq that i use to emphasize the hi's to get a punchier sound. I don't like compression on drums seeing as they should remain a dynamic instrument and not have a "gain stage" cage. Once i get a pleasing result i move on.

To guitar. I never have trouble finding a satisfying guitar tone. not much eq'ing involved maybe just boost mids alittle. I usually add my cheap ass plug in compression(working on buying a compressor: see other thread) around 4:1 slow release, quick attack. i make sure my stereo main guitar is very wide with a good clean sound. maybe add a little reverb. Then ill go to my L and R guitars pan them all the way to the left and right. Give them some power in the lows and mids.

Bass...I add my compression seeing as bass players always have a problem with consistancy. more towards 5:1 6:1 with really slow release and medium/fast attack. I like to give it some low frequencies aswell as higher ones without fighting with the guitar too much, to prevent the two from fighting i leave mids out of the bass which im sure most would scold me for.

Vocals I usually just add some eq'ing until its not flat, give it a little character, a little presence. Add a little reverb nothing over the top most of the time. blend in the back up parts, pan them if it sounds right.

Now that most of the eq'ing is done i set the levels. Like i said I'm a guy who appreciates drums so i start by turn the guitar all the way down so that the bass is grooving with the drums nicely then i slowly raise all the guitars until everything shares an equal presence. I never over do it with guitars, they're usually pretty low but still present. I then of course go back thru and tweak eq's and reverbs and other effects until its all blended very well together.

So now that i have my mix done i open up my master track give it a nice feeling overall eq, compression, slap a limiter on there, tweak them all until i like the feel of it, then ill export from cubase put it on a cd, listen to it on my cd player, in my car, thru my stereo and make a list of things i need to change, go back, change em, repeat.

Thats pretty much it for me, I'm clearly a n00b struggling to be more than that. I know plenty of people will think 'that's fucking retarded' and that's what i'm hoping for so i can learn and get better. Hopefully i opened up some doors for some people, inspired some idea's or made you feel a lot better about yourself , I'm sort handed on gear as you can see. The good news is im 18 years old and have a lot to learn and a lot of time to do it. the bad news is NO ONE is going to read this whole thing and NO ONE is going to respond, but if your the one person that did read this or respond thanks a pantsful.



-Barrett

 

[RAMI]

I like to mess around with 20-40 hz for overheads. Then onto snare. I like to add reverb most times then crank 20khz

Are you sure about those frequencies??? 20-40hz is awfully low...and 20k is awfully high, no?

 

[Nick_Black]

My procedure

ok, I've got some time to kill before my next class, so I'll post my procedure (plus I think the Idea behind this thread is a good one)

1: make shure drums are in tune, set up properly ect. (so the drummer feels comfortable)

2: I go thru drum by drum setting up a mic, record a sample, listen, re-adjust mic, set levels, repeat till happy and all drums are done (and overheads)

3: listen all the drum mics toghether, adjust if nessasary

4: if nessasary (which it is for some of my Mics) add compression to the snare and kick, and maby a touch of EQ (using VST, not permanent)

5: record 3-10 takes (depending on the drummers skills) sometimes I have a guitarist plugged in on a free line so that the drummer has something to play with (if nessasary I'll use a click-track too) (all of this is played thrue the drummers headphones)

6: I record bass using a line in (sometimes I record bass at the same time as the drums)

7: Guitar (electric) choose guitar, choose amp, set the settings, use one or 2 mics angled in front of the cab, record a piece, re-adjust mic if nessasary, if I want a more "tight" sound I'll throw a blanket over the Mic and cab to get rid of un-wanted room reverb.

8: guitar accustic, if it has a jack, I DI it straight into my pre-amp, as well as having a mic right infront of the 12th fret, and a room mic. (if it doesn't have a jack I just use the 2 mics)

9: vocals, I use a pencil condesor at an angle, while the singer sings into a large Diafram condensor, as well as a room mic.

10: Editing (everything is only If nessasary, I find less is usually better)
compession to vocals, for my own vocals U usually like to EQ up around 300hz, and 15khz, and EQ everything else down for a kinda cool sound.

a tad of compression to the lead guitar

depending on the song I might purposfully mud up the rhythem guitar with the EQ to gring forward other parts of the song

I usually don't need to touch the bass (beside levels of course)

set levels on the drums, pan if nessasary.

and depending on the song I might do alot of other things (add reverb for a more live sound, sound FX, whatever)





that is the "10 steps" I kinda use as a rough outline of how I record.

 

[Bguzaldo]

Very Cool, I haven't really ever heard of the using a pencil mic as well as a LDC on vox. What does that do for the sound?

Again very cool 10 step. Thanks for responding, I'm trying to get a lot of people to post their procedures so other people can try new formulas.

Thanks,
-Barrett

 

[Bguzaldo]

No one else.... not even briefly?

 

[jmorris]

very cool idea,Ill post my deal when i get a free moment and can see straight..presently got some stomch bug..yuk,Hopefully tomorrow

\

 

[KineticSound]

Brief it is...

I can do brief... since most of what I do is V/O work!

Once a client has decided on what type of jingle music they want, I either use music from a canned jingle library (pick a beat, pick instruments, etc.) or compose the instrumentation from scratch. Composition is more fun, but most often the time frame just doesn't allow!

If it's composition and instrument recording, I use as many electronic instruments (versus acoustic) as I can. Music for radio ads seems to work best if it's clean and tight so it can sit behind the V/O track. I typically do the same for my band work. I like to track with V-Drums, running 4 channels: Kick, Snare, Stereo-rest-of-kit, keys either using a Yamaha digital piano recorded in stereo or midi keyboard triggering a softsynth, and bass into an old ART TubeMP with a Mesa Boogie tube in it. When we add guitar, it's either an acoustic mic'ed with a Shure KSM-27 or electric through an old Fender amp mic'ed with an SM-57. Music vocals are usually recorded with the Audio Technica AT-2020 that uses the same signal path as my voiceover mic (see below):

The key with V/O is to keep it clean, dry, and at a consistent level. I start with a SE Electronics Reflexion Filter, which I highly recommend. I use either a Shure KSM-27 or Audio Technica AT-2020 that sits in the middle of the Filter, with about 3" of air between the back of the mic and the felt of the filter. A pop filter sits in front of the V/O mic, about 2" from the front grille. For anyone not familiar with what a Reflexion Filter is, I snapped a photo with my cell phone (I pulled the pop filter away so you could see the mic placement).

The mic is fed directly into my Focusrite Platinum Channel, where it gets a little compression and sometimes a little subtractive eq on the way in. Digital out from the Focusrite goes directly into my Tascam FW-1082, which feeds Logic. During the mix, I typically smash the V/O track to make it as clear and articulate as possible, and eq to taste.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is that I just don't like/trust the CD burner on my Mac. While most of my projects are simply converted to an .aif and sent electronically, when I do create CD's I use a Tascam CDR/W-700 deck.

EDIT (x2): In re-reading my post, the other thing I left out that I never listen to background music while doing my V/O track. I just do my read. If I make an error or something just doesn't come out right, I pause and pick up my line again. Once the V/O track is recorded, it gets chopped up into smaller snips, mistakes deleted, and then it's arranged to fit in the :28/:29 or :58/:59 window.

 

[Bguzaldo]

I can do brief... since most of what I do is V/O work!

Once a client has decided on what type of jingle music they want, I either use music from a canned jingle library (pick a beat, pick instruments, etc.) or compose the instrumentation from scratch. Composition is more fun, but most often the time frame just doesn't allow!

If it's composition and instrument recording, I use as electronic instruments (versus acoustic) as I can. Music for radio ads seems to work best if it's clean and tight so it can sit behind the V/O track. I typically do the same for my band work. I like to track with V-Drums, running 4 channels: Kick, Snare, Stereo-rest-of-kit, keys either using a Yamaha digital piano recorded in stereo or midi keyboard triggering a softsynth, and bass into an old ART TubeMP with a Mesa Boogie tube in it. When we add guitar, it's either an acoustic mic'ed with a Shure KSM-27 or electric through an old Fender amp mic'ed with an SM-57. Music vocals are usually recorded with the Audio Technica AT-2020 that uses the same signal path as my voiceover mic (see below):

The key with V/O is to keep it clean, dry, and at a consistent level. I start with a SE Electronics Reflexion Filter, which I highly recommend. I use either a Shure KSM-27 or Audio Technica AT-2020 that sits in the middle of the Filter, with about 3" of air between the back of the mic and the felt of the filter. A pop filter sits in front of the V/O mic, about 2" from the front grille. For anyone not familiar with what a Reflexion Filter is, I snapped a photo with my cell phone (I pulled the pop filter away so you could see the mic placement).

The mic is fed directly into my Focusrite Platinum Channel, where it gets a little compression and sometimes a little subtractive eq on the way in. Digital out from the Focusrite goes directly into my Tascam FW-1082, which feeds Logic. During the mix, I typically smash the V/O track to make it as clear and articulate as possible, and eq to taste.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is that I just don't like/trust the CD burner on my Mac. While most of my projects are simply converted to an .aif and sent electronically, when I do create CD's I use a Tascam CDR/W-700 deck.

Awesome, thanks a lot for the reply and the picture too! I've never had to do any V/O work but if i do I'll have a good reference point

Thanks
-Barrett

 

[Ironklad Audio]

my typical sessions go like this:

start new session in DAW before band shows up...get i/o and basic tracks ready to go, along with any click that will be used. then...

set up drum kit
get kit tuned, find best spot in the room(assuming the room's big enough to move the kit around)
mic kit
record a couple passes, set preamp levels, adjust mics if needed
plug guitars/bass into DI inputs...set up monitor mix for drummer
record drum tracks...guitar/bass players play along through amp sims, and can either be in the control room hearing the drums through the monitors, or can sit in the tracking room w/ phones on.

from there it's on to guitars...if the DI tracks that were captured during the drum takes happen to be spot-on, i'll set up an amp and reamp them. if not, we set up and mic an amp and get to tracking...again recording the DI input on the takes in case reamping is needed later on. i'll usually start putting together a rough mix of the drums during this time as well.

bass = pretty much the same process as the guitars

then any other random OD's or instruments get added, and then vox get tracked to top it all off

 

[xstatic]

Well, its late, I am not sleeping for a bit, and I need to get away from these mixes for a bit, so here is the details on a recent session.

First we started with drums, bass and a reference uitar as well as a reference vocal. For this specific song, we opted to not use a click track. The kit was a 4 piece hit. For this session we used my maple Ddrum kit with my Ludwig Black Beauty hand hammered snare. We used all Zildijan cymbals (A custom, new beat hats, and some 1967 avedis cymbals. On kick I used a sennheiser 602 placed right in the port like you would see at a live show. The kcik went through an OSA API style preamp to a channel on my D&R console where it got a little EQ and then bussed to the SSL converters into Cubase SX3. For snare I put a shure beta 57a right over the rim of the snare, about 2 inches up and focused at the center of the snare head. This mic went through the D&R preamp and EQ to SSL converter to DAW. The second snare mic was an Oktava mc012 body with the pad on it and a Red R12 large diaphragm capsule. I lined the diaphragms of the RED and the beta57a for the best phase coherence I could. It went to D&R preamp, D&R EQ and then SSL converter to DAW. On bottom snare I used an sm57 at the same position as the beta57a, but on the snare side (bottom). This went to D&R pre and EQ, to SSL, to DAW. Hi Hat was a blue mouse about 6 inches over the edge of the hats pointing towards the snare but using the hats to shield the mic a bit from the snare itself. Rack tom was an old EV 408e similarly placed like the dynamics on the snare, but focused halfway between the rim and the center of the tom. D&R pre and EQ to SSL to DAW. Floor tom was just like the rack tom. The overhead on the snare side was a Peluso P12 at about 5 feet above the sanre but out in front of the kit a little, nearly horizontal with maybe a 20 degree tilit towards the drummers face. The other overhead was a Red Type A body with an R7 capsule. It was placed a little bit lower than the P12, and came more from the side and focused more at the snare than the drummer himself. Both overhead mics were preamped by a Pendulum MDP-1 tube preamp, and sent to a Demeter VTCL-2 tube compressor then straight from there the outputs were sent from the XLR to the SSL converters and then from the TRS outputs to the D&R console for latency free monitoring and control room mix. Bothe overheads were tube mics so thats three stages of tube amplification on the overheads. I also ran a Royer R121 about 6 feet out in front of the kit at head height pointing right at the drummer as a mono room mic. That covers the drums. The bass was run straight into a Demeter VTMB - 2B tube preamp. From there one output went to the console, and one straight to the SSL converters. The refernce guitar was plugged into a Little Labs RedEye DI/reamp box and from there to the other channel of Demeter preamp. The output was sent both to converters and DAW. The bass was my vintage Musicman Stingray bass. Reference vocals were just done on an sm57 straight to the D&R Console.

For guitars, we had a bunch of guitars on hand. There were a few PRS guitars, a nice strat and Tele, a Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul, and a KSM custom built guitar. I am not sure which guitars ended up actually being used. I know that one of the tracks was done through my 1967 Blackface Bassman on the original loaded 2x12 cab. We also used a nicely retubed (mullard, amperex) Marshall 1st gen TSL 100 on a stock 1960a 4x12 cab. The other guitar chain used was George Lynch's modified 1976 Marshall Super Lead head on a custom built late 50's repro Marshall 4x12 cab loaded with 2 Celestion vintage 30's and 2 early 50's Goodman 12's. No pedals were used, but there is a track of ebow stuff at the beginning and end. All guitars were tracked through a little labs RedEye DI/Reamp box to the Pendulum preamp straight to converters and DAW. The second guitar line on all tracks was a Royer R121 ribbon mic to the Pendulum to a Urei LA4 compressor to SSL converter to DAW. The royer was always placed at about 12" from the speaker, halfway between cone and speaker rim, slightly angled towards the cone.

After guitars we did Keys. All keys were run in stereo off of a macbook pro to the line input of the Demeter preamp. There were three or maybe 4 keyboard tracks if I remember right. After keys we did vocals whcih were done on the Red Type A tube mic with anm R7 (U47ish) capsule to the Pendulum to the SSL converters, to DAW. There was no compression used in tracking on the vocals on this day, and the couple louder parts were tracked on seperate tracks.

Now for some of the mixing. This whole song was done in about 6 hours after a long day so we didn't spend too much time knowing we would be back later to touch some stuff up. For drums, all drums and cymbals were bussed to a Drum buss where a waves SSL comp was placed with a medium attack, and medium release time. The drum buss was not comped too hard. For kick I used the waves SSL channel. I added maybe 2 or 3 db of low ratio slow compression, a high pass at about 50, a low eq bump at about 80, a low mid cut at about 600, a high mid bump at about 3 k and another high bump at 8k. For this song I did not use a gate. The first snare channel (beta57a) got a little bit of compression form a URS 1970 comp I think and a slight boost at 3k with the waves API EQ. The LD condensor on snare got the same comp with no EQ. The bottom snare got a channel of waves audiotrack with some tight gating, about 6 db of compression on average, and a little bump at 200 hz for a little more thump. Hi hat stayed flat. and got panned off to the right a little along with the LD on snare top while the beta57a got panned a little left. Rack tom 1 got a waves audiotrack with a HP filter at 50hz and a low bump at 130hz with a cut at 800hz. Floor tom got the same with the low bump being at about 100hz and a little high bump at 6k as well. Both toms were gated with a fairly low threshold and a very loose range so that the gate only cut about 15 db when fully closed. Attack times were as fast as waves would let me go with 400 ms releases. rack tom panned right 20% and floor tom left 5 %. Overheads were left flat with a little hp filtering starting at 100hz form the stock Cubase EQ. hard panned the overheads. Room mic was panned a little to the left and run very lightly in the mix. The reverb used was a convolution of a Large Wood Room form a Lexicon 960. The time was stretched out to about 1.2 seconds and all drum channels were run into it including kick. Snare, hat, and overheads were hottest in the reverb.

Bass was run through the Ampeg SVX plugin. I think we ended up with the SVT classic head model on the 8x10 cab with a UAD1 LA2 on bass. Bass was actually panned a hair to the left. Guitars were run pretty flat to a guitar buss where I used the waves API 4 band EQ for a little boost at about 3k and then went to the API 2500 compressor plugin using a hard curve, 6:1 ratio, and the forward feedback. They were comped to about 10db of reduction at some points. The reverb used was another instance of a Lexicon 960 room with a different decay and size. I think we may have even used a couple of the direct guitar tracks through Amplitube 2 on some heavier settings to thicken things a little and get the reverb from there as well.

Vocals were bussed to a vocal buss with a UAD1 1176 in all button on mode and a medium fast attack and release. The vocal reverb was a Sonnox reverb using an EMT emulation. A waves delay was also used, with the delay being set up as a group channel to feed the reverb from it as well.

The master buss just got a waves L3 multimaximizer to pull in some of the peaky bands without actually resorting to EQ or automation. I will talk to the band and see if I can post what we have so far.

 

[Dogbreath]

My typical session usually involves just me...no bands. I don't use a computer, just an AKAI DPS24 and some outboard gear.

1st...I set up my click track.

Then I'll lay down a scratch rhythm. Usually I'll put some scratch vocals down just to follow the tune easier. But, if it's elec guit, usually a 57 on the grill and maybe an AT4050 out in the room or even just 3 or 4 ft back. The 4050's kind of an "if/maybe" thing. If my main rhythm is gonna be piano/keys, I just run it direct. If it's acoustic guitar, usually a pair of KSM 109's. 1 around the 12th fret, 1 at the bridge. Sometimes I'll just run direct for scratch ac guit.

Once I get my scratch tracked all the way thru, I go for the drums. My setup is kind of the Glyn Johns method now. It used to be the Recorderman Technique but I get fuller toms with GJ. At least I think so.
Anyway, I have a DIY subkick that I run thru a Tampa pre with no comp or maybe a light comp. A Beta 52 on kick with a light comp using the onboard pre/comp. The snare gets either the 57 or an Audix I5 on top, a couple inches up and angled toward my floor tom, aimed at the center of the snare. Also using the onboard pre/comps. My OH's are now the SP B1's. I was using the 109's but I'm thinkin I like the LDC's as OH's now. Just started using these a couple of weeks ago but like the results. Most of the time, I'll close mic the toms just in case I need more but a lot of the time, I don't. Same thing with the subkick. It may or may not end up in the song.

My bass is usually just DI'd thru my Tampa with some light comp. Sometimes, I'll get adventurous and use my Beta 52 a couple of feet out from the amp (old Earth cabinet with 2 15's) and blend to taste. Depends on if I'm feelin lazy that day.

After my drums and bass are down, I go for the real rhythm track. Electric distorted guitars get double tracked, not copy/pasted anymore. Just sounds better to my ears. Whether it's lead guit or rhythm. Double tracked. My head is an old Sunn 200S tube head from the late 60's run into a Vox ToneLab SE then into a homemade 2X12 cabinet I built with 2 V30's. Somebitch cranks. YeeHaw!

Main and BU vocals are last. They're usually done with an AT 4050, AT 3035 or the V67G. I've noticed that they almost always end up going thru my ART ProChannel (with tube swap).

That's the gist of my goodz. Then I step AWAY from the whole thing lest I be tempted to start mixing it right away. Crackin a beer usually helps with the steppin away part.

Peace-n-shit.....

 

[MCI2424]

.......
First we started with drums, bass and a reference uitar as well as a reference vocal. For this specific song, we opted to not use a click track. The kit was a 4 piece hit. For this session we used my maple Ddrum kit with my Ludwig Black Beauty hand hammered snare. We used all Zildijan cymbals (A custom, new beat hats, and some 1967 avedis cymbals. On kick I used a sennheiser 602 placed right in the port like you would see at a live show. The kcik went through an OSA API style preamp to a channel on my D&R console where it got a little EQ and then bussed to the SSL converters into Cubase SX3. For snare I put a shure beta 57a right over the rim of the snare, about 2 inches up and focused at the center of the snare head. This mic went through the D&R preamp and EQ to SSL converter to DAW. The second snare mic was an Oktava mc012 body with the pad on it and a Red R12 large diaphragm capsule. I lined the diaphragms of the RED and the beta57a for the best phase coherence I could. It went to D&R preamp, D&R EQ and then SSL converter to DAW. On bottom snare I used an sm57 at the same position as the beta57a, but on the snare side (bottom). This went to D&R pre and EQ, to SSL, to DAW. Hi Hat was a blue mouse about 6 inches over the edge of the hats pointing towards the snare but using the hats to shield the mic a bit from the snare itself. Rack tom was an old EV 408e similarly placed like the dynamics on the snare, but focused halfway between the rim and the center of the tom. D&R pre and EQ to SSL to DAW. Floor tom was just like the rack tom. The overhead on the snare side was a Peluso P12 at about 5 feet above the sanre but out in front of the kit a little, nearly horizontal with maybe a 20 degree tilit towards the drummers face. The other overhead was a Red Type A body with an R7 capsule. It was placed a little bit lower than the P12, and came more from the side and focused more at the snare than the drummer himself. Both overhead mics were preamped by a Pendulum MDP-1 tube preamp, and sent to a Demeter VTCL-2 tube compressor then straight from there the outputs were sent from the XLR to the SSL converters and then from the TRS outputs to the D&R console for latency free monitoring and control room mix. Bothe overheads were tube mics so thats three stages of tube amplification on the overheads. I also ran a Royer R121 about 6 feet out in front of the kit at head height pointing right at the drummer as a mono room mic. That covers the drums......

That covers the drums...............I guess it does. Was there anything left of them when you finished?

 

[Harvey Gerst]

I did a recording breakdown in a thread on the mic forum called:

"Do you really need expensive stuff?"

 

[Dogbreath]

Most excellent read too.

Hi Harvey! Always good to see ya around.

 

[LemonTree]

I set up all the gear then punch the artist repeatedly till they give me the perfect performance.

After that, things pretty much mix themselves

 

[xstatic]

That covers the drums...............I guess it does. Was there anything left of them when you finished?

Beleive it or not, thats not really as much processing as it sounds, nor micing. I do love having the three snare mics. They play nice together and leave many options open during mixdown. The overheads were very prominent in the mix as well and the tom mics were used sparingly, but definately there. In the end, this is far less drum processing that goes into to virtually every commercially released album

 

[Todzilla]

It all starts with a song idea. I come up with most of my material while doing mundane chores (dishes, mowing the lawn, bicycling).

Then I put down scratch tracks to a click. Could be keyboards (my main instrument) and vocals, or guitar and vocals. Enough to give the drummer a good idea of the vibe of the song.

We always play to a click, since it makes editing and time based effects infinitely easier. I also have a one-room studio, so we can't do a whole lot of monitoring unless we record, check, re-record, check, etc...

We move the drums to the middle of the room, which is horribly inconvenient, but they sound much better there under the 14 foot cathedral ceiling. We try to keep the floor free of carpet or at least with a minimal throw rug, so the painted wood floors are pretty lively. Drummer brings his own kit or uses the house kit, or some hybrid. We work with the drummer to ensure the kit is well tuned, new or newish heads and so forth.

Depending on the song/drummer, we throw an AKG D112 into the kick (although I still struggle getting a good kick sound), an Audix i5 on snare, an SM57 underneath the snare (phase switched), a couple of Crown CM-700s for spread overheads, my Neumann U-89 for room sound and then a couple more mics for toms and/or hi-hat. I can currently only record 8 tracks at a time, so that limits me.

My neighbor has an API lunchbox with a single 512 preamp in it. I usually put this on the snare drum. I put the overheads through my Demeter HM-1 preamp and then rest through my not-so-hot MOTU 896HD preamps. We get good signal, do a couple test passes then check how it sounding and adjust mics to taste.

We'll do as many takes as the drummer can manage, typically 3 to 5. This gives us time sync'ed material to fly in, in case the main track has a bad fill or something. I try to print zero effects, no compression, no EQ.

After that (which is tyically a whole night for one song - hey, we're amateurs). We record bass. I usually just have the bass player plug directly into the Demeter DI. I avoid compression on tracking.

Then, I start guitars, which I record direct, monitoring through a nice amp. Many takes of guitars, sometimes with different pickup settings. I prefer lots of different minimal guitar parts that I can layer. Later, I will commit these guitar parts through reamping.

I record lots of keys, typically printing them to the DAW, rather than leaving them in MIDI forever. Again, I use the Demeter DI to get nice clean keys down, one layer at a time.

I re-record the vocals, many takes, as my voice warms up. I've been leaning more and more toward the layered unison vocals, with some harmonies as well.

Then, mixdown is a huge challenge, since I have given myself options of reamping and trying different keyboard sounds from the MIDI tracks.

Eventually I get to the point of diminishing returns with mixdown (having checked it on many different playback devices) and sick of the mixdown process and end up with a track. Not your model of efficiency or decorum, but that's about it.

Here's a sample of my work:

Not flawless by any means, but I think I do okay at getting the vibe across.

 

[Bguzaldo]

Haha i really like that song todzilla. Have you ever heard of They might be giants? if not i think you'd like them a lot.

Thanks for sharin'
-Barrett

 

[Bguzaldo]

Hey Xstatic, Thanks so much for taking the time to go through the session with us. I think I Learned more reading that procedure than i ever have, honest to god. I just had a few questions I was wondering about if you wouldn't mind answering. I've only been recording for about a year and a half and i was wondering what you meant when you would say, "this went to a drum buss" or "this went to the guitar buss" and then i was also wondering what you meant when you said "such and such got a waves audiotrack" If you have time and wouldn't mind answering those questions I'd be really grateful.

Thanks again
-Barrett