Mixer basics

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nicky_c11
  • Start date Start date
N

Nicky_c11

New member
Hi, just wondered if anybody could help me (I really don't know much about this sort of thing). I am in a 2 piece band and want to start recording some of our song to a decentish standard, currently we use one Samson USB microphone to record Drums and Guitar playing together and then multitrack singing and bass on top. The problem is, it sounds really bad. We want to invest in a mixer to make it sound better. We've decided on buying a bass drum mic (which will double up as a bass guitar mic) and two pencil condensers for the drum kit, along with a large diaphragm condenser for micing up the guitar amp. i currently own a Samson Q7 dynamic mic for vocals as well. We still hope to record in the same format. i.e. drums and guitar together, adding the other two after.
Wondered if you could help me as to what kind of mixer we need to buy, basically we want it to mix all of the drum mics, guitar mic and vocal mic at the same time. What kind of a mixer could achieve this?
Our vocals sound out of place in our songs, like they sit on top of the mix, can a mixer also help with this?
It needs to be able to record to a normally equipped PC, can any mixer do this?
Basically I need a beginner tutorial on mixers, can anyone offer advice or a link or something?! I'm totally lost!

Thanks!
 
How many of channels of I/o do you have? and how many do you need?

what kind of audio interface do you use? What kind of sequencer are you

using?

You really might not need a mixer unless you want to make submixes and

dont have enough I/O. A mixer can be used for tracking but is rarely used

to improve the sound during tracking. What does improve the sound during

tracking are well treated rooms, good sounding instruments, good sounding

pres and good sounding converters.Once people get the sounds into their

computer some people chose the keep the sound ITB and use the mixer on

the sequencer and mix with plug ins and hardware inserts. Modern day

digital mixers offers all the routing possibilties you need in order to achieve

a good mix. Some people miss their faders and chose to buy a control

surfaces which pass midi information to the computer. The control surface

however cannot accept analog signal ( i.e. mackie control) . Some people

do chose to send there sounds out to an analog mixer and mix on an actual

analog mixer. (some higher end analog boards are SSL, and Neve). People

like mixing OTB (out of the box) for many, many reasons which could fill

a book.

So as you can see a mixer can be used on the front end for tracking,

making sub-mixes and monitoring purposes bu the mixer is also used for the

actual mixdown process.
 
re:

"Hi, just wondered if anybody could help me (I really don't know much about this sort of thing)."

I understood nothing of what you posted....
 
i was trying to simply explain the function of a mixer and what role it plays in the process of recording and how it can be utilized. So you would have an understanding that you really might not need one for tracking and that there
are many other essential ingredients along the signal chain that could be causing a mix to sound "bad"


As i posted earlier I need to know more info about your setup in order to help you with your setup and give you some possible suggesstions to improve your sound. you can send me a private message if you prefer. ;)
 
re:

Right, we currently play in a bedroom, doesn't have bad acoustics, no box like shapes with the walls, which i've heard you want to avoid at all costs... We have a Pearl ELX kit with Zildjian cymbals, so pretty good kit there, a Fender Stratocaster with a Marshall MG50DFX Combo Amp - again not bad... Vocals are amped through a reverb processor and Samson Q7 mic (ver similar to Shure SM58). In the future we might add keyboard and bass as well, but not sure at the moment.
 
I would spend some time using the search feature. Even use Wiki. There are many things to learn.
 
i would say get a mixer that has 4 places to plug in a mic (Inputs)

make sure it has phantom power. this powers the condenser mics.

my suggestion would be to mic and track this way...

track a scratch of everybody playing together. record with the ldc or anything.


then do everything separate, but listening to the scratch track through ok headphones. eventually just delete the scratch track.

track drums with..

kick mic on kick
2 pencil condensers overhead
that 57 type mic on the snare.

if that mic sucks, maybe go with the large condenser, but don't close mic like the dynamic

record the guitar with the 57 type mic on the middle of the speaker and an inch from the grill. also put the ldc in there, but not close. but probably not high and far off, as your room is probably not great acoustically.

record the bass direct, or lined out from the amp.

for vocals record with the ldc. it probably will give you a clearer sound than the dynamic.

record these through the mixer and then get a cord that goes from a master out, into your computer's line in.

get a program that will record and mix. acid, cool edit, cake walk, cubase, n-track...

just choose one and go with it. you may already have that part figured out
 
I would recommend doing some more research on this subject before you buy

any more equipment at this point and getting yourself a little more

comfortable with the recording process.

This is a good website to get u started http://www.tweakheadz.com/


get a couple of books, talk to someone experienced.

There are lots of options out there, you may want to buy a nice audio

interface like a fireface 800, or sequencer like logic but these are things that

you need to understand first and then can decide whether you need them
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top