Multiple questions...

[hom]

Thanks in advance to anyone who will help.

I just bought my 424mkIII, and I'm extremely new at this. The main purpose is to record my band, which is a garage band in the very literal sense. For specificity, our equipment is as follows:

Guitar Amps: Marshall Valvestate 100W w/ 4 x 12"
Sovtek 100W w/ 4 x 12"

Bass: Crate 100W through 15"

And a five piece drum set. Two vocals.

Here's the question, kind of open ended. What's the best combination of tracks/micing/bouncing/etc? The first attempt (and we realized later that a mic cable was dead) was disatrous. We tried to lay down the drum and bass tracks first, bounce them, and lay the guitars and vocals. It was a bit muddy, at best.

Any advice will be most appreciated.

thanks,
..n.

 

[Hard2Hear]

hom-
something to try.
Try micing your band playing live. It may take a little bit to get mics in the right places to get a good mix. But you've already tried the bouncing route, that will work, it will just take some time to learn how to get a good sound. Also, you want to do the mixing and bouncing using monitors and not headphones, they will contribute to the mudiness.

I had mixed results in the begenning when I was doing this, but some stuff came out well. And I was using a 424 MKII. But you are on the right track with the record order when bouncing tracks.

It also has alot to do with your mics, try placement to get the best sound you can without messing with eq.

Hope it helps
H2H

 

[PannyDeters]

I suggest the Guided by Voices method. To do this you need a mixer.

Get a 4-channel mixer (at least) and plug the four drum mics into it.

Run that mixer into track 1.

At the same time, record the bass to track 2. Do not mic it. That's where you'll get muddy. Just run a line out of the bass amp.

Mic or run a line for the guitar to track 3.

When you're done, bounce 1,2,3 (drums, bass, guitar) to track 4. You now have tracks 1,2,3 opened up for two vocals and a second guitar.


THE OTHER WAY...

The non-mixer way is to plug 3 mics into your four-track and mic the drums with these (one for bass, snare, and overhead). Bus the three drum mics to one track. This means that you'll have to mix them perfectly level wise because after you record, you can't adjust the different drum mic levels.

At the same time, record bass to the last track. Since you have the drums miced and the bass direct, you won't have any bleed. So that they drummer and bassist ROCK, have the guitarist play also. He won't be being recorded (unless the drum mics pick him up and if they do make sure he turns down so that they only pick him up a little...). THen follow the above steps as far as bouncing and overdubbing.

Any questions or clarifications, you can email me at PannyDeters@hotmail.com