New User Recording Questions

[paiste artist]

I'm in a Hardcore/Metal band and im looking to get into some recording not the best but just somthing that will get it all together and I will be sending it to a friend of mine for professional mixing and mastering.

I was looking into a Fostex MR-8 8 Track recorder just to get kind of a ruff copy demo down but no horrible sounding somthing decent then send it to mastering and mixing.

We also own a Behringer PMH2000 Powered Mixer if that helps with anything maybe run the drums into the mixer into the recorder if that is possbile.

Could somone just explain how that would sound or if it possble or maybe recomend a better recorder or a better way to make a demo thanks.

 

[2lim]

If you want your friend who is mixing and mastering to be able to properly do his job, you will need to get a good clean recording to begin with. That means decent mics, into a decent preamp, into a decent recording unit. I would assume that with an MR-8 and the right mics you could get a good enough sound that could be imxed into a decent demo(this isnt gonna sound pro). The next question is: are you recording everythign at once, or are you going to do one instrument at a time?.


Simon

 

[paiste artist]

we are going one instrument at a time, and we have one sm58 some shure pg mics and one audix condenser mic but we can borrow some more shures from people we know they are sm58s

 

[daav]

If you get the MR8 HD you can record 4 inputs at once i think, which will usually suit for drums, but you might not have enough outs on the mixer to pull that off, I am not familiar with that mixer. You can use the mixer to get a decent stereo mix of drums and record that and then layer your other sounds over it with additional tracks, but then you don't give mixing later as many options with teh drum sounds. You might want to pick up or borrow a preamp or two like the DMP3, which can split you out a couple more channels than the traditional 2 outs of a mixer. Then you can send Bass drum, snare, and two overheads to 4 individual tracks for mixing later.

The mixer will be helpful to preamp your mics though. The SM58 will do a decent job on the vocals, although there are many mics that are more suited to a studio vocal recording. THat said, you will probably be better off with the SM58 as a dynamic (less room noise, etc) for your first recordings, dealing with a condensor in early stages can often be a bit more sensitive and reveal the weak parts of the recording envornment (unflattering room noise) and chain (preamps, eq etc).

For recording the amps, get at least one SM57 read around here there are about a million posts/guides to micing amps, in a pinch the SM58 with the ball removed is essentially the same thign as an SM57.

i have the original MR8 and I can guess if you are trying to get a real mix, 8 tracks is going to come up pretty short for you. 4 drum tracks, bass, at least one guitar and vocals, then you are pretty thin when it comes to adding more guitars, vocals etc. What you can do though, is copy the wav files form the MR8 to a PC and then mix them down on the MR8 for later additonal of more tracks, the archived tracks and the new ones can then be sent to your friend for mixing later. The MR8 is a good little box for the price, and the MR8HD looks like a good improvement over mine from what i have seen. The one thing i can say though, is that i have done some recording on a better-than-16 bit recorder and the quality is noticable. If you budget is <$400 though, the MR8 is a good option.

Daav

 

[treymonfauntre]

using the mr8 is a logistical nightmare. you should post something on craigs list saying you want to record a cheap demo, i'm sure somebody in your city has a project studio that they wouldn't mind tracking you guys for a hell of a lot cheaper than the cost of an mr8.

 

[paiste artist]

What if I record all my drums then load them onto my pc and record the guitars and bass load those on the pc then go back and do the vocals and put it all together in cakewalk. would that work or be reasonable to manage.