Noob lessons learned

[Phil from Wales]

I've been dabbling with my Zoom R20 for a week now and I'm starting to learn a bit more about recording. A few early lessons in no particular order:
1. Move the 'studio' to a bedroom furthest from the TV and close the doors.
2. Fluorescent lights can be very noisy.
3. LED lights can really test how well equipment and instruments are shielded.
4. Don't record the bass through a mic with dodgy low frequency response, use DI instead.
5. It's nice that the dog wants to join me in the studio, but squeaky toys are banned.
6. Recording a ukulele isn't easy. Mic positioning makes a big difference.

 

[rob aylestone]

They do say that after a nuclear explosion only two things will still be working. Cockroaches and ukuleles. Always good to produce your own rules based on experience.

 

[Phil from Wales]

They do say that after a nuclear explosion only two things will still be working. Cockroaches and ukuleles. Always good to produce your own rules based on experience.

I think my old Peavey Bandit amp would probably survive a nuclear war too.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

We now have a local Ukulele store. I had to go in and look at the Ukulele Flying V.

 

[ecc83]

There is an episode of the cook Rick Stein in Hamburg(?) where he is met by a lady who plays and sings 'I saw her standing there' on a uke. Brilliant she was and I wanted to record the piece for my son in France...total Beatles nutcase, but they have NEVER shown it since!

Dave.

 

[Phil from Wales]

We now have a local Ukulele store. I had to go in and look at the Ukulele Flying V.

Southern Ukuleles is a great little shop. Last year I made the pilgrimage from Wales and came away with a Kala solid body U-Bass. I could have spent a lot more.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

The one here (walking distance from my house) is a separate business within the Absolute Music building.

 

[Cosmic]

To add: if you are in "bedroom acoustics" or similar, record at a lower level than usual and normalize afterwards.

That keeps the ambient noise lower through the mic (less pickup) and gives a cleaner final playback after normalizing it. The limit is how quiet your pre-amps are in the recorder and thus how wide the "sweet spot" is to do this.

C.