Please Help. Many questions. Need Fast Results. Thanks!

[swallja]

Hey all,

I have a VERY decent band with much live experience. However, nothing on CD. I recently made some connections and the first thing I need to make it to the next level is something recorded. obviously...

Right now drums are in my soundproofed 10X15 bedroom (yes, i put soundproofing on my walls because my parents room is right next to me) with a great mic setup. Also will need to record acoustic guitar (very rhythmic and much interaction with drums) and a second lead acoustic guitar. Also will need vocals with harmonies. So in total... drums, bass, acoustic guitar (2 to 3 tracks) and vocals (2 to 3 tracks). Looking for Dave Matthews Band type sound.

The current setup is drums into Fostex VM200 and from there into a Waveterminal USB interface (via optical S/P DIF) and into my laptop which is running the latest Sonar. We recorded drums over the past 3 days and have a decent sound for them. Now the questions start with recording guitar. Not sure how to eq them at all or what effects to use. We have two 300$ condenser mics for recording them but not sure what to do from there. Also I have heard that compressing the guitar is the best thing to do. I don't really know what compressing is? will it be able to make my mix louder? (that is a huge issue). Also, would it be ok to record two guitars simultaneously w/ the two mics? Setup Suggestions?

sorry for all the ?'s

Also, vocally... Eq suggestions? effect suggestions?

also, we would like to add hand-drumming tracks (djembe/bongo's etc.) any help for micing????


once again sorry for all the ?'s


sw

 

[Innovations]

Let me answer your question about what compression is.

Compression can be done either with software or hardware devices. What compression does is that it senses the strength of the incoming signal and when it is approaching the limit (and would then clip and distort) it automatically reduces the signal so that it stays just under the limit and thus does not distort.

It is most usefull on tracks with a broad dynamic range, where without it the recording engineer would have to choose between either the soft parts not getting a decent signal or the loud parts clipping. But it is not a free lunch. It does this by reducing the total dynamic range of the track. It is also impossible to remove once it has been added to a track. So except out of necessity you do not compress your raw tracks.

 

[c7sus]

It's really best to dial in the sound you want and capture that as opposed to getting somewhat "close" and then trying to tweak things to sound right.

You'll want to save eq and compression as much as you can until mixdown and mastering to make room in the mix when things like kick, toms, and bass are fighting each other and sounding like mud.

You can certainly record both guitars at once but you may have some bleed problems depending on your program material. You might want to set up one mic as a "room" mic to get the sound of both guitars together......... could come in handy as a pad or for some other effect in a mix.

If you have some gobos that could help cut down on bleed issues. As for placement, start with close-micing at either the 12-14 fret or behind the bridge and adjust to taste. If that isn't getting it, or you need a different tone, try micing about ear-high with the capsule pointing at the floor, a couple inches behind the bridge. Again, avoid eq at this point, and compression too if you can. Once you lay it down compressed you can't uncompress it.

Just curious, but why is making the mix louder a "huge issue"???

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!

 

[swallja]

First of all THANK you both for the great replies,

I now understand what exactly compression is. But, is the purpose of this then to be able to record at a higher level? and not worry about clipping?

I'm also split between what people say about recording w/ no eq or effects... OR recording with as close to the sound I want as possible.

the "loud" issue just means that when I mix down to 1 wav file and then convert to mp3 I need to turn my volume up extremely high to hear the mix at a decent level.

once again thanks guys...

sw

ps still looking for advice micing hand drums