?rec.Metal demo?

[Fromwithin]

First let me introduce myself.Im 19, from Gainesville,GA, male and i play guitar.lol.IM in a metal band and though im ashamed to say we are lacking a name.we are a 5 piece-vocal,2 guitar,bass,drums.

I have a good bit of questions, so PLEASE help me out.
I wanna record my band a demo inexpensively.I need advice and info on what kinda sound quality I would produce with how i think i can pull it off.Okay Im thinking about buying drum mics.5 peice set,comes with 5 -20 foot cables and it's $150.The brand is like samson or something.Our drum kit is basic-1 bass drum(closed heads on boh sides), 1 snare, hi-hat, 1 crash /ride, 2 crash,2 mounted toms, 2 floor toms.-----------My plan is----Hook the 5 drum mics up to the Yamaha 7 mono channel 300 watt X2 portable PA and use our 1 basic shure mic as an over head since it's mono. hook the PA into the line in on my sound card, use samlitude 6 to record it,Have a line in coming from the pa into my computer and have line out running back into the pa and out the speakers so i can hear the output from samplitude.

My questions on this are-How should i record the drums; should we have the guitars in the background playing while the drums are micd then come back and record guitar tracks?Or Vice versa Amps miked ,no drums miked and then play back the Guitar tracks in headphones or something for the drummer?
Is there even a possible way to make this sound good?-------------Guitar recording questions------I use samplitude on my desktop comp to record guitar riffs for to help with remeberance.---It runs like this----Guitar to Boss gt-6 guitar pedal----Pedal left out to amp----pedal right out to line in on computer----So it's mono right? well i always noticed this way sounded well not so great so i've been using mono mixer setup in SAMP and linking tracks and pasting for a total of two objects linked and turning one channel of left and right off on each side.It makes it sound more stereo or something sounds better to me.-----So what should i do?---I plan on miking the amps for guitar tracks not using through pedal method.----For vocals----well I plan on playing insrument tracks back in headphones for vocalist in bathroom or closed space---Studio info---lol-----We'll be recording in a regular size room with hardwood floors----Our choices for smaller room with varying floors are limited.-----one last question-----For some reason when i record in samplitude sometimes ( i have no clue what the variable is) it record not outta sync with the playback.like this----Im using drum samples---I Sequence them in the Seqn. program export them as seperate files-kick snare-etc. import them to diffrent tracks in samp-mix them--- then i record guitar riffs as it plays back-----the snare file for example is one 3:30 second file for example containg only the snare.the kick is the same and so-they stay in sync----but when i record the whole guitar riff with the playback somtimes. in variable projects, the guitar track sounds good at first then as the song goes on it gets outta sync.???? is it because i have so many tracks and not enough memory????-----Thanks in advance for reading this novel of questions.I just don't like asking vague questions.

 

[Zed10R]

I'll let someone more knowledgeable than me tacks the bigger issues here, but the first things I though of were:

You need to get a *good* soundcard first. Soundblasters don't cut it. If you already have a good soundcard, start recording guitar scratch tracks with a metronome. That is critical to keep thing from goign out of sync. After you've got the scratch tracks down, then record your drume. Once the drums are just as you want them, re-record your guitars. That should sound good enough to tell you what you need to focus on. In the end, that is the best way to learn anyway.

 

[metalhead28]

I hardly even want to touch this one......

First of all....this really depends on what your definition of "sounding good" is. With what you're working with it ain't gonna be pretty. If you've got a good ear for doing a drum submix before you record it and you are pretty crafty in your software, you might get something you like.
A $150 Samson drum mic kit is going to be pretty lame at best. One decent mic would easily cost you more than that (well maybe not a 57) but still....that's stretching it. however, for what you're doing you probably wouldn't benefit much from higher end mics anyway so it's really up to you there.
You're not going to get very good sound quality with the Soundblaster. Having to submix the drums will be a nightmare. You've just got alot of obstacles in front of you. With alot of work you might end up with something decent. However, the likelihood of doing that would be much greater with alot more experience. And by the time you have more experience you'll probably have more gear. So I guess what I'm saying is, there's nothing wrong with trying but don't expect spectacular results. If you stay into recording for a while this stuff will get alot easier.

 

[chris-from-ky]

For the money you'd spend in gear and room treatment (cause you'll need that most) You could find somebody in GA that would give you a day or two in a studio for a decent Demo. Just make sure that all your songs are tight as can be before you go in. If your primary focus is being in a metal band, then don't waste your effort and money on trying to be a recording engineer too.

heck, If I had a decent room and set up, I'd do it for (my standard) $10/tracking hr. but you'd have to come to KY and stay in the best western. And as I said, I have a crappy room and a semi crappy setup, so that's not an option. Look around and find somebody who has a better setup than you could buy and make em a deal. You'll be better off that way.

 

[Fromwithin]

Meh

Thanks for the replys.I really apprieciate it alot.Yeah i figured as much.I dunno im the kinda guy who wants to know a lil bit of everything.meh.I just didn't wanna think it would be awesome and it turned out sucky.sigh.Im still debating on mics though.I guess we need um for shows just some road mics.We've just played little shows, not really requiring mics.but thanks again.

 

[ez_willis]

Thanks for the replys.I really apprieciate it alot.Yeah i figured as much.I dunno im the kinda guy who wants to know a lil bit of everything.meh.I just didn't wanna think it would be awesome and it turned out sucky.sigh.Im still debating on mics though.I guess we need um for shows just some road mics.We've just played little shows, not really requiring mics.but thanks again.

What's a meh?