Recording Piano and Vocals

[Nooby]

Hi, I'm a noob. As you can see from my name. First off I'd like to please ask anyone who is gonna tell me to buy new or more equipment to save both your and my time. I can't afford it. I have just bought a Blue Snowball mic. I would like to record myself playing piano and singing. Possibly the occasional acoustic guitar. I have only three questions.

1. Should I record them separately since I only have one mic? I'm assuming this is gonna be a yes so I'll ask my follow up also. Should I record the piano first and then listen to it as I sing? And if so, how do I make sure there is no delay? (I've tried a demo of Ableton Live 8 and even though I sing at the correct time, when I listen to the piano and vocals together my singing is a bit behind.)

2. Right now I have a demo of Ableton Live 8, and audactiy. Should I invest in recording software instead of using audacity? And if so, which I'll assume again is gonna be a yes, what software should I get? Again, my budget is non-existent so under $100 for sure.

3. I have both a Yamaha DGX640C Digital Piano and an old upright. Which one would be easier/sound better to record?

Amy help would be greatly appreciated, and to anyone who has read all this, thanks for your time, I hope i didn't waste to much of it.

 

[TheChikenMaster]

Experiment with what you have. Try different positions of the mic between you and the upright. Digital pianos are easier to record because all you need to do is plug it in to the interface or card you are using. But real pianos are real... So play around. You seem to have some sort of direction. again, get your hands dirty. You will soon have a good routine.

 

[Spare Dougal]

Experiment with what you have. get your hands dirty. You will soon have a good routine.

Definitely. There's no one way of recording anything so try it one way then the other and see what works for you. Personally from experience, it would be better to record both at once, if you're used to playing and singing live. You could do this with the electric piano and the mic on the voice. Then if you wanted a 'real' piano you could try overdubbing the upright to this live piano track. It might work it might not, but give it a go. Often if people are used to playing and singing, when you get them to do them separately, it feels weird. If you start practicing now tho it might not be a problem.

As for software have a read of this MixTips: Building a Home Studio On a Budget (there's a section about DAWs). There are free ones you can get your hands on to get into things.

 

[grimtraveller]

While the true advantage of multitracking is the ability to separate instruments in both recording and mixing, as far as recording goes, if it's just guitar and vocals or in your case just piano and vocals, I think it's worth recording the lot at once. The other night, I recorded a piece that was just me singing and playing guitar. Usually I'd do the guitar first and get all fancy, then do the vocal with all the complex inflections. But I just wanted to record them all together to see if it really sounds as bad as people seem to say. And it didn't. Granted, I did use three tracks {2 condensers and an SM58 for the vocal} but listening to any of the tracks in isolation, vocal and guitar came through loud and clear. It depends what you're after, but like Chiken and Spare Dougal {that's a great name that some band should snap up, forthwith !} say, play around and do some test recordings.
Try a standalone multitracker for recording if you're up for it.

 

[Spare Dougal]

While the true advantage of multitracking is the ability to separate instruments in both recording and mixing, as far as recording goes, if it's just guitar and vocals or in your case just piano and vocals, I think it's worth recording the lot at once. The other night, I recorded a piece that was just me singing and playing guitar. Usually I'd do the guitar first and get all fancy, then do the vocal with all the complex inflections. But I just wanted to record them all together to see if it really sounds as bad as people seem to say. And it didn't. Granted, I did use three tracks {2 condensers and an SM58 for the vocal} but listening to any of the tracks in isolation, vocal and guitar came through loud and clear. It depends what you're after, but like Chiken and Spare Dougal {that's a great name that some band should snap up, forthwith !} say, play around and do some test recordings.
Try a standalone multitracker for recording if you're up for it.

Definitely try this. Most of the singer songwriter recordings I've done have been like this. You can't separate the vocals and guitar/piano, but then again you're not supposed to, so try it. When all said and done, do what FEELS the best. I'd sacrifice sound over performance any day.

Maybe we should start a band Grim?

 

[moresound]

An exceptional final recording will be in the positioning of the microphone ..... that is you will need an exceptional performance to capture first.

 

[Spare Dougal]

An exceptional final recording will be in the positioning of the microphone ..... that is you will need an exceptional performance to capture first.

Haha yea, if you put a mic in front f a bad performance, that'll be a bad a position, haha

 

[moresound]

Just saying.

 

[Armistice]

The answer is new gear. Always..

This we know...

Sorry, that's probably not helpful.

What moresound said.... he da man...

 

[Spare Dougal]

The answer is new gear. Always..

I'd say new gear is rarely the answer... unless something is knackered beyond repair. Knowing your gear and learning to work within your boundaries is the way to go. You'll learn a lot more about how things work than just buying gear.

I (or anyone here for that matter) could make a better record with a 57 and a old tape deck than a monkey set loose in Abbey Road. Have a look at these...

MixTips: Know Your Stuff
MixTips: Choosing Instruments For The Job

 

[TrustMeScience]

Experiment with what you have.... Get your hands dirty. You will soon have a good routine.

That says it all.

If I only had one mic and in a home studio, I might track both separately. If it was a really nice mic in a really nice live room, and I was a really great player I'd probably do both together.

Also: If I was using these recordings just to get a feel for strengths and flaws in my performance, I'd probably record both together.

Try some things! I wouldn't overthink it too much in this case. I'd imagine you'd just be doing quick demos of songs in this case? Nothing that you plan on officially releasing to the world? If so, just do whatever gets the best performance. That's always more important, anyway.