Recording with limited ins--suggestions?

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Alexbt

Alexbt

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Hello all,

This is my first post here.

I am in a band called Shryne and we are hopefully going to start work on a new album. Our first album (which was done before I joined the band) was done in a studio, but that does cost a good deal of money.

In a side project we were working on, we purchased a USB (TASCAM, I think) Audio device with MIDI, XLR and Line Inputs, among other things, and acheived nice results with them, though we were using click tracks and a drum machine.

We were using Cakewalk Sonar 3, and acheived results that were stunning compared to what we originally expected, and so we have decided that to save money we may simply try to record the album on our own and see how things go.

The only problem we are running into is regarding the drums, and the limited capabilites of our audio inputs.

The TASCAM device only has two ins, (left & right) and I believe the computer (an HP laptop) only has a mono input. This only gives us 3 channels to work with, if at all (Cakewalk has been picky sometimes regarding INs & OUTs on separate cards).

I was wondering if anyone else has encounted this situation and has any suggestions.

If there is a good way to record the drum tracks first, we have no problem layering our other tracks on that in Cakewalk.

Also, this is not the specific forum, but any ideas on recording the drums? We don't have incredibly great mics, but I'm sure that we can produce a fine recording with them, if they are in a good room and mic'ed properly.

I have read it is good to have 2 overhead mics, a bass drum mic, and then get around to micing the toms. I believe we have at least 4 or 5 mics, so I think we can accomplish this.

Thanks,

Alex
 
You won't be able to use both the laptop's mic in and the Tascam USB device at the same time, so you're down to 2 inputs. That means you need some kind of a mixer. Mackie, Yamaha, Soundcraft and Behringer are the first manufacturers that spring to mind, but don't limit your search to those.

Look for one with 48 volt phantom power on the XLR-in mixer channels. As many XLR jacks as possible too since you'll probably need all the inputs you can get. The other thing I recommend is microphones. You are fortunate to be living in the 'good microphones have come way down in price' era, as what used to cost a ton can now be had for a song. Studio Projects, Rode, Octava, Behringer and Marshall all make mics that sound like much more than they go for.

Good luck and welcome to the board...
 
We already have a mixing board. It is a SoundTech board (be glad our rhythm guitarist didn't see you mention Mackie... he hates them to death!) is a few years old (mid-90s?), but a high end board designed for remote studio use or something of that nature.

I can't remember how many XLR ins it has, but there are probably 8-12.

For Mics, we have two Fender mics that came with a PA we had, a couple Audio-Technica mics... I think we also have a Shure mic somewhere, and we have access to a Shure Beta as well.

I think we used the Beta for that side-project I was talking about earlier and I was stunned with how clear it came out... I didn't think that kind of mic could sound so good.
 
I forgot to mention that my concern is recording stereo drum tracks that we can actually use to layer our instruments on top of. The problem is that one of us has to be playing so that the drummer can follow us and actually remember what he is doing.

Also, we'd like to avoid click tracks if possible... I'm told that he has a problem keeping a steady tempo with one...
 
Bah, who needs more than one input! :)

Be like Mutt Lange & Def Leppard on Pyromania and record each drum seperately.

Just kidding.
 
The input on the laptop is most likely stereo unless it's exclusively for a mic. Get yourself a stereo y adapter to interface with the tascam. Also, stop babying the drummer and use a click track. If he needs you to play along then make a sub mix of the click with your playing to monitor on headphones for both of you and only record him.
 
Apparently we have tried the laptop input already... Our 'engineer' said it wasn't. I think I was present at that time... it just has to be difficult. I think it specifically a Mic and not a Line In jack though.

That is a good suggestion though regarding the click. I will suggest it.

Thanks.
 
Sorry, it was early, I ran twenty miles yesterday and I wasn't quite awake. Don't know what I was thinking but your tascam interfaces through the USB port. You can use the mixer for tracking the drums so you can use additional sources and mix them to stereo before recording them on the tascam.
 
Where to start? The guitarist doesn't like the mixer, the drummer can't play to a click or without the rest of the band, and you've only got two inputs!

Step One: record the rhythm guitarist playing a song. (I'm assuming he can keep time without a drummer. If he can't then see if HE can play to a click or a metronome.)

Step Two: mic up the drum kit with the mixer and work on it until you get a great sound and stereo image through your monitors. Last month's Recording and Electronic Musician Magazines had a lot of information on how to do this.

Step Three: record the drummer through the mixer's stereo outs into the Tascam and thence to the laptop. The drummer is, of course, listening to the guitar track via headphones. You now should have a stereo drum track and a rhythm guitar part (which may or may not be useable as is).

Step Four: record the rest of the band, 2 tracks at a time. (First, re-do the the rhythm guitar part if needed, and add the bass at the same time; then do scratch vocals so the lead players will know where to come in; then the lead parts and by now probably you'll need to re-do the vocal and finally backup vocals.) Naturally, you can do this in ANY ORDER as long as you get the results you want.

Step Five: take a poll and see how many now want to pay a studio to record the rest of the project.....
 
The concept of having a guitarist play to nothing and the drummer trying to match it later... frightens me.

Time to pay up for the studio. :)
 
The concept of having a guitarist play to nothing and the drummer trying to match it

Hey, alexbt defined the parameters. I'm just trying to help!
 
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