Share your unorthodox techniques here

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Whoopysnorp

Whoopysnorp

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OK, I've been doing this home recording stuff for a little while now, and I feel that I've got the basics more or less down (mostly thanks to advice picked up here). For example, my first move in any recording situation is to use a 57 on guitar amps, toms, and snares. I almost always use MXL603s for drum overheads (I have ECM8000s too, but prefer the 603s), and I have a Sennheiser e602 for kick drums (though I've also used Shure Beta 52s, mostly on other peoples' drums). I know where to point these mics to get a good, solid sound. For drum overheads I just put them in a simple configuration, one above each side of the kit. And I use my one and only large diaphragm mic (a CAD M-37) on vocals. I'm recording onto a PC with a Delta 66, by the way, and I use a Yamaha 12 channel 4-bus mixer in front of it.

So now, I'm starting to get bored with doing things the normal way. Don't get me wrong, I really like the sounds I get, but I feel there's a whole world I'm missing when it comes to tracking. I want to hear what I could do to expand these basic techniques. If you have found some mic besides the basic 57 that rules on guitar amps, tell me. Or if you have a weird combination of mics that you use where most people just use one, talk about that. Somebody recently posted that he likes to put guitar amps up against a clothes dryer and point the mic at the back of the dryer to get a weird reverb sound. Tell me stuff like that too. Hopefully this will turn into a good thread with lots of info for everybody.
 
the 2 mics on guitar is fun. one in front one in back (phase flipped)

try using only 2 mics for drums- the m37 out front and the 57 up above...

the cad should make a really great kick mic.

try using your omnis on the guitars. try them inside the amp.

try building amp tents.
 
pitch shift vocal tracks -12 (down octave) and -5 (down fourth) in Acid, mix em barely audible. Weird effect.

B4 leslie effect on guitar - even rotors off sounds cool.

guitar into a (real) Hammond M3 - little baby RCA plugin in the back puts you through the little 8w tube amp and the speaker. Subtle rhythm sound.

Track voice twice in two vocal registers. Your registers cross each other enough that this can work pretty often, except for real wide range lines. Kinda like doubling, but the second voice is different enough to give a little extra.

Daf
 
Here's a weird effect. Pick a word in the song at the beginning of a verse or chorus. Solo the track and record the reverb onto another track. Use your DAW to flip/reverse the reverb you just recorded and insert it before the word in the song. It's not something you'll use often, but it's cool.
 
Use an acoustic instrument (I did it with an upright bass) and put it in front of a drumset. Record the piezo's output whil the drummer's playing.
Instant cool lo-fi sound :p


Herwig (500th post!)
 
eeldip said:
the 2 mics on guitar is fun. one in front one in back (phase flipped)

try using only 2 mics for drums- the m37 out front and the 57 up above...

the cad should make a really great kick mic.

try using your omnis on the guitars. try them inside the amp.

try building amp tents.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah the cad sounds pretty good on kick...untill i blew mine out! I learned my lesson on that: 1) never put a condensor in a kick drum, and leave it there for months. 2)use a pop stopper to cut the air blasts.
 
If you have a piano available... put a brick on the 'sustain pedal' and mic the piano... then put a speaker underneath the piano when you're mixing that is connected to an 'aux send'... a different kind of reverb to be sure.
 
Fletcher said:
If you have a piano available... put a brick on the 'sustain pedal' and mic the piano... then put a speaker underneath the piano when you're mixing that is connected to an 'aux send'... a different kind of reverb to be sure.
Click to expand...
Hey hey! Sounds interresting! I'm trying this! :)
 
Great stuff so far. Keep it coming. I think I tried that CAD on my kick drum a while ago, and I don't remember liking it too much. I've also tried micing the back of a guitar amp and doing the front/back phase-reversed thing. I don't remember being all that impressed. Now it's a moot point, because I'm playing through a closed-back cabinet.

Here's one that I like: when I record clean-tone guitars, I like to point a condensor at the strings at the point where the pick strikes them. If you mix in just a little bit of that track and maybe roll off the high end a little bit, you get a great jangly kind of tone.
 
Certainly not unorthodox but great fun anyway: Build a bass drum tunnel. Just use whatever you can to make a big ol' tube extending out 6 or 10 feet or so from your bass drum, and stick a mic at the end of it. Mix it with a mic up close on the bass drum and watch for phase problems.

Or you could put a second bass drum tuned loosely in front of the bass drum you are actually hitting and mic them both. The second bass drum will resonate nicely from the vibrations of the first bass drum. Again, watch for phase.

For guitar amps, try a Studio Projects C1. I've gotten some great results.
 
I was recording a gospel song one day when i accidentaly descovered a pretty cool guitar micing style. I put a 57 in front of the amp (Peavey tnt-100, a bass amp but it sounds great on guitar) and a nady scm900 LD condiser facing it from another room with tile floors. I left the door open so i could get a straight shot at the amp. the nady was about 20 feet away i guess, but when i played the track back, it sounded like a 50'esh beatle/beachboy guitar sound. very cool.

Zeke
 
What does a bass drum tunnel do for the sound, anyway? Does it make it big and boomy, or what?
 
Fletcher said:
If you have a piano available... put a brick on the 'sustain pedal' and mic the piano... then put a speaker underneath the piano when you're mixing that is connected to an 'aux send'... a different kind of reverb to be sure.
Click to expand...

I have a huge old silent movie theater upright in my studio dedicated to this purpose. I have it tuned whenever I get my other pianos tuned (it's basically unplayable as the wood in the action is warped). It adds incredible depth and color to acoustic guitars...

SG
 
Low frequencies are physically very big. They take several feet to form. Therefore, they are more developed further away from the bass drum. You can capture a ton of low-end "oomph" out there.
 
Chibi Nappa said:
Low frequencies are physically very big. They take several feet to form. Therefore, they are more developed further away from the bass drum. You can capture a ton of low-end "oomph" out there.
Click to expand...

Do you still get good attack? Because I have trouble getting sufficient beater click sometimes. Do people typically mic the beater side as well if they are going to do a tunnel?
 
I put a second mic right on the bass drum, either on the beater side or on the "normal" side. Otherwise no, you wouldn't get much click.
 
Record some vocals, then reverse them.

Once reversed, put a big amount of reverb on them. Now reverse them again.

Voila! Reversed reverb.

Was that stupid??? :o :D
 
heres one for clean guitar sounds in a big room

have P.A. speakers set up all around your room on the outside. Mic your amp through the P.A system get the sound you want coming through the P.A. speakers and put a two mics facing opposite directions in the very middle of the room.
 
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