techniques on tracking in same room as control room

T

teddyastuffed

New member
i know this is common for a lot of people (as most of us dont have 3 separate rooms for 1: the electronics and machines; ie: fans and noise ! :) 2: control room and 3: tracking room(s) if u wanna separate instruments.

i was just wondering, how do most of you get the sound you want if there's so much noise around u when u record? for example, drums are very loud. how do u find the best mic placement for a complete drumset when theres so much external noise? obviously im sure some of u guys use headphones that eliminate sound around you. if thats the case, what do u guys recommend (right now i have really basic sony headphones which were about $20 at guitar center). and if thats how you guys are doing it, how do u know the sound ur recording is going to work out if u cant hear it outta monitors before the recording is done? if no one objects, lets have a simple story telling time about describing and elaborating on a standard day of recording when the control room is in the same room as your tracking room. thanks guys!
 
Track 1 instrument at a time...

Turn the monitors down...

Close mic sound sources...

Place mic(s) so that unwanted sounds are on the back side of the microphones cardiod pattern...
 
Use headphones for tracking; especially if you are in a small room. On drums, record them and listen to them through the monitors for a reference. Once you have something close to the sound you want, go to the headphones. However, as you've probably read on here countless times, don't mix down with the headphones. Also, if you've got a CRT monitor, make sure to turn that off if you are recording electric guitar or anything with pickup coils. Just a few suggestions.

-JV
 
There's no real secret or trick. Just use headphones to place the mics and do lots of test recordings.

The mechanical and fan noise you need to take care of with cases or baffles. Few things screw up a recording as much as background noise.
 
well this situation is obviously a byproduct of homerecording.


If you're tracking your instruments in the same place you keep your control room stuff, then you most likely have to play the memory game.

In fact, it's harder to obtain the exact sound you want in just a few takes. So unfortunatly, you're in a constrained position.

Fan noise, AC noise, squeeking chairs, the speakers themselves, coughing...anything damaging to the recording process. Comparing that to a fully isolated and floating-floor live room would be next to impossible.

You could try isolating the noisy elements completely. Of course, your creativity is the limit on that. Gobos (or go betweens) can further seperate your instruments.

Really what it comes down to is alot more work on your part.
 
mmmmmmmmmm interesting. well thats just pretty much what i have to do then. i have a computer that isnt very loud to begin with (new case and quiet fans) and a fairly big room, so i can fairly isolate that. i dont use my AC while tracking which kinda sucks, cuz it gets really hot, but once again it has to be done. i was just wondering if there was anything special aside from a lot of tests. but i guess not -_-. oh well ! thanks everyone for replies.
 
i just recorded some drum tracks in a tiny 10x10 room with the windows open and a nice breeze going, the cieling fan going, an old loud computer running, cell phones, a portable hard disc recorder that screeches like a bitch, randomly putting the mics where i hope they'd sound best and then using ear buds with those big soundproof ear muffs on to ehar the scratch bass tracks. shit sounds good!
 
"if no one objects, lets have a simple story telling time about describing and elaborating on a standard day of recording when the control room is in the same room as your tracking room."

ususally it begins with the band being late and ends with me staying late...in between it's all a blur. :D

lately i've been having the drummer warm up with my X/Y mics over him. i'll lay a couple minutes of that on 'tape' to see what we have...we'll check that out in the monitors while i'm setting up the close mics. the onto the close mics 30 seconds of kick - check in the monitors - reset. then at the end: 2 minutes of the drummer playing with all mics thrown in. takes about 1/2 hour - checking the overheads first while running cable cuts that down a bit...

have fun! and watch your monitoring volume in the cans!

Mike
 
The more me headphone amps is right up there on my gotta have list.
We record everything direct but the drums for the scratch tracks.
Right now, we concentrate on getting the drums and bass tight first.
If the keys and guitar turn out to track well so much the better.Guitar rarely does direct...
Vocals last but not least.
In the event a client can only feel the song with everything going live we use home made gobos to separate things.A little bleed isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The wife,phone,road work,etc. are far worse...
Good Luck,
Keith
 
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