tricky recording setup (on an aircraft carrier)

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gianelli280

gianelli280

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The title says it all. It's noisy to say the least. And i'm determined to make things work since i'll lose my mind if I can't do any recording out here. The compartment i've set up is in the tower so yup there's aircraft landing and taking off all the time, but oddly enough that's not the big issue.

The systems running in my radio room and all the ventilation cause a lot of ambient noise. I'm using an SM27 on a little blackstar combo (sounds pretty good, great for recording since i CAN'T douse my tone with gain like i enjoy). With the cleans i can get a decent tone by covering the amp and mic with a bunch of jackets, but when it comes to adding any gain everything becomes muddy (and i've done about every trick in the book when it comes to normal recording situations).

I've managed to work around that a little, what kills me is vocals. Yes i've draped jackets over myself or whoever else wants to sing, but that doesn't really help much, and it creates an awkward situation when my chief walks in to find a sailor with a jacket over his head with a cord running out of it.

But back to the guitar issue. I've never had experience with miking in an enclosure, so I'll ask first... I'd like to build a box to kill all the external noise, but would that jack up my tone (even more..)? I've put the amp and mic on an auralex subwoofer pad to kill all the mechanical vibrations (which i believe is doing it's job well as the cleans are pretty crisp, and the SM came with a shock mount). Also i have to be able to hear the ship's P.A. so i don't track while wearing headphones. So... if the box idea isn't too bad, then i can use my monitors to track without bleeding over to the amp mic.

Let me know if i'm screwed til i hit home again, i'd hate to try to DI guitars but if that's what it comes down to i'll bite the bullet!
 
Oh and i haven't found a way to post clips yet since internet on these suckers is a little sluggish.. thanks for any input!
 
If you are making a 'sound proof' box, how are you going to hear the monitors or PA system? Any box like this is going to present a very dead sound to the mic.
I'd suggest using headphones, but have a friend there so that if the PA fires up he can nudge you.
Other than that, you're probably doing all you can - record all the instrumental tracks and hope for a better environment for doing the vocals.
 
i figured as much. i was thinking 'sound proof' box as in just the amp and mic, probably no bigger than 3'x3'x3' since i can't clutter the room with tons of music equipment. I'd imagine it would be nearly impossible to make that sound decent.
 
What I would do is write a bunch of songs and record them directly while your on the carrier. Then when you get home you can make the final polished tracks (recording with your mic/amp). Since you'd be recording direct, it's a clean line going in so you could technically re-amp when your get into a better environment.
 
I don't know... half a year is a long time to put that song you really really like on hold! i guess i can just spit out a ton of scratch tracks... Your tax dollars at work.
 
In that situation...I would do as many DI and MIDI type of tracks, so you don't need to deal with mics...and save the vox for a moment when there is no noise, or do the vox elsewhere when the opportunity comes up.
 
I had the same situation in Iraq a few years ago. I basically did a bunch of scratch tracks and got ideas down until I could get back home. I don't think there is much else you can do.
 
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