Trying to make a decent demo on hobo's salary

[CyraxTheRobot]

Trying to make a decent demo on a hobo's salary

I'm new to the recording game and don't have much money. The band I am in is currently recording a demo and we need all the help we can get. We are recording to a tascam mf-po1 4-track portastudio. We have a PA mixer, a few cheap dynamic mics, and no monitors. I was thinking about mixing down to vhs because i read on this site that it is better than mixing to cassette. I was also thinking about using either my home stereo speakers as monitors(or possibly a 5.1 surround sound?). Like i said I'm new and poor. Everyone on this forum was new and poor at one point... SO HELP A BROTHER OUT!!!

 

[mshilarious]

I'm new to the recording game and don't have much money. The band I am in is currently recording a demo and we need all the help we can get. We are recording to a tascam mf-po1 4-track portastudio. We have a PA mixer, a few cheap dynamic mics, and no monitors. I was thinking about mixing down to vhs because i read on this site that it is better than mixing to cassette. I was also thinking about using either my home stereo speakers as monitors(or possibly a 5.1 surround sound?). Like i said I'm new and poor. Everyone on this forum was new and poor at one point... SO HELP A BROTHER OUT!!!

All of that will work OK, just read as much as you can about techniques and you should get decent results.

A few comments:

- Consider renting a few mics you don't have: a decent vocal mic/kick mic/amp mic like a Shure SM7, and a Shure SM81 for drum overhead.

- Your stereo speakers will work as monitors. Forgot about 5.1 though. Turn off or bypass any EQ.

- Mixdown to VHS is a pain. See if you can borrow or rent a CD recorder.

- Before you rent anything, REHEARSE! Make a practice tape with your cheap gear so you know exactly how the process works. USE A CLICK TRACK!

If you set up a decent room, and use good techniques, you could get a good demo with that setup.

How about some more details about your room, your band, style of music etc.

 

[A Reel Person]

So, you gonna play the VHS mixdowns in your car?

VHS Hifi would probably sound better as a mixdown medium than a cassette, but cassette has a more universal playability. Also, modern VHS-Hifi decks have an automatic gain control, which may not be a good addition to your mixes, depending a bit on your original sound quality.

The other point, is that you're doing primary tracks with the MF-P01, which is lofi to begin with, so it probably doesn't matter much whether you mix to cassette or VHS.

I'd stick with the cassette mixdown tapes, if done on a quality cassette recorder, over VHS-Hifi. Cassette has a universal playback base, more than VHS_Hifi. I would, however, record to VHS-Hifi for other purposes, like live-to-tape music videos.

 

[CyraxTheRobot]

We practice/record in a room above a garage. Nothing special. The walls are pretty bare but we do have carpet on the floor. So it is more or less a bedroom style room. We play indie/garage rock. We have some quiet moments when we do our best lennon/mccartney impersonations but on some songs we like to create deconstructive art a la velvet underground.

 

[CyraxTheRobot]

oh and i forgot to mention we are a three piece band. 2 guitars, 2 vocals, and drums. We alternate lead and rythm and we use a octave pedal to simulate basslines(because nobody wants to play bass anymore. everyone wants to be a rock star!).

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo Cyrax! You should put your location in your profile. Somebody on the board who's near you might be able to help you out. If you are anywhere near Boston, I'd probably lay down some tracks for you dirt cheap. So where the hell are you?-Richie

 

[CyraxTheRobot]

Houston Texas. Nowhere near boston i'm afraid. Unless there is a Boston, Texas that i'm not aware of.

 

[Richard Monroe]

So- Somebody in Houston help this guy out, already. We record stuff, right?-Richie

 

[mshilarious]

oh and i forgot to mention we are a three piece band. 2 guitars, 2 vocals, and drums. We alternate lead and rythm and we use a octave pedal to simulate basslines(because nobody wants to play bass anymore. everyone wants to be a rock star!).

Your toughest trick is to fit everything on four tracks. You can record rhythm guitar, "octave" guitar, and drums together on two tracks (if you want stereo drums or panned guitar). That leaves two tracks, which usually is one for vocal and one for lead guitar. You can fit guitar solos on the vocal track if there is no overlap.

If you have two vocals though, generally you're going to want some sort of stereo separation. In that case, you can try recording the lead guitar & solos while bouncing the rhythm tracks to the two open tracks in a stereo mix. You can repeat until you're happy. Now you have two open tracks for stereo vocals

The trick is since you're committing early on to a submix of the rhythm instruments, you really gotta get that mix right.

 

[CyraxTheRobot]

that's some great advice mshilarious and i thank you. but unfortunatley for us we are working with a tascam mfp01 and that has 1 input and you can't bounce tracks.

 

[CyraxTheRobot]

- Consider renting a few mics you don't have: a decent vocal mic/kick mic/amp mic like a Shure SM7, and a Shure SM81 for drum overhead.

where would i go to rent mics? i have never heard of any place that does this.