Turning my bands practice space into a pro-SOUNDING studio. maybe.

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FromtheSOUTH

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Ok so, not sure if this thread is in the right place, but seeing as it will reference most topics and its my first thread, here goes.

I'm in a band. (I can just hear the panties dropping)

We've got a practice space in my drummer's Dad's warehouse. We're in a 2nd floor loft, brick wall on one side of our room, with the rest of the room made up of storage racks with various stored materials, assembled as to give us the max amount of sound isolation possible, which is not very good. However the storage racks provide some good diffusion/absorption due to the varied materials being stored (I specifically positioned most of the stuff somewhat strategically around the room). Ceiling is corrugated steel, about an 8' ceiling, minus the trusses that I constantly crack my cranium on. Floor is plywood with a couple of area rugs.

We've got 2 Presonus Firestudio Projects chained together, an upgraded Mac, 2 shure SM58s (used for vocals and guitar until we get a 57 specifically for guitar), one decent condenser (think its an AKG, but its medium price/quality), one goofy ribbon mic that I use almost exclusively for double tracking my vocals. A couple cheap AKG dynamics that are god-awful and mostly sit unused. My drummer made a boo-boo and bought a pack of 7 drum mics for $200, so until we make some better purchases (not anywhere in the near future) we're stuck with them. Actually the overheads do pretty well, its the kick mic and tom mics that make me sad. Oh, we'll also use the SM58s to close-mic the snare (Which would probably sound great if my drummer tuned his snare).

All of this is run through Logic express 9. We have access (95% sure) to Pro, but the person who has it tells me it will make little to no difference to us (Thoughts?)

Gear...

Gretsch Catalina kit, hodgepodge of cymbals and heads (he can never pick a head he likes). Close mic'd and overheads.

Gibson SG run through a Peavey Valveking 212. I have no trouble getting tones out of this rig (Unless its owner wants to try and get "good tone" which usually means he scoops all the mids and I'm left with a piercingly muddy guitar track) and using the SM58 alone I can get a decent recording. Thinking of doubling with the condenser or the goofy ribbon mic (Thoughts? Phase cancelling, etc.) to bring out some of the highs that the 58 leaves behind.

Ibanez Ergodyne 34346345 (I can't remember what frickin' number it is) 4 string, active. Run through my Ampeg BA115 (Need an upgrade desperately.... I want TUBES!!) Almost exclusively recording direct to firestudio. Usually don't have problems with the bass, though occasionally during pre-recording monitoring, checking levels, etc. Ill set gain to the 'perfect' level, only to find out after recording that I have NO waveforms and have to compress the ASS off my bass just to be able to hear it. Rare occurrence, though.

In truth, we usually use this setup to record our jams, all of us playing together for better or worse. While most of them sound like complete crap(In more ways than one) its been a good learning experience, and we've gotten much better at capturing good collective sound (and then mixing it), not to mention playing completely off-the-cuff with each other (some of them turned out quite nice). But, We're not a jam band. We need to record our original songs, and we're never going back to a studio (Unless someone else is paying for it).

So i guess what I'm trying to accomplish is, first, if any of you educated, seasoned, hard-working recording engineers see any flaws in our set up, or solutions to any of our problems, please point it out!

If you'd like a sample of one of our home recordings, check out our reverbnation(link in sig). See if you can guess which recordings are professional and which one is homemade! (Its brutally easy to tell) Also, note that we have come quite a ways as a band and as a studio since that recording took place. Also, tell me what you think of the studio tracks.

Thanks dudes! Look forward to your input.

Sam
 
D'oh!

Its a sad day for a musician when he can't properly promote himself.

Link has been fixed.
 
The Slutty Squirrels
Round these parts it's the foxes that are kind of slutty and slaggy, judging by the noises they make at night and the rising population......but any F words that go with "foxes" are just too damn obvious !
 
With an 8' ceiling and the rest of the situation you describe, that space is never going to be very good for recording. Close mic everything to try to take the room out of it as much as possible. Everyone tells you (rightly) not to use acoustic foam, but put a big chunk of it right over the drummer, it'll help tame the cymbal sound reflections, at least.
And whatever you do, don't try to mix (with monitors) in that space!
 
+1 to mjb's reply. Close mic stuff try to take the room out of the equation. The drum sound might make you less sad if the drummer gets all new heads AND tunes them.
 
Considering you emphasized the word "SOUNDING" in your thread title, at the very least, you need to treat the hell out of that room, Properly. I don't agree that you'll never get a good sound with an 8 foot ceiling, but you will have to learn about proper room treatment. It's way more important than the other 3 paragraphs describing your equipment.
 
Thanks for the input, guys!

Eventually when I have some time, ill post a seperate thread with more detail about the room, and how to treat it.

Oh, and I generally close mic everything, and have been mixing with headphones lately.
 
With an 8' ceiling and the rest of the situation you describe, that space is never going to be very good for recording. Close mic everything to try to take the room out of it as much as possible. Everyone tells you (rightly) not to use acoustic foam, but put a big chunk of it right over the drummer, it'll help tame the cymbal sound reflections, at least.
And whatever you do, don't try to mix (with monitors) in that space!

Really? I tracked almost every track of this song in a 7' ceiling basement at a house, with nothing more than some cheap ass 2" foam in the ceiling and bare walls.



Somewhere I have push mixes we did in the tiny room next to the "live room" that have as good of a balance to everything, but lacking the control from the compressors and no effects.
 
At first I thought that you had crowd voice in the beginning with the organ - then realized that it ways the key hits with your fingers.
 
Really? I tracked almost every track of this song in a 7' ceiling basement at a house, with nothing more than some cheap ass 2" foam in the ceiling and bare walls.
Something tells me you didn't have a steel corrugated ceiling in your basement ..... (please read original posts before posting cynical answers)
 
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