Make sure that the DI thing is set at instrument level (think that's the right one). Because if it's set at line level or mic level then it'll be quite distorted.

Well, here's couple of ideas for a band when entering studio, some has been mentioned in a way or another before.

Before entering studio, record couple of rough demos with different tempos (say +/- 10 bpm) to really notice if slower or faster tempo will work better! And do this with every song you are planning to get recorded. For this there is two reasons: 1. Band's often play too fast when practising, and in studio there goes a lot of time trying to play it in a right, slower, tempo. 2. Sometimes some parts of song work better in a different tempo than other parts, chorus a bit faster and verses a little slower. With those rough mixes it's easy to cut them and try some funny edits, and that can help to achieve better and more creative results.

Bring some reference cd:s. Studios listening gear are usually far more accurate than your home stereos, and with familiar cd:s you can calibrate your ears for this new environment. It also helps the engineer/producer/who ever is recording to achieve the wanted sound or atmosphere.

If you use pro studio with pro stuff, just believe what they tell you! They really know what they are doing. Of course, they can be wrong too, but in those cases they probably offer to correct their mistakes for free. And when you are paying over 20 euros per hour, everything that saves time or comes free should be appreciated.

And for fun and learn, read mixerman's book. http://www.mixerman.net/diaries_main.php

I'd like to finally get around to recording some songs after procrastinating for so long. I'm looking for some tips on mics.

What I have thus far is my guitar, bass, amps, drum program (Acoustica Beatcraft) and Reaper for mixing it all together.

Thus far I have been using my computer mic to record some rough demo material. Of course the computer mic sounds like shit, so I want to get a decent mic.

I'm currently looking at two options:
(1) Marshall Electronics MXL.006 Condenser USB Microphone - Or some other usb mic? This would allow me to simply plug the mic into my laptop and start recording. I'm wondering what the quality is like with one of these mics though?

(2) Shure SM57 through an M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB pre-amp - I'm guessing I would get a better a sound with this set-up, though it would cost several a few hundred bucks more than the USB Mic.

Do either of these options sound good? Any other suggestions, that aren't too expensive?

Thanks.

I would go for the Shure SM57, industry standard, gotta have em. Better for the long run as well.

Exactly the information I was looking for. My cousin, our friend, and I are about to start recording for a demo at the end of the month so this should be helpful. Anyone else have any other advice other than what was stated at the beginning of this thread for a band just starting to record music?

Well, the entire thread has more advice.

Read my other thread too, "The Mixing Process."

My bad, I have a bad habit of doing that.

After you know all of these facts and stuff you think you might be ready to record eh? I'd say go for it, but even though you may be well rehearsed and have your shit down packed, mistakes can still happen. Your recordings may not match the tempo, there may be a wrong not here or there, y'know just little mistakes like that. A common mistake that occurs with myself is playing something wrong and having to redo the whole section, so the feeling isn't lost by having parts clipped and hearing clicking. If you start to get frustrated by little mistakes such as these TAKE A BREAK! There is nothing worse than recording under stress. All it will do is turn you off from recording because you associate those negative experiences you had with recording. Recording should be an enjoyable activity. It's about getting your ever-so-creative ideas into audio form, but if things aren't going out so well, it's important that you take a break and get back to it later.

Has anyone ever worked with a tape machine? I learned how to properly clean and set one up about a year ago but haven't touched one since.

Would love to get a chance to record a band with one, it'd be a nice change up from working on a computer all day chopping up 10 different takes for a guitar

Here are some great resources:

http://www.sweetwater.com/expert-center/ Sweetwater, some great advice here

http://www.tweakheadz.com/ specifically the Guide, has a ton of great information for recording any style

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap-151/ Andy Sneap's official forums, a veritable treasure trove on developing a great metal sound

Any recommendations on a good mic for male and female clean vocals as well as low and high harsh vocals? I was considering the Oktava MK319 and Shure SM7b.

thats how i do it alot, either that or program drums and add qeues for changes if the drummer has trouble remembering shit, just like a 1, 2, 3, 4, on the bar before a change.

Well, I used to use a Digtech RP-80 and a computer to record. I just plugged the RP-80 right into the computer and used Audacity to record.

Now, I use a Line 6 Guitar Port and Sony Music Studio. You can dial in a pretty decent tone with an interface like the Guitar Port...it has lots of parameters and different effects you can add to your tone (you can even record bass and vocals with it too). Check out my music for an example.

I'd get the beta 58.

Hopefully I'm asking in the right place...

Anyone able to tell me anything of interest about Toontrack's EZdrummer (and the 'drumkit from hell' add on) or even better have experience using it? The samples I've heard sounded decent enough but I don't wanna blow a good chunk of cash on software based on just samples.

Hails
I want to record some Black Metal songs as a one man band
so I want to record in my home but I don't know how
could you please tell me ...

Try reading the thread first... It answers exactly what you're asking.

I tried but I couldn't understand what exactly do I need to do a record

I recorded this song 2 years ago:

http://media.putfile.com/Moribund-Dmson ... ent-sample

Its bad but I want to know what I can do to improve recording. Its at home recording using drum machines, bass off the RSE of guitar pro and recording of my guitar from guitar port. Its all mixed on audacity. I hear the stops and sometimes it doesn't even keep tempo, mostly because I usually take pieces of my song and record them in pieces. I guess next time I should record in one take.

Also I need to improve the entirety of the song as well, lol.

Just posting here to emphasize the importance of pop filters. I have found them to be absolutely necessary for recording harsh vocals, as they reduce the pops and excess air and smooth out the vocal track a bit. Anyone starting to do home recording should get one of these.

Or rather than buy a pop filter, you can do what I do, which is to hold the front nylon cover of a household stereo speaker in front of your face with one hand while you scream.

I get paranoid about the vibrations caused by a pop filter attached to a mic stand hitting the mic.

Well, if you get a good shockmount that won't be a problem

I'm way too cheap for that. I have an C1000S, and I would feel like a dork putting a $100 condensor in a shock mount.

Funny reason to not want to use a shock mount

If you want to go in the spirit of cheapness you could make your own shock mount. I had to whip one up out of string and electrical tape cause the one my friend had for his NT1A kept falling apart in the middle of a session.

This brings back some good old memories

I've heard that the Glyn Johns method's effectiveness depends on the drummer. I thought I'd ask: Does it work with particularly fast drumming(thrash, brutal death, grind, that sort of thing)?

I was wondering if anyone could recommend me a 4-track cassette recorder that I could use at home. I've been looking at various Tascam Portastudios on ebay, and I was wondering if those were good, or if I should look at something else. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Tascam 424 models are good.

If you can spend a little more, a digital eight track is the way to go for portastudios. You can do so much more and the sound will be better.

I bought a Roland VS-880 in 1997 and am still using it. The sound is good, it has a ton of features, and nothing has ever gone wrong with it. You can get one of those for around $200 or less now. You'll also need an external CD burner or disc drive that works with it for backing up project data though.

I'd be worried about buying a used cassette recorder. They don't seem to last a really long time without breaking down. Try to find one that hasn't been used too much.

Does anyone use the Tascam DP-03 porta studio?

I've been considering grabbing one of these to get back into the recording game.

In the past I had an old Tascam cassette 8-track machine. I had pretty good results with it. I like the brand, but my experience with them is many years old.

Thanks for the recs, I'll look more into the 424 tonight.

It honestly depends on what sound you're looking for; Glyn Johns will give you an earthy lo-fi sound. I'm at a recording school right now, and the instructor essentially said "if you're looking for something that sounds like old school Metal Blade blade demos, it could work." But if you're looking for something with the production values of Evile or modern death metal... not so much.

Hello all, I wonder if you guys could help me out with a recording problem I have.

I have an SM57 and all I want to do is record a few guitar riffs while I'm jamming, so basically I need a setup where I can hit a button and start recording. Although I have hooked the SM57 to my laptop through a cheap audio interface there isn't enough RAM in the laptop for it to work efficiently.

So my question is this, is there any equipment I can get that will let me record from the SM57 onto an SD card? If I can record the data to an SD card I can transfer it to the laptop.

Any help would be appreciated, cheers!

I'm not aware of any device like that. What interface are you using, and how much RAM does the laptop have? Have you adjusted buffer sizes? What DAW are you using (Reaper/ProTools/Audacity/etc)?

You shouldn't have a problem recording a single track, but playback+recording and other things at the same time can strain an older computer. It is certainly possible to record with an older computer, but more recent audio recording software is generally designed to do more, expecting to take advantage of better system resources.

If you need to record to something outside of the computer, perhaps you can use an older analog recorder, then you can play back from that into the computer. I have seen a few people record instruments to tape, then transfer the tracks and edit/manipulate/mix them digitally. This is still going to be effectively the same thing as plugging the mic into the computer and recording for resource usage - it's still a single audio track going in, though other things at the same time, like playback, could be what causes problems.

I think the problem is down the laptops sound card (or lack of). I'm recording on a laptop with 2GB RAM through an Alesis MultiMix 4 using the USB slot. Tried Cubase, it crashes and has actually broken the RAM before, and the audio in Audacity clips (it records fine, but has clipping on playback). I've adjusted the buffer size and it doesn't change a lot, so I'm guessing there isn't much I can do.

I'll have a look on Ebay for an analogue recorder and see what that can do. It's very frustrating not being able to quickly record tracks! If possible I'd like to join the songwriting challenges once I sort the recording side out.

I've never even been in this studio (at my school) by myself before, and i wanted to get started on my senior project n shit so here i am.. unable to even get a mic stand to stand up/stay still. agh.

Tomorrow I am going to start recording my band's debut album but the only problem I'm having is that I only have one mic for the drums. Right now I just can't afford to buy anymore and I sure as hell can't afford to go to a pro studio (I'm using my 8 track). I wanted to get some ideas on how to get a good drum sound with only this one microphone for the drums. Keep in mind this album is being considered for release by an international label. Any advice? I know I'm not going to be able to get a great, full sound but as long as the mic will pick up everything that is ok. Later I'm taking the 8 track down to an actual studio for mixing/mastering so maybe that will help somewhat.

Honestly, that's kind of doubtful. There is only so much you could do in mixing/mastering with a single track, and it's also gonna be really tough to capture the entire kit with one mic. At best the kit will probably sound rather unbalanced (cymbals really loud and kicks nearly inaudible, that sort of thing).

Have you considered renting some mics? It's pretty cheap, and even having two (one to capture snare, kick and toms and another setup overhead for cymbals and rides) will make a big difference.

I don't know ass about sound. Please keep that in mind.

Is it bad that the gain on my mixer's recording channel is basically all the way up? If it isn't, Garage Band hardly registers my track's level at all and the wave form is essentially invisible.

What is the basic or standard state my mixer and equipment should be in when recording?
What kind of signal level is normal?

I feel like I'm missing something really basic here.

thanks.

Definitely not what you are describing.

The input level that your DAW is recording should be pretty much as high as it can be without clipping. Your wavs should be big. It's okay to have to turn up your input to get a good level, but you should not need to use a compressor to boost the volume. It's not what they are for anyway. Are you using a decent audio interface or soundcard, or are you just recording into a basic one that comes with the average computer? I'm wondering because that is where I'd think the problem would be, mics or direct line in guitars need a decent pre-amp.

I was afraid of that. I'm recording into an Alesis mixer, but the sound card is the one that comes stock in the iMac. I have to turn the gain on the recording channel almost all the way up to get a larger .wav. I could raise the input volume on the computer itself, but when the mixer is on, it takes control of the input level. so .. any thoughts? thanks, btw.