Recording Tips?

[Ombrenuit]

I've read a few tutorials about recording (namely, recording voices for Thief), but I know many of you have lives outside of Thief :-P. I'm in a band, and I happen to own an 8-track recorder. We aren't talking professional quality--it's a Fostex MR-8 if you are interested. I also happen to have a decent quality condensor microphone, something my dad used to use for the folk music he played a decade ago. We really want to make some decent recordings (not superb quality here, just decent) and I'm wondering given my equipment, how we should approach this process. How does mastering work? Just from the picture, can you tell what this digital recorder offers and doesn't? Should we tack quilts to the walls and record instrument by instrument, all at once?

 

Our band is composed of the Lead Singer, our Lead Guitarist, Bass Player, Drummer, and me, the keyboardist. Thus far, we've only recorded demos through a laptop microphone, without any sort of fiddling or anything--but the bass and drums constantly drown out the rest of the music for the most part. We're and indie rock group, more on the lighter side of things; are there tips to approach recording? Is there a methodology we should follow or tips on how to equalize our equipment and balance sound and space? Any help would be great.

[ascottk]

I've read a few tutorials about recording (namely, recording voices for Thief), but I know many of you have lives outside of Thief :-P. I'm in a band, and I happen to own an 8-track recorder. We aren't talking professional quality--it's a Fostex MR-8 if you are interested. I also happen to have a decent quality condensor microphone, something my dad used to use for the folk music he played a decade ago. We really want to make some decent recordings (not superb quality here, just decent) and I'm wondering given my equipment, how we should approach this process. How does mastering work? Just from the picture, can you tell what this digital recorder offers and doesn't? Should we tack quilts to the walls and record instrument by instrument, all at once?

 

Our band is composed of the Lead Singer, our Lead Guitarist, Bass Player, Drummer, and me, the keyboardist. Thus far, we've only recorded demos through a laptop microphone, without any sort of fiddling or anything--but the bass and drums constantly drown out the rest of the music for the most part. We're and indie rock group, more on the lighter side of things; are there tips to approach recording? Is there a methodology we should follow or tips on how to equalize our equipment and balance sound and space? Any help would be great.

 

The recorder has XLR inputs so that's a good sign. [facetious]Wow! A 128 mb compact flash included![/facetious] You'll probably need to get a bigger CF & I think those went down price-wise.

 

The mastering is a misnomer I think. It's basically mixing down (bouncing) a couple of chosen tracks to another track so you have more tracks to play with. Record vocals on 1, guitar on 2, keyboards on 3, drums on 4 & 5, bass on 6, & that leaves you with two more tracks. You bounce 2 & 3 to number 7 & 4 & 5 & 6 to track 8. That leaves you with 1-6 open for more recording.

 

As for the bass & drums drowning the rest, I think they need to be recorded separately. Then the guitar, keyboard & then the vocals so they can hear the harmonies.

 

Fostex leave me unimpressed. The controls feel flimsy & cheap. I love Tascam though.

[Ombrenuit]

I actually failed to mention I also happen to have a Tascam USB Audio/MIDI interface. Obviously for this to be effective, I would need a decent program for recording/mastering tracks etc. Could someone suggest one? It seems to have come with a few, Tascam Gigastudio 24 and Cubase LE OEM, of which I figgled with, but both were a bit complicated (and when I'm using Audacity on a regular basis...I suppose I should look into these two). I guess this is a better alternative as I could hook it into my laptop along with the recording equipment.

[ascottk]

I actually failed to mention I also happen to have a Tascam USB Audio/MIDI interface. Obviously for this to be effective, I would need a decent program for recording/mastering tracks etc. Could someone suggest one? It seems to have come with a few, Tascam Gigastudio 24 and Cubase LE OEM, of which I figgled with, but both were a bit complicated (and when I'm using Audacity on a regular basis...I suppose I should look into these two). I guess this is a better alternative as I could hook it into my laptop along with the recording equipment.

 

You should check out Adobe Audition too (formerly Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro) which I've used for years.

[Ombrenuit]

You should check out Adobe Audition too (formerly Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro) which I've used for years.

 

Thanks a lot. This is exactly what I was looking for.