Recording - May 2010 - 17

So, first things first: what do you want to record? Consider the genre of music, the number and type of players, and whether it’s customary to record everything at once live or whether you can piece tracks together later via overdubs and editing. Wrap your head around this question and you’ll have a solid set of guidelines for moving forward. For example, if you primarily work alone, you don’t need to build a setup that can handle a gazillion inputs at once. Take some time to read up on the instruments you want to record and learn about how they’re normally handled in studios... then see if you can approach them in a way that fits with your budget. The classic example is the drum kit; you could try to mike every tom and cymbal, but a lot of great recordings have been done with four mics, three, two, or even just one, depending on the sound you’re going for. Electric guitars can be recorded in a variety of ways, blending direct signals with miked amps and room mics, but again, it’s best to start with a simpler setup—one or maybe two amp mics, or an amp mic and a room mic, with or without a direct signal from an effects processor. Does your music require electronic components? Will you want to record a lot of keyboards, or use software instruments or drum loops/sound libraries? These building blocks give you a lot of flexibility in creating your music, and can require much less outside hardware than you’d use to mike acoustic instruments. If your music lends itself to live playing, and you think your best results will be gotten by rehearsing to perfection and then playing entire songs right through without breaks or edits, you have the option of recording direct to a stereo recorder, or capturing a live multitrack session... but if you do this, you can control costs by considering how many inputs you realistically need to get your music sounding right. When setting yourself up for the first time, consider not what you might need to record someday, but what you will record on a regular basis. Be sensible and realistic in your aims. Sure it would be nice to be able to record a full drum kit once in a while for your next rock opus, but do you have a space that could hold one, and would it sound good if you tried? If it’s mainly you and a buddy playing guitars and singing to looped backing tracks that will later be replaced by a real rhythm section, focus on the “you and a buddy” part and realize that you really need two vocal mics and two guitar mics, and anything beyond that is optional. When it’s time to do things your rig isn’t set up to do, there are alternatives to buying more gear. You can borrow or trade with friends, maybe using a mic preamp in exchange for playing guitar on their tracks, or rent gear for short sessions where you need something special that you can’t justify buying yet. Sometimes a day trip to a nearby larger studio can pay for itself in improved sound and reduced headaches. The sweet spot is when you find you can do the recordings you want to do, at least nine sessions out of ten, with everything you need close at hand and little or nothing lying around unused. Consider the space Hand in hand with this is considering where you’ll be working. If you’re lucky enough to have a house (or can borrow a friend’s house) with a big living room whose cathedral ceiling and combination of smooth walls, bookshelves (great absorbers/diffusers!), drapes, and carpets makes it a great-sounding tracking room, use it! Plan to add a couple of room mics to whatever you record there, and consider yourself fortunate. And then there are the rest of us, recording in cramped and difficult rooms with little space for setup and acoustic issues that can really compromise our sound. In a situation like this, you need to do two things: make your room sound its best with what you have on hand,

and record your music in such a way that the room at least doesn’t hurt your sound. For the former, check out Brian Gadson’s article on page 22, and for the latter, consider isolation devices like the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter or Auralex MAX-Wall systems. Shut your amp in a closet with a mic, set up the drums in the basement... or take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, and do without, at least until you can track additional instruments in a better space. Listening You can use your home stereo’s speakers in a pinch, but it’s not a bad idea to invest in a set of small powered studio monitors to listen to your music, as well as a set of good-quality isolating headphones. Monitors, like microphones, are getting cheaper every year, and you can get surprisingly good-sounding and—more importantly—truth-telling speakers for relatively little money from a variety of makers like JBL, KRK, Genelec, Behringer, Yamaha, ADAM Audio, Mackie, Focal, M-Audio, Akai, TASCAM, and Alesis. It’s good to listen to your music in a room rather than solely over headphones; you get a clearer picture of stereo imaging and how a listening space affects a mix, and a better idea of whether your mix’s effects (like reverb) are just right or overdone. And note that the same speakers will sound different in another room, so move around and compare. Headphones are best for listening for isolated issues like clicks, pops, crackles, bad edits, and the like, or for working late at night or when noise is an issue; beyerdynamic, AKG, Sennheiser, Yamaha, MAudio, Audio-Technica, Shure, Direct Sound, and Ultrasone all make great models with a variety of strong points. Auditioning headphones and speakers at your local store can be tricky; bring music you know extremely well, and ask for a lot of time to compare. Where possible, set levels so each speaker or headphone you’re A/Bing is at the same SPL, so you’re not fooled by “louder is better”. Choosing mics Which mics you choose should be dictated, at least at first, by what you’re planning to record. If all you’re recording is acoustic guitar, a dynamic mic that sounds great on snare probably shouldn’t be your first choice! There are dozens of makers of inexpensive mics out there now, and their offerings improve by leaps and bounds each year; we’ll delve into the topic of building a mic locker in more detail in next month’s issue, so for now, here are some very general pointers on mic types. Dynamic mics are basically small speakers wired in reverse. They don’t need phantom power, they’re inexpensive and sturdy, and while there are many different designs with a wide variety of sonic signatures, they can be characterized as studio workhorses usable on guitar amps, snare drums, toms, rock vocals, and the like. Kickdrum mics are usually specialized dynamic mics. Condenser mics, which require phantom power from your interface or mixer, have an airier high end and more extended response; they’re favored for vocals, acoustic instruments, and drum overheads. There are large-diaphragm condensers that are commonly used for vocals and guitars, and small-diaphragm condensers for instruments like cymbals, horns, winds, and string instruments. Ribbon mics, common in the early years of recording, are enjoying something of a renaissance now; recent designs are more resistant to damage from high SPLs than their vintage ancestors, and some include built-in active electronics that use phantom power and allow them to be hooked up to the same mic inputs used by dynamic and condenser mics without sonic compromises. Their tone is often characterized as mellow and warm.
RECORDING MAY 2010

Recording - May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2010