Recording our first full length: tips?

[XamendedX]

okay, heres the deal, my band is planning on recording our first full length album. we are having one of our friends engineer the job with his equipment. I don't know *exactly* what he has, but I know he has a mackie board, some mid-grade converters and tube pres and the usual mics (sm57's and 58's + some drum mics) and he's running Sonar Producer edition.

 

I have some recording expiriance (I've engineered a buddies band with only mics, a yamaha board and an m-audio fast track into garage band) and I can make a fairly good sounding demo with it.

 

I guess my main questions are: what we do to get a really good sound from a moderate studio?

 

FYI: we are going with a friend cause we're all poor as hell and can't afford a real studio

[Lee Knight]

1st

Restring and intonate all your instruments

Rehead and tune all the drums including a new strainer

 

2nd

Pay an engineer to set up the mics, etc. You'll learn a ton and it'll come out sounding pretty decent.

[Lee Flier]

Well this is such a hugely broad question that it's tough to give a decent answer. There are a zillion and one things you could do that would help get you a better sound. In fact that might be said to be the entire purpose of this forum as well as the recording forums.

 

I would say though that probably the most productive way to get a good sound is to focus on the source. In other words:

 

1) Make sure your band has rehearsed the songs well and can play them all the way through without mistakes. Practice the songs without vocals too, so that you don't get lost during the session.

 

2) Make sure your equipment (instruments , amps etc.) is all in good working order and sounds good to begin with. Drum hardware rattles, old drum heads, old guitar strings, etc. really detract from a recording.

 

3) Pay attention to the room you're recording in and how it sounds. If the room is too small, too live or too dead, it's not going to sound good and trying to make it sound good recorded is like polishing a turd. If the room is decent, you'll save yourself a ton of headache and end up with a better final result. Try moving the amps and drum kit around to different parts of the room too - that can make a difference.

 

4) Worry about getting a good performance more so than a great recording. If you guys are playing well and the energy level is high, and you can really project your vibe and attitude in the performance, that matters most of all. Any "recording technique" that gets in the way of the performance/attitude is not worth doing.

 

5) Experiment a lot with mic placement. On each instrument, have somebody move a mic around while the player is playing and you listen. You'll be able to hear where the mics sound good and where they don't. Be sure to listen to them in combination with each other too, not just soloed. Combining mics can sometimes result in phasing problems that you will only hear when you play them together. Often, moving one or more mics by only an inch or two can make a big difference.

 

Also, when mixing, avoid the temptation to use too many effects, do too much editing, or mix too hot. Pull all your individual faders down so that the master fader is averaging -10 to -20, and peaking around -6. You can record individual instruments with peak levels around -6 too. It'll open up the mix a lot more than recording and mixing everything as close to full scale as possible, yet it's a common mistake to do just that.

 

I'm sure there's more, but that's a good start.

[Ernest Buckley]

Besides the obvious which I`ll mention anyway because I am never surprised how overlooked these things are:

 

PREPRODUCTION IS EVERYTHING. PRE-PRODUCTION IS BASICALLY PREPARATION. This includes...

 

Rehearsing the band till everyone knows their respective parts and can play the tunes straight through together. This would mean that the arrangement of each song is decided upon before you get into the studio. This includes the key the song is in, the tempo and chord changes. MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THIS.

 

Make sure your drummer can play along to a click track which will make editting a lot easier later on. (I just mastered an album in which the drummer could not do so and the engineer was sharing with me the nightmare editting job so...)

 

Put new strings on your instruments a day or two before the session. THIS IS SO OVERLOOKED, PLAYERS SHOULD BE CHARGED A PENALTY WHEN THIS HAPPENS.

 

Arrive early to every session. Its ideal to get there 60- 45 minutes early unless the engineer has specifically told you otherwise. This will give everyone time to get their instrument ready, get themselves comfortable and chat which does help a session.

 

HAVE FUN. Can`t emphasis this one more. The point is if you are ALL WELL PREPARED, you will enjoy the process a lot more. So go back to the first tip and really make sure you and your band can honestly say, "WE ARE READY".

 

Much Success.

[Ernest Buckley]

I forgot to mention that the performance of a song is more important that the overall sound. Most of the classic songs have audio blunders on them but no one cares because it makes them feel something positive. If you can get performances that make you feel something positive then no one cares if you used a Shure 57 on vocals or a Neuman M149!

[Lee Flier]

Originally posted by Ernest Buckley Make sure your drummer can play along to a click track which will make editting a lot easier later on. (I just mastered an album in which the drummer could not do so and the engineer was sharing with me the nightmare editting job so...)

 

I'll have to somewhat disagree with Ernest here. First of all, if you know your songs and have the arrangements well worked out ahead of time, no editing should be necessary. Don't presume you're going to have to do a bunch of editing.

 

Second, this goes back to what I said about "Any recording technique that will compromise the performance is not worth doing." IMO, playing to a click track often compromises the performance. Even if a drummer is great at playing with a click, a little natural push and pull in tempo often really adds something to the energy of a performance so it sucks to be locked into a perfect tempo. But if the drummer is inexperienced with a click, it's even worse. It usually really kills his feel to have to try to stay with the click when he isn't used to it, and that compromises the performance... and I'd much rather hear a little tempo drift and a great feel than listen to a drummer constantly trying to catch a click.

 

Again... it is almost never worth compromising the performance just to make the engineer's job easier. But that happens a lot.

[shniggens]

Originally posted by Lee Flier and I'd much rather hear a little tempo drift and a great feel than listen to a drummer constantly trying to catch a click.

 

[Lee Knight]

I'll stay out of the click/no click discussion. However... my comment on hiring someone for a couple hours to set up your mics etc. is a good one.

 

It's not a cop out. Think of it as a private lesson with the added benefit of having you mics placed for you the 1st time around.

[TIP]

I'm sure plenty will disagree, but during mixing it can really help if everyone isn't there. Too many times I've seen bands waste lots of time letting each member "mix" his own portion of the music. If there is no producer, then one member and the engineer can get it done. It's actually better to bring a finished mix to the band and get their comments and go back and correct it than to build it from scratch track by track with everyone putting in their input.