being risky in the studio...

[witesol]

I sure intend on trying more things in the studio when recording or producing. I probably try more things while mixing, but typically during tracking I'll end up throwing a mic in front of something, getting the level and concentrating on the performance, pitch, part and groove. 

I'd like to be more experimental on drums or guitar sounds, maybe even vocals...shake things up a bit.

Ideas??

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

I think a lot of us would, and I agree that experimentation in the process of getting sounds (as opposed to manipulating them later) can be a very good thing, but on the other hand, it seems you're always fighting the time / budget constraints when you do, so the tendency is to play it safe and stick with the tried and true that you know will most likely work.

Of course, it often takes more time later to try to manipulate and fix stuff than it does to dial it up and get it right to begin with, but sometimes trying to convince the band / producer (when you're engineering and not also producing) / label of that can be challenging.

 

[MrJoshua]

This sort of thing is one reason why I make time to record my own tracks. I use those sessions to experiment. I try different mics in different places. I mic a guitar amp in the hall with the mic at the opposite end. I mic the drums with a single ribbon overhead, or a condenser and ribbon in mid-side arrangement, or with every single drum and cymbal having a dedicated microphone, or only one mic for the whole kit in the middle of the room. I try bass via DI, mic on the amp, both, with tube distortion, super compressed, clean and straight to the DAW...

 

Those are session where I'm not making any money, but I'm learning more about my gear and rooms. So that when I'm charging someone to record I can hear the sound they're going for and know that I'm going to want to use Mic X through Preamp Y and locate the mic in this location and turn it that way and so on and so forth. Of course, I'm just a home project studio guy - I'm not running a big commercial facility or anything like that. But I've always had the opinion that while you learn something new on every job, when someone else is paying you to be there you should be focused on using what you do know to the fullest extent possible rather than doing a lot of experimentation.

 

But that's just my opinion, and what do I know?

[CME]

I was in a session once where the engineer had a broken old LDC. It worked but had a blown diaphragm or something. Anyways he put it as a room mic for the drums. We didn't use it on every track but if I remember correctly did use it on one track as a super compressed funky tone. Worked well. I'll have to find the cd and see if my memory is correct.

[UstadKhanAli]

Feed effects into one another.  Be creative with routing.  You never know what you might get.

Place microphones in unexpected places.  Cabinets, other rooms, down the hall, in containers or garbage cans, whatever.  Place tubes around microphones.  Face them the wrong way.  Aim them at walls, windows, or floors.

Take those virtual instruments, send 'em out to an amp, mike it up, and have fun.  

Move microphones around while recording.  Swing a dynamic mic around the room while recording a guitar amp.