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Welcome To Home Recording Tips
"All you need to know to start recording today"
We can help you with:
Recording Techniques
Buying Equipment
Links to Other Useful Sites On The Art of Recording
Getting Started
"planning your mini abbey road"
It is important to set a budget for yourself as it can be easy to overspend if you want to have the best of everything.
For example if your priority is fine vocal recording then you will probably need to set aside a good proportion of your budget on something up to the job. If you intend to do the mixing and mastering yourself then a good pair of monitors will be invaluable. Improving your studio will be a never ending quest for excellence so try not to spend more than you can afford at the time as sure enough at some point in the future you will have to spend again and your are going to want that bank account firmly in the black!
Keep to a budget!
Prioritise your Equipment "Wish List" According to Your Needs
Being Creative
"your own sonic ideas"
"Dont get too caught up with the latest plug in or fancy microphone. Try and learn the equipment you have inside out."
Recording audio does have some common practises and they exist as certain genres have developed, like microphone placement, EQ settings and methods of working. This doesn't mean however that you shouldn't experiment. The best records tend to be those that have their own sonic imprint, something that sets them apart from another records. It is important to remember that some of the greatest performances have been captured using weird and wonderful things so always try to get creative and develop your recording style.
It is just as important to remember the old addage that "a bad workman blames his tools" the fact is that in order to achive quality you have to have put in quality. This extends from a performance right through the signal chain to the listener's hi-fi (or most likely their ipod). Thankfully, these days it has become easier and cheaper to enter the world of quality home recording so there is no excuse not to get on with recording your masterpiece!
With this in mind, now read the guide that will help you along with your decisions and help you plan what you need for your own studio.
Good Luck!
A Professional mixing and mastering service for your Home Recordings.
Tip of the Month October
"Bigger Vocals"
A number of people have been enquiring about vocal recording techniques and specifically ways to make a lead vocal sound bigger and to occupy more space in the mix.
One great way of doing this is a variation on the double track (or multi track overdub) and uses the natural early reflection reverberation of the room to give real "space" to the recording.
After the lead vocal has been recorded and you're happy that this is the take to be used at the final mixdown, you can then attempt an overdub but this time standing away from the mic at around 3ft back from the original position used for the lead vocal. With this completed with good timing and synchronisation you can duplicate this vocal panning one left and one right at a quarter to three (on a traditional pan pot). These can then be delayed slightly according to how much effect you would like with one channel being slightly before the beat and one after. It should be perfectly fine without the delay but this is just an extra effect for more space.
Next is to record a third vocal and this time around 6ft back from the original lead vocal applying the same delay technique to taste but this time fully panning the vocal so they are extreme left and right. The levels of these support vocals can then be adjusted to provide the level of width and space required for the mix.
I hope you have fun trying this and you can achieve the affect your looking for.
Happy recording!
Tip of the Month November
"Recording Guitars "
This month's tips have been inspired by some recent questions about microphone placement with amplifiers. When it comes to getting a good sound for your guitar recordings then it is always good to have an idea of the sound you are trying to achieve before you start. It may sound obvious but often people just place an SM57 up against the cab and dial in their stage settings then end up dissapointed when the sound they achieve doesn’t quite cut it in the mix. This could be down to many factors but most importantly the speakers, mic placement,amp settings or the room could be responsible.
| It is always worthwhile experimenting with the axis of the mic direction in relation to the speaker cone. Going from the centre to the outer region of the cone will change the tone and have a big bearing on the overall sound, also the quality of cones in a multi speaker cab can vary over the life of the cab and some can become damaged so it could be worth finding the best sounding speaker. |
Microphone selection and placement also have an effect on the sound therefore it is worth trying a variety of microphones in different positions. Condensor mics, for example, will bring out more of the frequency range and sound of the room (depending on their proximity to the amp). If placed far from the amp then you will pick up early reflections that colour the sound. This can be can sometimes be added to the sound of a dynamic mic that is placed closer to the speaker.
The actual settings of the amp may differ from your usual stage set up and can almost certainly be turned down somewhat. A tip of the trade is that smaller amps tend to work quite well close mic’d in the studio, which is largely due to the sound been more confined and less dynamically crushed and overpowering. This helps to define the sound and effectively reign in the signal. Another option is to record a DI simultaneously and use this to re-amp your sound and either blend in with the mic’d sound or if needed, completely replace it with programs such as Waves “GTR3” or Native Instruments Guitar Rig. These guitar amp emulations have come a long way. They are simply stunning in terms of their sound and flexibility and well worth investigating.
Finally, try changing the room about - putting the amp on different areas of the room or on different surfaces because reflections (as explained earlier) can change the whole perception and clarity of the sound.
In summary my advice would be to have some idea of the final sound you are aiming for before you start recording and trying whatever it takes to achieve it by experimenting with some or all of the above.
Good Luck!
Tip of the Month December
"Hybrid Studios"
There has been a lot of talk in the mixing community recently about hybrid studios which in most case are essentially DAW based studios with the added benefit of a high quality analogue input stage and an analogue mastering or “summing” stage.
This has been made affordable by the big classic desk manufactures providing a new line in compact “cut down” versions that allow flexible connectivity and the same world class sound quality as their bigger brothers. Some offer just Summing and some offer both pre amp for tracking and summing.
Does it really make a difference?
A high quality input stage is a no brainer, this essential to maintain the integrity of the signal and in some cases offer subtle enhancements, for example if the gain stage involves Tubes then you are likely to get a fatter, warmer sound making a big difference to the color achieved. In another mixing unit you may be wanting to achieve precession clarity in which case high quality solid state pre’s will really make a difference.
“Summing” appears to be quite a popular upshot of this type of studio arrangement. When it comes to exporting or bouncing your individual tracks to a stereo file, the DAW performs an algorithm to mix or “sum” these parts together. As with any digital system this algorithm has a finite set of values and is designed to do the job as efficiently and as accurately as possible. Although this sounds fine in theory, it has long been noted that this is stage that the digital process can be improved upon by doing all this by passing it through some circuits boards in the analogue realm. This all comes back to the “adding the magic” arguments but there are some musically beneficial elements at play here that could really enhance your future masters.
One such element hear is “headroom” that allows the transients of the music to breathe more naturally and if you choose the Tube path then of course you will add harmonic content to the sound giving it that beef to achieve presence and authority.
So what’s available?
While all this sounds great and probably make you think “I need one now!!” You must also ask yourself what you need one for and of course which one?
TL Audio Fat Track
This is a well received machine that has 2 input stages with EQ and 8 tracks of summing. This means that you would need to group your parts into say Vocals, Drums(Stereo), Bass, Guitars (Stereo), Everything else (Stereo).
SSL XDesk
This is 8 ins but no EQ and 16 tracks of summing allowing bigger groups.
Neve 8816
This is just 16 tracks of summing with no pre amps.
All the above have great potential to slot into your studio giving you lots of options and as well there are many different units out there doing a very similar job.
Tip of the Month January
Headphones for Mixing
Headphones are of course an essential part of any studio and tracking would be near impossible without them on most occasions, but what about for mixing?
There are a few consideration to bear in mind when considering going about mixing your next masterpiece on a pair of cans, firstly, the accuracy of balanced frequency representation is a must here.
To do any serious monitoring, it is primary that the speaker of choice is no too biased in any particular area across the frequency spectrum thus allowing a true to picture of the songs relative balance which is essential to make sure your recording can be played through any system and not throw any surprises that may occur had they been mixed on a sub standard system.
Headphones both suffer and benefit from the proximity of the drivers to your ear and this can be something to look out for when choosing a good set of monitor headphones.
The upside of this is the fantastic stereo field that realises all your crafty panning work and gives such width to the soundscape, also high frequency detail is revealing in equal measure, the downside is of course the ‘feel’ of the bass. When listening to speakers the bass frequencies not only enter your ear but also pass through your body and this is also a big part of the sound you experience. To compensate for this, speaker manufacturers usually have a bass hump and also a little mid/high dip to even things out.
Because of this you should always check the bass end on a good full range system, It can be quite a shock to hear your Master on a sub-pumping system and find out that you’re going to get sued for structural damage to the building you were listening in after you subsonic bomb was dropped! Another aspect to check are the reverbs and delays, the room the speakers are in will affect the ‘space’ of the recordings quite a bit depending on the size and level of dampening.
As always, to get quality, price comes into play here when selecting a good pair of trusty ‘phones’, the good thing though is that a really good set of professional monitor headphones can be a lot cheaper than splashing out on the equivalent set of loudspeakers (not that there is such a thing as a direct equivalent…but you get the picture). Traditionally, this has been a good way of keeping your budget for mixing equipment down but still doing a great job.
Below are few good choices to start your search and represent both quality and value.
Sony MDR 7509 HD $190
AKG K701 $260
Sennheiser HD650 $400
Grado RS2 $495
