Aja on 25/5/2009 at 02:45
Quote Posted by OnionBob
ouch! that's the feeling of the
cutting edge of recording history! in your finger!
cutting edge boards-of-canada circa 1998
Muzman on 25/5/2009 at 03:08
What you spend your money on is going to depend on what sort of band you are as well, obviously. Ya might only need three mics for vocals and drum kit, for example, as a bare minimum.
The second hand route for recording gear is probably a good one, since you guys probably aren't interested in providing your own back end for the forseeable future, so you don't want to commit too hard. As mentioned, it's a minefield. The desire for the highest quality sound is often a bit of a trap at this stage. Are your amps et al spectacular sounding studio quality at the moment?
A cheap crappy old 4track tape (although non digital is a bit of hindrance these days. CD ones are probably doing the second hand rounds these days) might even do the trick. If you can make it sound good there people will be impressed.
PigLick on 25/5/2009 at 04:22
Muzman is right about the quality. If you are a band trying to 'make it', then you dont need studio quality recordings, you need to get a live following happening, get the band to learn the craft that way. No one is going to care about your pristine demo if you dont have a muscular, tight live presence, or if they have never heard of you.
Volitions Advocate on 25/5/2009 at 05:34
PigLick is right.
I thought our demo was decent. not perfect but good enough to hand out for free and make available for download. Even if Half of TTLG said it sucked, we still got a lot of compliments and blew the venue apart to back it up when we played live.
The industry has changed a lot in the past 5 - 10 years. Make sure you're live playing is good, and any recordings you make, give them away, dont try to sell a demo.
theBlackman on 25/5/2009 at 18:07
VA is right. You DON'T sell demo's. And a good tight band with a following is the first item that should be on your agenda.
SubJeff on 25/5/2009 at 18:19
tBA is right about VA being right about Piglick being right about Muzman being wrong wrong its all gone wroooooooooooooongA
Macha on 25/5/2009 at 18:59
You guys have provided excellent advice, I tip my cap to you all. I know not to sell demo's, it's not about the money. We're working on a following but its hard where we're from as there are limited venues. Looks like studio time would be the best idea. I had thought that from the start but then the idea of only getting 2 days and then thats it kinda pissed me off cus you can't come back and add to it later however in saying that some of my favourite records were cut within a couple of days e.g: Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Everybody knows this is nowhere. However I think you guys are right; we need to get our shit together and when it sounds sweet go in and get it down. What are the standard studio prices (in pounds preferably)?
snauty on 25/5/2009 at 19:32
Quote Posted by Macha
I mean I'm sure it is after you read up on some of the methods used to record landmark records like the shity 4 track analogue multi track used on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.
This is a sorry error. How can Sgt Pepper sound this great if it's recorded on a crappy machine? It shows exactly what you need: good songs and good ears.
First make sure your songs are top. Then make sure your overall sound is top. Meaning take care of adjusting your instruments and amps and take this in consideration when arranging the songs. A band can't sound great unless this is taken care of. First step and rule.
Then you don't really need too much of a recording equipment, though you should consider more than one grand. There's software like Cubase or Ableton Live, which you need a fast PC with lotsa disc space for. Then a soundcard and some good A/D converter. And most important good microphones! These could be rented though.
Then again, Line6 for example has a neat studio emulator software with amp presets, also for vocals. But don't overdo this when using. Actually don't ever overdo anything when producing is my motto. :D Be aware of ear fatigue!
Oh I've just seen this now:
"some of my favourite records were cut within a couple of days e.g: Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Everybody knows this is nowhere", so yeah I guess you'll be ok. ;)
june gloom on 26/5/2009 at 01:04
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The only thing worse than no production is overproduction.
Aja on 26/5/2009 at 01:38
We now have, among our recording gear, an 8-input firewire preamp rack, a large-diaphragm condenser, a cheap pair of matched condensers, a field recorder (which has two condensers and sounds surprisingly good as a piano, acoustic guitar, drum overhead, or room mic), a kickdrum mic and an SM57.
With all that, we're able to record at a decent indie-rock level, but it requires some creativity, especially with the drums. All told we've probably spent around $2000, not including software, cables, stands, etc. We also pirated some top-shelf reverb and EQ plugins, but that's a secret so don't tell anyone.
If you know what you're going to record though, you could rent all of this stuff for a few weeks for a quarter of the price. Might be worth it in the short term. We kinda just bought extra gear as it became apparent that we couldn't do what we wanted with what we had. Cheap gear not only sounds cheap, but it lacks the ability to capture the dynamics of even what you might think of as a low quality recording. Not that I know much about it, but with just an SM57 and no preamp you will not be able to record that sweet lo-fi sound you think should probably come practically free (at least I never could).
