Step by Step Recording Thread.

[Prages]

I had mentioned doing this a month or two ago, and I finally got started on it over the weekend. It's still got a ways to go, but I'm where some might consider finished if they weren't as anal as I am. :o

This is a song that I wrote 4 or 5 years ago. I submitted it (and lost heartily) in the first HC Songwriting contest. That doesn't keep me from liking the song, and I thought I could probably make it sound better than it did back then with the gear I have now, and the fact that I can do real drum tracks instead of a drum machine.

The jury is still out on whether I can make it sound better than it did. I don't think I'm there yet, but I think I just need to do some major mixing and mastering corrections and I'll be close.

So, I'll go through the process in this thread.

My recording rig is the following:

Audio Interface - Presonus Firepod
Software - Cubase SX
Computer - 6 year old Compac Presario with 2.6 ghz P4 processor and 1.5 gb RAM.

[Prages]

Getting Started:

Open Cubase and create a new project folder:
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/1CubaseOpen.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/2NewProject.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/3AudioRecording.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/4CreateFolder.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/5TitleFolder.jpg

Once that is done, here is what you'll see.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/6WelcometoCubase.jpg

Now you have to enable your inputs:

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/7VSTInputs.jpg

Since I've actually got 2 Firepods hooked up, I have 20 inputs (16 analog, 4 digital). I always just engage all of them so I can plug into any available input while I'm recording.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/8InputsEngaged.jpg

Hitting F3 in Cubase pulls up the mixer:
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/9Mixer.jpg

I always turn the display off, and turn the master display on. That is accomplished with the two buttons un the upper left of the slider section of the mixer.

That leaves you with this:

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/10Mixer2.jpg

Cubase default to the first track being stereo, at least for me, so I hit the stereo button to make it mono instead.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/11StereoButton.jpg

Next, I set up my click. There's a drop down arrow in the transport panel that you can right click and 'show all' to see your click options. Just type the tempo you want into the box (in beats per minute) and hit the 'click' button. It's a very annoying click, but it's easy to hear when you're playing drums through headphones.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/12Click.jpg

Now, this may seem like a lot of work with no recording having been done, but in reality, it probably takes me less than a minute to get to this point from the time I open Cubase.

Now we're ready to lay down a scratch track.

[Denverdave]

:aok:

Cool Thread...

It's nice to see someone who has a clue doing this step by step.

[Dexter Inferno]

Cool - looking forward to reading :-)

I've been thinking about doing the same thing as well for some time now.
Would be fun doing, and perhaps quite useful, considering I probably have a somewhat different approach to recording. ;)

[Mark Wein]

This will probably be the most useful thread on the whole site :o

[Prages]

The scratch track is just a way to get the arrangement of the song on tape so I can play drums to it and know where I am in the song.

I just used an acoustic guitar and a single mic to record my scratch track. Remember, you won't hear the scratch track in the final recording, so don't worry about playing it perfectly. Just make sure you have the arrangement the way you want it.

I name track 1 "Scratch", select the right input, and arm the track by hitting the record button on the track.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/13NameTrack.jpg

Here's the mic and headphones I used for the scratch track. That's a CAD Trion 8000 large diaphram tube condensor mic and a cheap set ($30 tops) of Sennheiser headphones (they have really good isolation qualities, so the click doesn't leak into the mic too bad, and when you're playing drums, you hear a lot more of the click than you do of the noise the drums make, so you don't have to crank the click as loud in the headphones).

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/ScratchMic.jpg

Now hit the record button on the transport panel and record your scratch track.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/14Record.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/15ScratchTrackRecorded.jpg


Here is the scratch track I recorded.

Scratch Track (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Scratch_01.mp3)

[Chihlidog]

Excellent. This is really good stuff. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the process. Thanks for doin this, mang.

[Prages]

I hope you guys get some use out of this. I know I do a few things that will make a lot of studio engineers cringe, but I get good results, I think. This is by no means the only way to record a song, it's just what works for me.

Now, on to the drums (where Dexter is gonna tell me I'm doing everything wrong, and he will be right.)

Here is the mic set that I use:
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/DrumMics.jpg

Left to Right: Audix D6 (kick), SM57 (snare), 3 fake SM57s (toms), 2 Audio Technica 2020s (overheads).

Here's the drum set all mic'd up.
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Drums.jpg

I run the mic cables into a snake, since my drums are about 20 feet away from my audio interface.
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Snake.jpg

And the other end of the snake goes to the Firepod.
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Firepods.jpg

From top to bottom in the rack: Firepod, Firepod, Behringer Headphone amp, Power conditioner.

Now, I name the tracks on the mixer Kick, Snare, Tom1, Tom2, Tom3, OHHH, OHRide and assign them the appropriate mic input. Then record them just like I did the scratch track, having the click going through the headphones.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/16DrumsRecorded.jpg

Make sure you leave yourself some time at the beginning of the track. I usually don't actually count off the song until I've let about 20 seconds go by. That give me time to run from the computer to the drums, or to grab my guitar or bass.

The next step is where some people will disagree.

I like to normalize all of my tracks to about -2 db. There's really no need to do it, but having everything normalized means that you don't have to mess with compression threshholds and such for each track. Say I've got two guitar tracks and one of them peaks at -10 db and the other peaks at -15 db, if I set a compression threshhold of -15 db, the track that peaks at -15 won't get any compression, while the track that peaks at -10 will get the upper 5 db compressed. A lot of people don't like to normalize anything, and that's fine...this is my thread. They can do their own. :p

[Prages]

Here are the drum tracks.

Kick (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Kick_04.mp3)
Snare (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Snare_04.mp3)
Tom1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Tom1_04.mp3)
Tom2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Tom2_04.mp3)
Tom3 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Tom3_04.mp3)
Overhead Hihat (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/OHHH_04.mp3)
Overhead Ride (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/OHRide_04.mp3)

[Prages]

At this point, I like to get a half way decent drum mix. This (for me) includes adding compression, EQ, and reverb. I can't tune drums worth a crap, so I end up using a lot more compression, EQ, and reverb than Dexter does, and as a result, his drums always end up sounding a lot more natural than mine, but I work with what I've got.

Here's my kick drum compression (I also fiddle with the EQ, but apparently don't have a screen capture of that).
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/18KickCompression.jpg

Here's the compression on the snare (I use a lot of compression):
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/19SnareCompression.jpg

And this shows the reverb and EQ settings on the snare. I can almost hear Dexter choking on his own vomit.
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/22SnareEQandReverb.jpg

I also put some lighter compression on the toms and overheads and added a touch of room reverb to the overheads.

I'm pretty sure I've since changed most of these settings, but this is where I started with my drum mix.

[Prages]

At this point I can turn off the click track. Depending on how well you know the song, you can either mute the scratch track or leave it on while you do the bass track.

Here's the bass rig I used.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/BassRig.jpg

I like to run a DI and mic the cabinet. The amp is an Ashdown MAG300. The cab is an Avatar B212 Neo. I used an AKG C-4000B to mic the cab.

Set your inputs and record your bass track.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/23BassRecorded.jpg

Guess what I do next?

I apply some compression to the bass tracks.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/24BassCompression.jpg

And here are the audo tracks:

Bass Mic (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/BassMic_09.mp3)
Bass DI (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/BassDI_09.mp3)

[Mark Wein]

I just sticky'd this for the guys so it would be easy to find during the "Recording Fests" :-)

[Prages]

Next, move on to guitars.

I used the same rig for all the guitar parts, and honestly, I'm not completely thrilled with the tone I got, so I might redo them tonight. They just sound a little harsh and gainy to me, but I am using a rig that's kind of unfamiliar to me.

Guitar - US Masters LeGrand Floyd
Amp - '72 Fender Bassman
Cab - Peavey with Celestion G12K85s
Mic - SM57
OD Pedal - Barber Direct Drive SS
Wah - Dunlop Original Crybaby

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/GuitarRig.jpg

I then put a hint of compression on the guitar tracks, even though the signal is pretty compressed already due to the OD pedal. Add a touch of reverb to taste.

And here are the 3 guitar tracks.

Rhythm Guitar1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Guitar1_07.mp3)
Rhythm Guitar2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Guitar2_09.mp3)
Lead Guitar (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/LeadGuitar_05.mp3)

I have guitar 1 panned almost completely left, guitar 2 panned almost completely right, and the lead dead center.

[Prages]

Next, I did vocals.

Here's the vocal mic and 'popper stopper'.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/VocalMic.jpg

After the vocals are recorded, I use a lot of compression. Vocals are very dynamic and it's very easy to have parts that are buried and other parts that are way too loud. A healthy dose of compression levels the playing field. I don't have screen captures of my compression or reverb settings yet, but I'll be sure to get some by the time this song is completely finished.

Here are the vocal tracks.

Lead Vocals (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/LeadVocals_01.mp3)

Backing Vocals 1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Harmony_06.mp3)

Backing Vocals 2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Harmony2_05.mp3)

[Prages]

That's all of the audio tracks. Hopefully they'll synch up and you guys can load them into your recording software and do your own mixes.

I've done a quick mix/master of it. I have a long way to go on the mix though, and the mastering is WAY too hot and compressed. This will at least give you somewhat of an idea of what I'm shooting for though.

Remember, this was a very quick mix and mastering job, and I'm nowhere near ready to call it finished. I usually do at least 3 or 4 mixes before I get something I'm happy with. I may end up redoing all the guitar tracks, since I'm not too happy with the tone. All the other tracks are probably 'good enough' though.

So, here's the crappy test mix/master.

Can't Help Myself Mix 1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/CantHelpMyself%20(master).mp3)

I really think I can get it sounding a whole lot better than that, I just haven't had time to do it yet.

[Prages]

And just so they are all in a centralized, easy to find spot, here are all the tracks.


Scratch Track (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Scratch_01.mp3)
Kick (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Kick_04.mp3)
Snare (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Snare_04.mp3)
Tom1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Tom1_04.mp3)
Tom2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Tom2_04.mp3)
Tom3 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Tom3_04.mp3)
Overhead Hihat (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/OHHH_04.mp3)
Overhead Ride (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/OHRide_04.mp3)
Bass Mic (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/BassMic_09.mp3)
Bass DI (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/BassDI_09.mp3)
Rhythm Guitar1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Guitar1_07.mp3)
Rhythm Guitar2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Guitar2_09.mp3)
Lead Guitar (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/LeadGuitar_05.mp3)
Lead Vocals (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/LeadVocals_01.mp3)
Backing Vocals 1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Harmony_06.mp3)
Backing Vocals 2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Harmony2_05.mp3)


I'm pretty sure these are all unnormalized, uncompressed, unEQd, and unreverbed. They should be exactly what was captured from the mic to the computer.

[Denverdave]

Uber cool!

[jayhitz]

Wow. Thanks, Prages. Definitely going to be doing some studying on this.

[Prages]

Like I said, as I go through and fix stuff, I'll take more screen caps and try to fill in any gaps or answer any questions.

I started off with really good intentions of taking screen caps of every little detail, but once I got started in the recording process, I kept forgetting to document more and more of the details.

I imagine a lot of this should carry over to whatever recording software you use, though the functions may be in a different location or under a different name.

[Chihlidog]

OK, so, here's a dumb question but what if one doesnt have a drumset? Is there free drum software out there?

[Prages]

I really don't know anything about drum stuff that's out there. I used an Alesis SR16 drum machine up until I got the real drums and mics.

I know a lot of people swear by EZDrummer, but it's not free.

[Phil513]

I really don't know anything about drum stuff that's out there. I used an Alesis SR16 drum machine up until I got the real drums and mics.

I know a lot of people swear by EZDrummer, but it's not free.

Im using an old Alesis HR-16 drum machine, probably behind the times but it works ok and you can pick them up super cheap.

Awesome thread by the way Prages. I know this is a lot of work for you, and i appreciate it.

[micwalt]

Cool thread.
:aok:

[Prages]

Alright, I hate the guitar tone on this thing. I've got a single 16 ohm Celestion Greenback that I'm in the process of swapping into one of the speakers of my 412, so I'll mic the Greenback. I'll also play around with my amp and pedal settings and see if I can't find something I like more.

I hope to get all 3 guitar parts redone this evening.

[Ronk]

Alright, I hate the guitar tone on this thing. I've got a single 16 ohm Celestion Greenback that I'm in the process of swapping into one of the speakers of my 412, so I'll mic the Greenback. I'll also play around with my amp and pedal settings and see if I can't find something I like more.

I hope to get all 3 guitar parts redone this evening.

Can you save the 2 so I'd like to see the sound difference between the two speakers?

[Prages]

Can you save the 2 so I'd like to see the sound difference between the two speakers?

Well, it's not going to be a head to head comparison, because I did do some knob tweeking too, but I have redone all the guitar parts already with the Greenbacks, and a little less gain, and they sound WAAAYYY better to me right now. Of course, my ears are fatigued from having headphones on and cranking a Bassman all night, but I think the differences are going to be pretty obvious.

The Greenback is a much rounder, warmer sounding speaker. I've read reviews of the G12K85s that have said something along the line of "The worst sounding speaker for overdrive that Celestion has ever made" and after doing this little swap, all I can say is "I believe it". Yeah, I fiddled with some knobs, but the differences are so drastic that there's no denying the speaker played a huge part.

Of course, now I'm trying to figure out how to get the money for a new 212 cab loaded with Greenbacks or G12H30s for the Bassman.

This cheap 'vintage' amp is costing me a fortune. :facepalm:

[Mark Wein]

Well, it's not going to be a head to head comparison, because I did do some knob tweeking too, but I have redone all the guitar parts already with the Greenbacks, and a little less gain, and they sound WAAAYYY better to me right now. Of course, my ears are fatigued from having headphones on and cranking a Bassman all night, but I think the differences are going to be pretty obvious.

The Greenback is a much rounder, warmer sounding speaker. I've read reviews of the G12K85s that have said something along the line of "The worst sounding speaker for overdrive that Celestion has ever made" and after doing this little swap, all I can say is "I believe it". Yeah, I fiddled with some knobs, but the differences are so drastic that there's no denying the speaker played a huge part.

Of course, now I'm trying to figure out how to get the money for a new 212 cab loaded with Greenbacks or G12H30s for the Bassman.

This cheap 'vintage' amp is costing me a fortune. :facepalm:


They have a way of doing that :o

I like my greenbacks for the bassman, though...

[Prages]

Alright, it's starting to come together now.

I redid all three guitar parts last night after I swapped out one of the G12K85s with a Greenback. I also backed the gain off a little bit on my Barber DD and upped the volume just a touch. The combination did wonders for the guitar tone. The tone is still gainy, but it's much smoother and warmer while still being punchy.

After the parts were recorded, I added a touch of compression. I didn't use much, since the recorded signal is already pretty compressed due to the OD. If you put too much compression on an overdriven guitar part, it dulls it up quite a bit. The key is to put just enough to take out any spikes in the signal.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/GuitarCompression.jpg

Then I did a complete mix of the song. Here's what my mix looks like.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/Mix1.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/Mix2.jpg

In the mastering phase, I always use a little EQ, compression, and multi-band limiter. I've found that it normally sounds better to me if I do a little limiting before I actually import the track to my mastering software, so I used the dreaded Waves Ultramaximizer with a threshhold of -3 and an output of -1. What this does is flattens off everything louder than -3 DB and gives you a peak of -1db.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/MasterBusCompression.jpg

Then I mix everything down to a stereo wave file.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/Mixdown.jpg

[Prages]

Now I open up my mastering software. I use T-Racks 24 Mastering Suite. Open the stereo mix that you've just created and play with the settings for the EQ, compressor, multi-band compressor and output limiter. This is a preset that I've created, and I just have to tweek it a little bit to get it sounding good to me.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/Master.jpg

Most people say that this should be your last step. I prefer to do fade outs and editing out the silence at the beginning after I've mastered though. I do this in Wavelab Lite.

Open the mastered wave file and delete the silence.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/RemoveSilence.jpg

Then I check my peak level. In this case it was -.7 db. That's good. It's almost as loud as it can be without clipping. However, since I like to master everything too loud, I go ahead and normalize that to -.2 db.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/PeakLevel.jpg

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/NormalizeMaster.jpg

Now fade out the end.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/NewScreenCaps/Fadeout.jpg

And, we're done.

I'll upload the new guitar tracks and the final master as soon as I get to work. :aok:

[Prages]

Here are the new guitar tracks.

Rhythm Guitar 1 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Guitar1_10.mp3)

Rhythm Guitar 2 (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/Guitar2_16.mp3)

Lead Guitar (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/LeadGuitar_14.mp3)

And the final mix/master.

Can't Help Myself - Remix with new guitar tracks (http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/CantHelpMyself-01%20(master).mp3)

[Mark Wein]

Awesome job. :aok:


I like how you keep things dry and punchy. I hate it when people put so much reverb on a recording that it turns to mush.

In a couple of days I'll probably be putting up a recording forum here (I have some other reorganization in mind too) but I was thinking of having a permanent "Tutorials" sticky in there...this thread (and Punchys Midi drums one) would be an awesome start...

[Prages]

Awesome job. :aok:


I like how you keep things dry and punchy. I hate it when people put so much reverb on a recording that it turns to mush.

In a couple of days I'll probably be putting up a recording forum here (I have some other reorganization in mind too) but I was thinking of having a permanent "Tutorials" sticky in there...this thread (and Punchys Midi drums one) would be an awesome start...

Thanks.

I do sometimes get a little heavy handed with the reverb, but for this song, I really wanted it to be punchy. Notice though, that there is a touch of reverb on every track except for kick drum and bass guitar. There's a lot of reverb on the snare, and a fair amount on the vocal tracks. The rhythm guitar tracks just got a hint of reverb. The lead guitar track got a little more. There's also a little bit of delay on both the lead vocal track and the lead guitar track.

One little step that I didn't even document was that I gated the guitar track at the intro and beginning of the 2nd verse. It didn't make a whole lot of tonal difference, as you can hear by listening to the raw Rhythm Guitar 1 file, but gating everything below -8 db or so takes out any noise between the chord strums, and makes them sound almost choppy, which is what I was going for. :aok:

[Denverdave]

Great info here...especially the mastering and post mastering stuff. I have never done either of those things.

BTW - what is some good software to convert a .wav to an MP3? I did mine just by burning a CD with the .wav file, then ripping it with Media Player into a MP3, but it was still a bit hefty size wise (too big to drop in Bloody Velvet - they have a 7MB limit). I tried a free piece of software on the net, but the quality of the MP3 was bad..

[Mark Wein]

Great info here...especially the mastering and post mastering stuff. I have never done either of those things.

BTW - what is some good software to convert a .wav to an MP3? I did mine just by burning a CD with the .wav file, then ripping it with Media Player into a MP3, but it was still a bit hefty size wise (too big to drop in Bloody Velvet - they have a 7MB limit). I tried a free piece of software on the net, but the quality of the MP3 was bad..


I end up using iTunes most of the time...

[Prages]

I'm using MusicMatch Jukebox, which I think became Yahoo!Music in August 2007. One of these days I need to switch over because since Aug 2007 when I rip CDs it no longer fills in the track or artist info.

See if there's a quality setting in Media Player. I usually convert mine at 128 kbps for uploading. It's roughly 1 mb per minute that way.

[Prages]

Great info here...especially the mastering and post mastering stuff. I have never done either of those things.


The mastering really makes stuff sound better.

I'll have to upload the unmastered track tomorrow so you can compare the two. Mastering not only loudens the track, but it fattens it, while making it more clear and punchy.

Of course, it's really easy to get carried away with the compressor and multi-band limiter and turn your master into a bag of crap.

[Ronk]

The mastering really makes stuff sound better.

I'll have to upload the unmastered track tomorrow so you can compare the two. Mastering not only loudens the track, but it fattens it, while making it more clear and punchy.

Of course, it's really easy to get carried away with the compressor and multi-band limiter and turn your master into a bag of crap.

Nice job man.... I couldn't help but be reminded of that backing track you posted ... one of the chord progressions in this song is similar.

[Prages]

Nice job man.... I couldn't help but be reminded of that backing track you posted ... one of the chord progressions in this song is similar.

Yeah, I'm pretty bad about recycling stuff. :o

[Mark Wein]

Yeah, I'm pretty bad about recycling stuff. :o

Me too :o

[Ronk]

It's all good I must have listened to that backing track 100 times when I was recording onto it. :aok:

[Denverdave]

Yeah, I'm pretty bad about recycling stuff. :o

You...

And AC/DC....

And Led Zeppelin....

And Aerosmith...

And Boston....

And The Cure....

And....

[Dexter Inferno]

This has been a great read :aok:

And yeah, we do have some really different approaches for a few things biggrin
I do compress a whole lot more than you'd think though, fwiw I'm quite good at making it sound not that compressed ;)

Right now I'm thinking of doing a similar thread on a more full-size production (as in "fucking huge mixing project"), with lots of layering and synths and stuff, I think I have a song that might fit the bill.
Will take quite some time to complete, but I'll get to it eventually :-)

[Chihlidog]

For some reason, even though they arent even close, this song reminds me of a Rush tune.

[Prages]

For some reason, even though they arent even close, this song reminds me of a Rush tune.

That's weird.

I don't even like Rush all that much. I probably haven't heard a single song of theirs that isn't played constantly on classic rock radio. :o

[jmfoley]

Ok so I usually just record stuff through my interface (Tascam US 144) and use an amp sim for the tone. A few months ago I found that I had a Sennheiser 609 mic laying around so I figured I would try it on the cabinet. The issue I have is the volume is always really low when I play it back. I watch the meter (Reaper) and its about -6 to -4. Am I just doing something wrong or is this just something you take care of when you master the track? I guess if you recorded everything yourself it would all be relevent. Thanks for the recording thread Prages..

J

[Ronk]

Ok so I usually just record stuff through my interface (Tascam US 144) and use an amp sim for the tone. A few months ago I found that I had a Sennheiser 609 mic laying around so I figured I would try it on the cabinet. The issue I have is the volume is always really low when I play it back. I watch the meter (Reaper) and its about -6 to -4. Am I just doing something wrong or is this just something you take care of when you master the track? I guess if you recorded everything yourself it would all be relevent. Thanks for the recording thread Prages..

J


Does the mic need phantom power to work?

[Mark Wein]

Ok so I usually just record stuff through my interface (Tascam US 144) and use an amp sim for the tone. A few months ago I found that I had a Sennheiser 609 mic laying around so I figured I would try it on the cabinet. The issue I have is the volume is always really low when I play it back. I watch the meter (Reaper) and its about -6 to -4. Am I just doing something wrong or is this just something you take care of when you master the track? I guess if you recorded everything yourself it would all be relevent. Thanks for the recording thread Prages..

J

How loud of a signal are you running to "tape"? I would try and get your sound at the right volume and then use your ears and not the meters to determine how much input gain you need to crank before you get distortion....the e609 doesn't need phantom power. Is there a "pad" button on the interface's channel that you are using? That might also be a factor. If there is make sure that it is in the off position...

[Prages]

Also, if you record it a little low, in the digital environment, the noise floor is so low that you can always go back and normalize the track to make it louder without having a drastic effect on your noise.

The e609 should sound great in front of an amp.

[jmfoley]

How loud of a signal are you running to "tape"? I would try and get your sound at the right volume and then use your ears and not the meters to determine how much input gain you need to crank before you get distortion....the e609 doesn't need phantom power. Is there a "pad" button on the interface's channel that you are using? That might also be a factor. If there is make sure that it is in the off position...

Thanks for the info Mark. I don't remember seeing anything about a "pad" button on the interface, but then again I don't really know what half the buttons and options do anyway :o

[jmfoley]

Also, if you record it a little low, in the digital environment, the noise floor is so low that you can always go back and normalize the track to make it louder without having a drastic effect on your noise.

The e609 should sound great in front of an amp.

Thanks Prages, I'll try messing around normalizing the track and see how that goes.

[Alex_DeLarge]

Hey Prages, how much did it cost you to build that home studio??

[Prages]

Hey Prages, how much did it cost you to build that home studio??

Keep in mind that I've been accumulating this stuff for about 15 years.

I paid $500 for one of the Firepods and $300 for the second one.
Monitors were $600 for the pair.
Power conditioner was $80.
I got the headphone amp in a trade, but if you're just recording by yourself you don't really need one anyway.
I've probably got about $1500 tied up in mics.
Another $3-400 in stands and cables.
$100 for my snake.
Most of the software I use was given to me by a friend, so I think the only thing there I actually paid for was the T-Racks mastering software, which is about $100.
The headphones I use the most only cost about $30, but I've got several sets of cans that cost between $20 and $100.

As far as the actual room, I probably spent $1000-$1500 converting it from an unfinished attic into the finished room. This includes wiring, insulation, fixtures and outlets, and panelling. I did all the work myself on evenings and weekends over the course of about a year.

Then there's all the instruments and amps.

There's a lot of money tied up in it, but like I said, I've been accumulating this stuff for many years, so it wasn't like I spent $10k all at once on it.

[Alex_DeLarge]

Thanks Prages.

And how does your rack transfer the sound into your pc, through usb or firewire??

[Prages]

Thanks Prages.

And how does your rack transfer the sound into your pc, through usb or firewire??

It a firewire audio interface.

It's actually two of them. I've got the two interfaces daisy chained together, and then running to the PC. I can record 16 mics or 1/4" line-ins at the same time.

[AlanVanwinkle]

Keep in mind that I've been accumulating this stuff for about 15 years.

I paid $500 for one of the Firepods and $300 for the second one.
Monitors were $600 for the pair.
Power conditioner was $80.
I got the headphone amp in a trade, but if you're just recording by yourself you don't really need one anyway.
I've probably got about $1500 tied up in mics.
Another $3-400 in stands and cables.
$100 for my snake.
Most of the software I use was given to me by a friend, so I think the only thing there I actually paid for was the T-Racks mastering software, which is about $100.
The headphones I use the most only cost about $30, but I've got several sets of cans that cost between $20 and $100.

As far as the actual room, I probably spent $1000-$1500 converting it from an unfinished attic into the finished room. This includes wiring, insulation, fixtures and outlets, and panelling. I did all the work myself on evenings and weekends over the course of about a year.

Then there's all the instruments and amps.

There's a lot of money tied up in it, but like I said, I've been accumulating this stuff for many years, so it wasn't like I spent $10k all at once on it.

This is cool information. I have always dreamed of doing this, and you give me some guidelines were to start and how to go about it. Thanks Man!

[Peeker]

sweet!