Newbie recording question

msly · Post by **msly** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:00 pm

Well its been a long time since I have done any recording ... just got my DAW all setup... and have pretty good equipment.... I guess my question is how do you make your tracks sound separate. I would imagine its a cross between song arrangement and eq?

My first project has Sampled drums (sorry no live drummer i wish)... distorted rhythm guitar .... guitar solo and Bass.

I think sometimes the problem is that rhythm guitar parts should probably have less distortion then you think.... this is not Metal I am recording but sort of a funk Blues thingy..... I guess I am just looking for some words of wisdom...

sLY

runrunrun · Post by **runrunrun** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:28 pm

you should just try a bunch of different approaches to recording things. try things that you think would never work and maybe they will be great. just experiment and eventually you will find something you like.

bocmaxima · Post by **bocmaxima** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:10 pm

For me, I get things fundamentally right...like the distortion to sound right in the room, then I place my mic in different places, recording samples and playing them back and adjusting.

That might not work for you, so just keep trying things.

msly · Post by **msly** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:24 am

There is no doubt I have many years of learning ahead of me... I know there are so many factors that make certain recording sound great. I still have a recording I did on a cheesy 4-track back in the 80's, I am still amazed how it sounds.... forget about how many times I had to mix down tracks to free up tracks then forget about all the noise it added.... Geez i guess now that we are in the digital age and the equipment we are using is 100 times more powerful and 10 times cheaper.... but I bet we can all agree sometimes there is something in the air that makes a recording great... well back to the drawing board... thanks for all the help....

sLY

therethere · Post by **therethere** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:50 am

msly wrote:There is no doubt I have many years of learning ahead of me... I know there are so many factors that make certain recording sound great. I still have a recording I did on a cheesy 4-track back in the 80's, I am still amazed how it sounds.... forget about how many times I had to mix down tracks to free up tracks then forget about all the noise it added.... Geez i guess now that we are in the digital age and the equipment we are using is 100 times more powerful and 10 times cheaper.... but I bet we can all agree sometimes there is something in the air that makes a recording great... well back to the drawing board... thanks for all the help....

sLY

panning and eq are your best friends....

surf's up · Post by **surf's up** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:56 pm

hmm, i would say youre probably right about guitars not really needing as much distortion as you would think. especially if you layer them. so thats one thing to try.

also, i think one of the best ways to create separation and make it feel like everything has its own individual place is using front-to-back depth. im no master at this, im still trying to get a feel for it using the various psychoacoustic concepts. i love the way Sgt. Pepper sounds cus you can really perceive the different instruments occupying their own space. i think that album is a great example of separation without losing cohesiveness.

pumadrum · Post by **pumadrum** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 1:56 pm

For me, I get things fundamentally right...like the distortion to sound right in the room, then I place my mic in different places, recording samples and playing them back and adjusting.

I second that emotion....

Also:
---Dial in a sound you like for DGuitar.... and then turn down the gain a little bit.
---Make sure you are keeping first reflections out of the mic (major phasing issues).
---Use a really really clean preamp (DAV BG-1 is one of many) to learn on. That way you will know the different colors your mics are providing.
---Don't compress your DGuitars or drastically EQ them.
---Or just throw up a 57 and forget about it....

joeysimms · Post by **joeysimms** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:05 pm

Larry 'I Knew Elliott Smith' Crane wrote: "Just shutup and make the fucking record"

Kilroy · Post by **Kilroy** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:29 pm

joeysimms wrote:
Larry 'I Knew Elliott Smith' Crane wrote: "Just shutup and make the fucking record"

eq is pretty usefull to get things to sound seperate. I was mixing a song of mine today that the bass wasnt really cutting through the way i wanted it to. So i found the sound i wanted on the bass, which was around 666hz, and boosted it a little, then i cut out around that frequency in the drum track (one mic drums) and in the guitars some. Doing that helped the bass to come through and not blend in with everything else. Im not sure if thats the greatest way of doing it. But it worked for me and got things sounding the way i wanted it to sound on that track.

philbo · Post by **philbo** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:16 am

For tweaking sound, the best place to start is the mic positioning. If you do that right, EQing the track later to get your sound is usually not needed.

Record some (direct) clean guitar, then feed a very low level line from that to your guitar amp (through whatever effects & stomp boxes you use on the guitar rig). Play the sample back in a repeating loop.

Set up a mic for the guitar amp, and feed the mic signal through your mixer into closed headphones.

Wearing the headphones, move the mic to get just the sound you want.
You'll find an amazing amount of difference moving the mic just a few inches makes to the sound.

The same principle applies to micing any other instrument, except for acoustic instruments, where you'll need somebody to play the instrument while you are moving the mic.
________
MERCEDES-BENZ M130 ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:02 am

Don't forget the concept of subtractive EQ. Additive EQ makes for a congressional scale mess.

YOUR KONG · Post by **YOUR KONG** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:45 am

kayagum wrote:Don't forget the concept of subtractive EQ. Additive EQ makes for a congressional scale mess.

Indeed. This is where I would start, actually. Chop out ALL the lows, starting at like 20hZ and then creeeeeeeeeping upwards until you feel like it starts to alter the sound of the guitar in a way you don't like. Then do the same thing with the highs.

Then you can mess with additive EQ if you want, but do it sparingly - as kayagum says, being generous with boosting frequencies will make a hell of a mess.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:18 pm

just make sure the instrument sounds you record in the first place sounds good together..thats it..

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