recording yourself by yourself

janusmusic · Post by **janusmusic** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:51 pm

maybe i could ask another musician to come over and play while i get the mics right in the monitors.

That seems like a good idea. I've been recording myself for a long time. I think that it's really hard not to be subjective and easy to be hyper critical, because it's you playing it! These days the way I work is that i just go to it. Whatever happens happens really. Ultimiately I put the song above the engineering. If it's not happening I never blame the engineer side of it. But this is probably a different way of working and maybe not the most professional. I work really fast and try not to let the engineering get in the way, meaning I don't labor over it because it can put a halt on the whole thing if you get wrapped up in it. I guess what I'm saying is set up mics and rock and then play the hand you are dealt, hear it as a whole..seems to be when the magic happens when you are flying around like a maniac...iron chef style.

lee · Post by **lee** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:12 pm

test... test...
one two...

looks good thanks guys!

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 3:05 pm

I record myself exclusively, and all my recordings sound absolutely marvelous.

drewbass · Post by **drewbass** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 6:36 pm

mccartney's first solo album (including maybe i'm amazed) was recorded entirely by himself. on a console without vu meters. if it distorted on playback, he played it again, quieter.
d

space_ryerson · Post by **space_ryerson** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 7:19 pm

I try to be split personality when I record myself. When I'm tracking; I'm a musician, and nothing more. When I'm doing the engineering stuff, I try to think that it's another musician that I'm adjusting. It's fairly existential. I have to be pretty strict with myself, which makes my flaws all the more apparent, and I'm learning that sometimes I have to live with my flaws in order to get anything finished.

joeysimms · Post by **joeysimms** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:07 pm

John Jeffers wrote:
curtiswyant wrote:Extreme Iso headphones can't cut it on drums by myself.
Not to mention that they sound bad. I don't know, maybe I got a crappy pair. Even my Senn HD280's sound better, and they're far from great IMO. If I have to use headphones to get sounds or mix, I like Sony 7506's. The only time I use the Extreme Isos is when tracking drums so the click doesn't bleed out of the headphones, because they are great for that.

I disagree. I was sooo tired of trying with other phones that I found the Extreme ISO's to be wonderful at not wrecking my ears to get things taped. I don't wear e'm for long periods though, and I don't wear them for vocals.

As far as placement, mic/pre combinations, and how long that takes, etc., I just barrel through, 'mixing' each new sound to record and sit where it needs to. I don't have time to try 90 different things. As long as the thing has a pulse and it's a good song, none of it matters too much anyway. My only indulgence is that I will try almost every silly little impulsive idea I've got.

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:08 pm

joeysimms wrote:I disagree. I was sooo tired of trying with other phones that I found the Extreme ISO's to be wonderful at not wrecking my ears to get things taped. I don't wear e'm for long periods though, and I don't wear them for vocals.

You don't find yours to be extremely lacking in high end? One of the main reasons I bought them was for getting mics on drums and loud guitar cabs. I don't have a control room, and I'm often recording myself, so getting sounds goes like this:

1. Position the mics where you think they might sound good.
2. Record something.
3. Listen to what you recorded, and if you're not happy, go back to step 1.

Repeat those three steps until you get something you're happy with. Sometimes it takes a while. I was hoping the Extreme Isos would help cut down on the number of steps it took by allowing me to hear the results of mic placement while standing next to the loud sound sources, but no such luck. They're so dead in the high frequencies that they're of little use to me.

Again, maybe I just got a bad pair. Maybe I'm just used to hyped high end in modern headphones. Whatever, they don't do it for me.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:14 pm

lee wrote: ive lost a portian of my hearing; blasting the cans, trying to hear the headphones over the drums.
.

Dude, if you don't have isolation phones, put in earplugs and then crank up the phones. It'll get the phones blasting above the live drums so you can hear, but won't deafen you. it's kinda silly but it works and at the end of the day, you can re-do a drum track but you can't bring damaged hearing back.

joeysimms · Post by **joeysimms** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:55 pm

John Jeffers wrote:
joeysimms wrote:I disagree. I was sooo tired of trying with other phones that I found the Extreme ISO's to be wonderful at not wrecking my ears to get things taped. I don't wear e'm for long periods though, and I don't wear them for vocals.
You don't find yours to be extremely lacking in high end? One of the main reasons I bought them was for getting mics on drums and loud guitar cabs. I don't have a control room, and I'm often recording myself, so getting sounds goes like this:

1. Position the mics where you think they might sound good.
2. Record something.
3. Listen to what you recorded, and if you're not happy, go back to step 1.

Repeat those three steps until you get something you're happy with. Sometimes it takes a while. I was hoping the Extreme Isos would help cut down on the number of steps it took by allowing me to hear the results of mic placement while standing next to the loud sound sources, but no such luck. They're so dead in the high frequencies that they're of little use to me.

Again, maybe I just got a bad pair. Maybe I'm just used to hyped high end in modern headphones. Whatever, they don't do it for me.

I don't find mine to be extremely lacking in high end, no. My steps for recording myself are the same as yours but I only change mic distance, pre gain, or amp settings. Usually I've got the sound in 2 tries at the most. I found the isos to be great for setting up drum mics and actually hearing the placement and overall sound, instead of just the sound in the room. Also really good for hearing the mix (when tracking) above the source when the source is super loud. My other phones are akg 240m 600 ohm, not very loud at all.

cfMC · Post by **cfMC** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:42 pm

I like that tip about earplugs with the headphones for isolation. seems less dangerous than duct taping the phones to your head

I usually record myself (or even worse: myself with a band). I think the trick is you spend the time to figure out what works in your present environment. then you can trust your instincts, which is frequently the gist of recording this way (vs. when you can have somebody listening/engineering from an isolated place).

rolandk · Post by **rolandk** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:44 pm

My extreme iso's are seriously lacking in high end, I wonder if the padding in there soaks up the highs. I use studio monitor speakers as the best judge of sound quality when getting stuff set up. All the headphones I've used color the sound in some way. If phones are all you've got to work with, try and identify where they color the sound and compensate. Reference cd's would be good in this case.

I record myself like John said:

1. Position the mics where you think they might sound good.
2. Record something.
3. Listen to what you recorded, and if you're not happy, go back to step 1.

btw- there is a story in the Mixerman diaries about duct taping headphones to your head. Didn't turn out too well.

cfMC · Post by **cfMC** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:55 pm

that mixerman stuff was pretty good stuff. does he ever write anything like that anymore?

dwelle · Post by **dwelle** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:34 pm

i do it all by myself. i've actually configured my outboard gear in a roll around rack with all the appropriate patchbays that i can move around my live room so i can sit at my drums or in front of an amp and patch in pres, comps, whatever as i set up. for this i'll also move my tape deck into my live room so i can read the meters. i keep a little mackie 1604 on a rollaround rack with my remote to my tapedeck in it. so now i can sit wherever i want, have access to all my tracking gear, and give myself a mix, right on the spot.

when seting up, especially for drums, there is some forthing and backing from the live room/headphones setup to the control room to check sounds, but i find if you work with the same headphones consistently, you can learn them good enough to get in the ballpark. check sounds in the control room, modify mic's or whatever, and check again. i won't start going for keepers until i have the sounds i want, but i'll record almost everything just in case.

i used to use iso headphones to do some of this, but they sound like ass. so i do what was mentioned previously. i have some custom 15 db earplugs (the audiologists call them musicians plugs, expensive but so badass for what we do, everything is still there, it's just like turning the volume down) and i will wear those and phones and crank the phones. this is seriously the best way to do this kind of thing, i think. i've only dicovered the trick in the last month or so and my life is so much easier.

so yeah, it's totally doable. it just takes time, patience and persistence (what doesn't?) to get the sounds your after. but it's pretty cool when it all comes together. and it's nice to work alone if you're into that sort of thing.

good luck...

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:29 pm

Everyone has put up lots of great suggestions. I saw the most important thing is to not just rely on your headphones. They just won't cut it. I record myself alot and you have check on the monitors as well. It really doesn't take that much extra time. It will be worth it to take the time to do it, that way if you release it, you want have any regrets like, "Man if only I to 1 extra minute to listen the guitar would be a lot clearer."

dynomike · Post by **dynomike** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:53 pm

Recording yourself is a great way to get an intuitive sense for mic placement. Nine out of ten times when I set up mics, (even for drums) I don't feel the need to move them much if at all once I've started rolling. Why? Because I've recorded lots and listened back, moved them around, and recorded again.. in time you WILL get better and it'll become almost a breeze.

Two more tips. When recording things like guitar amps (simple things) set up a couple of mics. Print them all. You'll soon find out what you like best and where to put the mics int he future - but for now you've saved some time.

Also, these five words (which no one wants to hear) apply greatly to recording oneself.

FIX IT IN THE MIX.

Its a terrible reality of self-tracking when you can't monitor what you're recording - things will get screwed up. Get good at fixing them, and perhaps next time you track you'll know what you did wrong and be able to prevent the same problems from happening.

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