DIY Recording

DIY recording is a reality, more and more people are doing music! It is amazing how technology touches our lives, raises challenges and also makes things which seemed impossible become reality! More and more musicians are starting to record themselves, lured by marketing campaigns like "Studio in a box!" and by the low price of the technology. So they buy a multi-track workstation like a Korg, a Boss or a Roland, they buy a mic, they read the manuals, they do the recording and then the mixing (these boxes are amazing, aren't they? tons of virtual tracks, they have all the effects and EQ's) and then they are surprised to discover that their product is far from an acceptably commercial one! Sounds familiar?

Trying to save money makes sense, everybody does it, but you have to do it wisely. I am giving these tips away because I had many clients who were doing the recordings themselves, then came and ask me to do the mixing for them. Many of them believed that you can fix all the problems at mixing, but that is not true if the recording is not done at least at an acceptable level.

"Do it yourself" can be a viable option, provided you do it properly and you are willing to learn a bit about how to record. Also, there are limitations to this process; you can get a decent product that you can sell at gigs, but it's not going to be good enough for a commercial release or even as a professional demo.

Right off bat, everybody should understand that recording and mixing require a completely different set of skills. Mixing is a very complex process, and there is no way you can do it right on a $1000 box and a set of cheap headphones. A single high-end EQ plugin could be well over a thousand dollars, so you can understand why these boxes are so limited. Also, the listening environment needs certain things, and that starts with good monitors and an acoustically controlled environment. So, if you decide that you want to go this avenue, I would advise to do the recording yourself and have the mixing and mastering done in a professional studio.

If you want to do the recording yourself, get a multitrack that does record at 24 bits. Do not buy a cheap mic, rather go and rent one or a matched pair. (Go for a good condenser, like AKG 414- which has three patterns- and is a great all around mic - for vocals, acoustic guitar, etc- and a dynamic like MD 421 Senheiser for guitar amps/percussion or an SM57. AKG 414 is a standard studio mic, you can't go wrong with it. Also, rent one or two mic preamps (9098 Amek, Millenia, UA, Focusrite red, dbx blue) or a channel strip- try a Pendulum Quartet or Millenia STT1 or Avalon.

Run everything through the preamps, make sure you don't go into clipping and try to leave the multitrack fader as low as possible (their quality is not great, so if you keep them at a low/medium level you can avoid distortion/sound degradation). Again, avoid clipping!!! When you record at 24 bit, it is definitely OK to record at a lower level than risk to get close to “0” and running into problems. ALWAYS LISTEN AFTER RECORDING !!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many people use drum machines; sync it with the multitrack and run the drums separately, one by one through the preamps. A major problem are the meters on the workstation box, they do not show you the whole story, especially with percussion, and it is very easy to go over without even knowing it. Pay special attention to shakers, cymbals, and similar instruments. For vocal/acoustic instruments try to find a quiet place in the house, choose the large rooms, make sure the reverberation is rather low, and throw some blankets if you need to dampen the sound.

Avoid recording vocal in the bathroom (I rather suggest to try an electric guitar amp there). Natural reverbs are desirable if they're excellent; otherwise, if it's not that great, once printed to tape you can't take them out. Use blankets around to control the reverberation. And even if the reverbs are great, they should fit the style of music you’re doing, so give it some consideration. Recording yourself for some small projects could be very interesting and rewarding. Try to experiment, you can get some very interesting sounds. But, as a rule of thumb, when it comes to regular instrument sounds, try to capture the signal as clean as you can. There are two schools of thoughts: one is to record clean (mostly the American school) and one is to print with effects (mostly European/ British). Have in mind that, because of the lack of experience at mixing, if you want to print with effects, hopefully you know exactly what you want, because once recorded you can not cancel it, so it may be better to print it clean.

Once you have the song recorded, listen carefully to each track (solo), then listen to them together. Are there clippings? Any distortion problems? Excessive noise? Are the vocals clean; can you understand the words? Listen to some music in the vein of the music you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to compare. Some people record everything themselves except the vocals, and they go into a studio and overdub the vocals. That is a smart idea, nothing beats a high- end combo mic/preamp/EQ/compressor and an acoustically controlled space, aside of the fact that you can listen to your voice through some good monitors and get some advice from the studio whether or not to redo some parts, do some more punch ins, or what can be edited and corrected at mixing and what can’t.

<< BACK <<