Setting up your own mild priced recording studio

7Dime7MetalMassacre · Post by **7Dime7MetalMassacre** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 5:54 pm

Whats up guys, anybody know much about setting up your own makeshift studio?

Im in a metal band and we are trying to record come tracks man, When we record we play everything live

I have a small 8 track digital recorder, i got a couple shure sm57 microphones i am using to mike the guitar cabs i have a condenser mic i am using to mic the drums. We recorded a couple songs in a room that is about 12x12 and the drums sound incredibly loud over the guitars.

I am guessing if we set everything up in a bigger room the drums wont be so loud over the guitars?

So i have my guitar cabs mic'd on their own track, i have the drums mic'd through a condensor mic on their own track and i have the vocals mic'd through their own track.....Is there a better setup i can use that is within a reasonable price range?

BaptizedBurning · Post by **BaptizedBurning** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:03 pm

try turning down the gain on the mixer for the drums. you can also try putting the condensor mic a little farther away from the cymbals. a lot of times the cymbals come out really loud on mics, but they don't need to be very loud at all on the mix. or you can always record the drums separately.

also, try to face the guitar cabs and their mics away from the drums. it's likely those mics are picking up a lot of sound from the drums.

7Dime7MetalMassacre · Post by **7Dime7MetalMassacre** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:08 pm

Yeah, i see what your saying man, but we try to record live with everything going , just separatly mic'd. Shit recording the drums separatly is some shit, as far as timing and everything....Fuck man i think we will set up in a bigger room and hopefully we can get everything euilized and the next recording wont fucking fall off. Thx for the advise man, im open to other sugg.

Pfl?yd · Post by **Pfl?yd** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:12 pm

Don't use a condenser mic on the drums unless you are using them as ambient room mics. The SPLs from a drum kit will distort or even damage them. The rule of thumb is, don't put a condenser mic anywhere you wouldn't put your own ear drum.

For drums, get some decent drum mics and an SM-57 for the snare. If you are recording live do everything in your power to isolate the cabs from the drums and vice versa. Having eight mics on the drums will pick up A LOT of bleed from the other sound sources in the room.

Tweel · Post by **Tweel** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:27 pm

i've been using a smaller bass drum in front of the regular bass drum to record the kick and it's badass, definatly worth trying if you have the extra bass drum

Pfl?yd · Post by **Pfl?yd** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:49 pm

Tweel wrote:i've been using a smaller bass drum in front of the regular bass drum to record the kick and it's badass, definatly worth trying if you have the extra bass drum

How do you mean? Like as an ambient effect for recording? This is new to me and I have drums everywhere, so this might be something to try.

Metallash · Post by **Metallash** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:14 am

Machine used Condensers on the Drumkit when recording Lamb of God 'Ashes Of The Wake' although you arent really supposed to use them, he recorded the Drums seperate from the cymbals too.

SM57's work well on pretty much the whole of a Drumkit but id use:

SM57 - Snare
Sennheiser e604's (toms) - Toms
D112 - Kick
Rhode NT1's - Overheads

the mics are quite cheap and give decent results.

You should record the Drums seperate to the other instruments especially since you have the an 8 track, record the drums, then record the bass, then guitars then vocals, that way you can set the volume for each instrument.

Pfloyd - Ive seen what Tweels talking about, you can buy them aswell to clip onto the front of kick drums to add more of a thicker sound to the kick, i think its called a subkick.