recording help for a newbie

[jpurvis]

So i'm a total newbie at digital recording and don't know where to start. I'm in a classic rock/country band with 2 guitars, a drummer, and myself on bass, and sometimes keys. We have a pa and I'm wondering if I can just run a line out to the pc and buy some software or is there more to it than that? I'm just looking to record with semi-decent quality thats not (through the air). it would be nice to edit too but I don't want to spend a small fortune at the same time. I know it's hard to mic drums but maybe some software can help that. not looking to buy a bunch of recording mics just something good enough to put on a cd. Thanks

[deeaa]

Well jpurvis, I'll be happy to help if I can. Such recording has been my favorite hobby since the late 80's and I've recorded literally hundreds of songs and can't count how many studio gigs and producing jobs...I know a lot about all the little things that go into making recordings cheap and easy and I'm always happy to discuss the issue and help & gain new info also myself. So just ask away!

You don't say what's the budget? These days you don't need a lot to get great recordings even. But you do indicate you have a PA and a PC at your disposal, which must mean you have a mic or two already and a PC which is the most costly part.

If you have never recorded anything, I strongly suggest you start by making stereo recordings first. Just record the whole band from the position of a listener, and try to get things in a good balance, transfer the recording onto PC and explore what more can be done to it by EQ, compression, tweaks.

When you get a recording that is clear and passable that way, you should then start adding a few mics. First record the kick and snare on separate tracks, those are the most important ones, and then also vocals.

But to do any of this you do need some hardware.

I can heartily recommend a Zoom R-16. You can get one with a spacious SD card for under 400 I think now. It comes with PC software that is more than sufficient (and totally pro level too) and it has very good built-in mics for stereo recording plus a huge array of other goodies. BUT it can also record 8 mics at once or do overdubs etc. easily, and record it all on an SD card which you can just directly take to our PC and have full multitracks there for further work, AND/OR it can just be plugged into your PC and it's a full-blown soundcard too.

Well in short, I can't believe how good that machine really is, and it is just perfect for any band from very starters to even quite professional recordings. I could record a totally pro sounding album using only the Zoom R-16 and a couple of Shure 57's or 58's, something I could never have believed possible even 5 years back.

The way I'd do it is use the Zoom in-built mics as 'overheads' for the drums plus a mic for kick and snare (4 tracks), which I'd record using a click for the drummer. (or if i had more mics, maybe record something else at the same time). Then I'd record the guitars each on 2-3 tracks miking with 57 and the zoom's own farther away, and then bass and keys and vocals, always recording with zoom's mics and a 57. Then drag all the tracks to Cubase supplied with the Zoom, and mixdown them adding EQ's and compressors and such.

Actually that's exactly how we do our stuff, only we record usually several tracks at once with more mics. Here's some of our training facility demos done on the Zoom:

http://www.mikseri.net/spookbox

And that's not something we've really intended to be extremely polished and nice, just mere hours used on making each track etc.not a huge effort really.

[pedalbuilder]

Everything that deeaa says it pretty much spot-on, but if you are looking to spend even less money, you may be able to pull off the PA trick you mention with decent results. But not without some sort of a decent audio interface. On my PC I have a EMU 0404 PCI card and that records very nicely. You can also get external Firewire or USB audio interfaces that will do the job. Decent ones start in the $100 range. Your normal PC soundcard is not likely up to the task, though.

All of this is said that, with hindsight, most people eventually opt for something like the Zoom R16 that deeaa mentioned so you might save yourself some cash in the longterm by taking that approach right from the get-go.

[jpurvis]

Thank you for the input and great advice! As for budget, we don't have a set amount. We're just looking to buy something bare bones to try the water so to speak. Later on as we learn more and feel more confident possibly upgrade. The Zoom R-16 looks like a great piece of equipment with lots of capability, but has a lot more capability than we would probably use at the moment. Thanks for the input on how to record the drums. Oh and I failed to mention that our drummer was given an Alesis 8 channel mixer that has a usb cable.

[deeaa]

I understand the R-16 is quite a lot to start with, but then again it's the same price pretty much as a good stereo recorder - and you won't run out of possibilities any time soon with one.

BUT since you already have that Alesis mixer - I take it it also works as a soundcard, i.e. just plug it in a computer, install some multitracker (I recommend Cubase LE to start with, there's many even free options from Kristal to Reaper etc.) and just work with that. All you need is a few mikes to get going with recording, then!

[jpurvis]

I'll look into some software then, seems like the easiest way to start. I appreciate the advice on the R-16 It is an amazing piece of equipment for the money and we will probably upgrade to that later. Thanks!

[pedalbuilder]

For software, check out Reaper. It's great, free to try, and cheap to license!