We haven’t talked about drum recording in a while. But I know for a fact that it can be one of the more frustrating aspects of recording a band. Let’s look at some simple ways you can not only make your drums sound better, but you’ll also make the experience more fun. Recording drums can...
It’s funny how easy it is to screw up something simple like mic placement. I can understand the frustration of moving the mic around without really knowing what you’re looking for. It’s hard to look for the perfect balanced sound if you’re not 100% sure what that should sound like. And it’s even harder if...
There’s something to be said about experimentation. It’s great if you got the time. But when you need to get down and dirty right away, experimentation is a luxury you don’t have. If you need a good sound fast, then walking around the room with headphones trying to find the sweet is not your idea...
Let’s face it, good music will always be amazing even if the audio quality sucks. In the end, the audio doesn’t matter at all. It’s the impact of the music that dictates whether it’s any good. An average listener isn’t going to care that it was recorded with Neumann U87s, mixed with outboard tube compressors...
During my interview with Andrew Scheps last weekend(audio will be up soon, I promise), we talked a bit about mic selection. Especially when it comes to vocals. You see, when you’re of different microphones until you find one that works for the singer’s voice. But that’s not all. The voice also needs to work in...
At the end of the day, it’s all about the vocal. And because of that, there’s intense pressure to nail that vocal. The pressure goes both ways, to the engineer as well as the vocalist. The engineer feels pressure about setting up the microphones correctly, selecting the right mic for the job and making sure...
When you’re doing an acoustic guitar recording you’re going to want the most out of your full-bodied instrument. The nature of it being an acoustic instrument means that you will need some fairly capable mics if you want to capture the whole sound of the acoustic guitar – Everything from the deep lows to the...
This is a guest post by Jamie from Audio Engineering School. Please read the guest post guidelines if you wish to contribute a guest post. Micing live instruments is more often an exercise in patience and experimentation. But if you’re in a tight crunch, these tips can help you get you the results you need in a...
Getting a juicy bass sound is something we all want right? Dealing with the low-end is tricky. It’s like sand. It gets everywhere when you only want it to stay on the ground. Bad analogies aside, low-end is pretty tricky to deal with, and during recording there are some things you should consider when you’re...
I got this question about recording vocals a while back. The studio is just a spare bedroom. The acoustics are really not that bad but we always have problems recording vocals. They seem very mundane and flat. This is a very common problem with home recording. Recording vocals in a small bedroom will never give...