HOME RECORDING MEGATHREAD: Rivensbitch Teaches Recording

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coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

Hey a quick question for all you home recording masters.

How can I increase the input volume on my SM57? I am using Audacity to record at home, I have all the proper equipment to hook my Sm57 up to my computer. Everything works just dandy, but I have faced a major problem in recording acoustic guitar.

I can't hear the stupid thing when I (re)play it.

So I ask you, is their a simple way to increase the input volume on my SM57 or am I really going to have to invest in some more stuff?

# ¿ Mar 27, 2007 02:37

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 02:31

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

Can any body give me a small beginnners tutorial on how to record using audacity? I have a sm57 mic. I want to record guitar tracks and then solo over them. I have been using grados headphones to listen to myself while recording, and using a click track to stay on track. However, its still not really sounding good yet. There is a lot of static noise in the background and its not picking up the guitar very well, it sounds really really different from what I am playing live.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2011 20:22

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

rt4 posted:

What are you using to get the sound from the SM57 into your computer? That's probably the source of your problem.
As for recording 2 tracks with audacity, it's really simple. Record one track, create a new track and record into that one. Then you'll have to do a little fiddling with the second track to make it align with the first.

I am using a Cable to Line-in adapter, I think the technical term is like a 1/4in to 1/8in connector. I'm basically plugging into the line in on my computer. Does it really matter what sound card my computer has? Will I get a higher quality end product if I use a better sound card, or am I better off concentrating on my guitar, amplifier, microphone, and effects. By the way, I have been playing around with lining up tracks in Audacity and I got my input lag almost smack dab down, now that I can line up with the click track it's sounding wayyy better. But still not something I would want other people to hear yet. And that's what I'm going for. Any assistance is much appreciated!

# ¿ May 2, 2011 05:04

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

duck monster posted:

Yeah, sound cards on computers usually are passable for output but tend to be bloody horrible for input. Theres a few M-Audio type units that are pretty drat cheap and have pre's on them that aren't great but aren't terrible either.

Your soundcard inputs are designed for little dinky headphone mics for using skype or whatever. You want something better than that. 57s are great little instrument mics, your doing it no favor by making GBS threads up their qualities with a generic soundcard input.

What do you mean by pre's? Do you mean pre-amp? Because that is another concept I know next to nothing about. But I've heard that it is kind of important for reducing static and stuff like that. Which is really my main concern. Am I on track? I'll definitely look into those M-Audio type units on Google.

# ¿ May 2, 2011 20:40

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

Finally got a Mackie Onyx Blackjack (Pre-amp) and I'm trying to record into Adobe Audition (1.5). I'm having problems because it is only recording through the left channel when I record in stereo... anyone got some advice?

After some research and testing I think this is because I need a 1/4in splitter cable so that I can plug my guitar cable into both input slots on the Blackjack. Can anyone confirm/deny if I'm on track? Still a noob at this whole recording thing, right when I think I have it under my belt.

coolbian57 fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Feb 14, 2012

# ¿ Feb 11, 2012 22:52

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

breaks posted:

You are recording a mono instrument, so you should record it in mono. You can then convert the mono file to stereo if you need to (which will just put the mono audio into both the left and right channels). Splitting it to record it on two channels like that serves no purpose.

It might help if you could describe what are you trying to accomplish by recording it in stereo?

I just thought recording in stereo was inherently superior to recording in mono. I guess I was wrong? I'm going to have to research this more. I supposed it doesn't matter, because right now I am double or triple tracking each guitar part anyway (and panning them out).

# ¿ Feb 16, 2012 19:02

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

I think I'm at the stage where I decently understand my gear, and the basics of my recording program of choice. However, I don't really still understand the parametric equalizer, or how to mix my music. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to learn this stuff? I'm talking about when people say to put the bass drums at x Hz. If it makes any difference I would be mixing guitar, bass guitar, trumpet, piano.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 05:47

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

Does anyone have advice on how to "uncrowd" guitar tracks? I have two guitar tracks going at a decent tempo (142 bpm) and there are major second intervals between the rhythm and lead parts; my problem is that for some reason this seems to stick out and crowd up the tracks. Maybe I will post it to see if i can get some advice.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2012 02:53

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

Anyone want to give me a walkthrough on how to record guitars using 2 SM57a and Mackie Preamp/USB interface? I feel like i have this great gear sitting around i almost never use and when i do, i got discouraged because the takes sound like a garbled mess. I want to just record some simple guitar comps and leads to just practice, well, recording i suppose.

My process right now is cable everything up, open up Reaper and get that to work (used to take me at least 30 minutes just to do this) with the Preamp/interface, and then begin recording. After i get a decent take, I usually try to EQ that guitar part and pan it so that there is room for other guitars in the mix My methods are not scientific enough, because i have trouble getting 2 guitars to sit in the mix well (unless they are playing the same exact part).

On the other hand, I have used amp sims to some better effect, but still run into some of the same issues. There isn't enoug space inthe recording for more than one guitar part.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2013 20:51

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

strangemusic posted:

I'd love to talk about this! Maybe post some clips if you feel like it, it might help to get a picture of what you feel needs improving with the sounds you're getting. In general, you want to concern yourself with mic placement, phase coherence, separation of frequencies in the mix (avoiding "mud"), and tonal variation/blending between mics. I can go into greater detail on all that stuff if desired.

Yes, this is exactly the kind of stuff I need to know. Here I will add more detail about what I've been doing.

I position both SM57s about 1 inch away from the center of the amp. I turn the amp volume up to about 3, and use between 25-35 dB of gain on the preamp. This gives me a nice medium volume when recording (I've heard to get as close to clipping as possible, without going over which is what I'm trying to do here). I position both microphones directly next to each other and the same distance from the amp, to try to avoid any phase problems. I don't really understand phase so I try to do this as a workaround, but I'm afraid that positioning both microphones right next to each other like this probably causes more mud. I usually have to fiddle with the microphone placement quite a lot until I get something which I think is working.

Then, I record onto two tracks in Reaper (I have also tried doing one stereo track of both mics). I try to pan one of the mics slightly off from the other so they can breathe more. I usually pan anywhere from 30% to 100%, I feel that I am pretty good at panning but then again I have a lot of mud. I then EQ the guitars, trying to remove "bad" frequencies, although I am not technical in this at all and just use my ears. I usually fiddle around with the two tracks until I get something I feel is decent (which thus far has not been good enough to have room for drums or bass, or any other instruments). I'm not sure if I should be full cutting the EQ on some points on one guitar, and not the other, or some other technique etc.

My issue is that there is no "definition" in the guitars, when I play distorted power chords for example you can't even tell when is the pick attack, the notes all bleed into one another. Perhaps I need to crank my amp louder to resolve this. Plus all of the mud makes it hard to fit anything else in. I have tried to correct this in my arrangements of the guitars (separating them by an octave or more, and trying more sparse parts generally) but it didn't really resolve the issue, and much of the music I would like to record has very dense harmonies.

coolbian57 fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Nov 4, 2013

# ¿ Nov 4, 2013 02:25

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 02:31

coolbian57: Sep 27, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

strangemusic posted:

I'm out at the moment but I'll put together a post on some guitar things soon!

EDIT: OK, I'm back.

Guitars!

The first thing to figure out, which is totally peripheral to actual engineering but ideal in making a production decision, is where your amp sounds best for the tone you want, whether that's full-on loud or not, etc. Dial it in!

If you multi-mic a guitar amp, generally you might want to do so with mics of two different types (or more if you're getting really technical and/or have a huge board and want to do crazy stuff like miking the back of an open cabinet.) I work as an each-mic-gets-its-own-track kind of guy, personally. This is done purely to achieve tonal variation and give you choices in the final blend of the guitar sound at mix time - is your SM57 giving you a sound that is a little pointy or nasal? Blend it with a darker mic that you've got on the same cabinet and you can adjust those tonal colours in your DAW. The SM57 is, however, a really good standard choice. If you have enough inputs that you can take a DI signal to the DAW and pass through to your amp to record the mics as well, it's a nice safety net (throw an amp sim on it maybe) but by no means a necessity.

If you've got two 57s as stated, multi-miking isn't going to broaden your tonal palette quite as much right off the bat as having two mics with different signatures. Two 57s right next to each other on a speaker are just going to sound like... two 57s. This is where you can start to look at mic positioning. In essence, fiddling can be good! The tone at right dead centre on the speaker cone is not going to be exactly the same as the tone off-axis by a few degrees, or off to the edge of the cone, and so on. Different cones in the same cab can also sound different. Place one mic straight on, and experiment with placing the other in alternative ways to see what you can get out of the cab. With an SM57, the closer you get to a source you will experience a gradually increasing proximity effect, or a deepening of low-end that may help bring more body to a small or thin-sounding source.

This brings us to phase relationship, which is, in essence, determined by time synchronization between the sound waves that are hitting different capsules. If your mics are out of phase, the resulting signal will sound thin and boring (and quieter) because of frequency cancellation. Generally, try to get both capsules the same distance from the grille to achieve good phase relationships. Always check your work: if your preamp or DAW has a phase flip button (�), flip one of the two mics and see what happens. If it sounds terrible all of a sudden, you probably made a good placement choice and should switch it back the way it was. If it sounds better with the flip on (and you're sold on the positions you have), keep it! For a traditional guitar sound I generally like to mic quite close to the grille. The further away you place the mics, the more roomy the amp will start to sound.

Once you've got a placement you like and have a sense of what the amp is doing and how the mics are hearing it, you should be good to record. To keep things from getting muddy at mix time, consider the different parts and how they interact. Amps tend to hum or rumble: use a high-pass filter with a corner set in the tens of Hz (somewhere from 30 to 70Hz probably) at a relatively steep slope to eliminate this waste energy from clouding the picture of your mix as it grows. If you have, let's say, a rhythm line with full chords and a lead line with higher single notes, carve the excess low-end or low-midrange flab out of the lead and it might sit better on top of the bass and body notes in the chords. Consider the mics you're using: 57s tend to be a bit midrange-heavy so the more parts you stack, the more you might end up with an overall midrange honk to your tone. This is where EQ comes in and you really have to use your ears. This chart may be of use in terms of putting the idea of "it sounds tinny/flabby/shrill/warm/punchy/defined/growly" into the realms of certain frequency bands.

If you're doubling parts, you may want to change something slightly in the tone stack/signal chain or even the playing style so it doesn't sit exactly in the same territory as its partner - this may add to the sensation of "thickness" in layered guitars. No two takes (at least on guitar: synths can get annoying) are going to be ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL even if you don't change anything, so there's a natural sense of variation in the layers that helps them add together instead of sucking the life out of one another. Making some tonal changes at the source when doubling or multi-tracking parts can add to this variation. To take this to an extreme: on big studio days I've done, there is a certain engineer who will often request a wall of five or six cabs/heads fed from one guitar, all with multiple mics, just to get tons of thickness via different tone characteristics and different blending possibilities from having the same part done with many different amps. Of course, this also goes very loud, looks extremely and impresses the poo poo out of clients, so there's that.

Panning may be dependent on what else is sitting in the mix and how you want to present that to the listener. Maybe you want to give the impression that you have two distinct guitarists playing two parts on a stage: imagine them standing on opposite sides of that stage and pan them likewise. Experimentation is welcome. If you've got your drum overheads panned hard left and right with the kick and snare in the middle, for example, consider which frequencies are occupying those "lanes" - the overs/cymbals are going to have a lot of high end, the snare has midrange crack and resonance, and so on. If you send the guitars into the same lane, they're going to interact with those other elements. EQ again becomes your friend in terms of sorting this out when things pile on top of one another, but positioning with panning can free up a "lane" so there's more clarity to each element. With guitars in layers I tend to think of each part (rhythm, lead, etc.) like a point source or a person on a stage: I wouldn't generally pan two different mics on the same cab playing the same part in two (drastically) different directions.

drat, this is a lot of and I hope I've been helpful in some way!

Interesting idea to send two signals, and amp sim one of them and mic a real amp on the other. For now though, I've taken away that I should probably experiment to get a good tone with just one mic for now, write down/describe the mic placement and tone achieved. Then, add the second microphone, perhaps on a different mic placement or tone setting on the amp, and on a different play. Then pan them in the same lane, with one at maybe 50% left and the other at 53% left (or something similar). I said I have 2 SM57s, but actually I have one SM57 and one GLS Audio ES-57 (a knockoff), so maybe the slightly different signatures of the mics would help get more tonal variation.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2013 16:52

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