In my previous article that outlined the various equipment available to the home studio user, I didn’t really go into the practical side of things. That’s what this guide is all about. You’ll probably get the most out of this if you’re in your recording space and ready to go.
Setting UpThere’s not a lot you need to do here. You can try to find the room sweet spot as described in the previous guide and at least hang some doonas behind you to record anything with a microphone.
Only have things setup that you’re going to use. If you’re not using something, it should be back in it’s home! Leads can get very friendly and tend to merge into an unusable mess very quickly when you leave the room. Don’t be a victim! Coil your leads up and hang them somewhere within reach, but not on the floor.
Create a template/s in your recording software that has your most common screen layout and routing settings.
Getting a Good Signal (no external preamp):It’s important to get a good clear signal to your recording medium. The first step in getting a good signal is the source instrument. If you’re recording your guitar, fit new strings, let them settle and tune up properly! Always think in terms of the ‘signal chain’, and remember that problems early in the chain will be carried down to other equipment and possibly even exacerbated.
The same mentality applies to any source instrument. Make sure it’s the best it can be.
The next stage in the signal chain is the capture device. This could be a microphone or a direct input into your audio interface. For microphones, you may only have one or two to choose from, but even a good quality dynamic microphone will provide good results. Microphone placement is where you’ll hear the biggest changes in quality.
For recording your electric guitar amp, point the microphone directly at the edge of the speaker cone and up against the grill. You might also try another microphone about 4 - 5 inches away, pointing towards the center of the speaker on the other side of the first microphone. The second microphone should go to it’s own track.
Play the loudest section of this track and check the input level on your audio interface (AI). Ideally, the loudest section of the track should cause the red overload light on the AI to flash briefly. If you don’t ever see the red light, you’ll need to adjust the gain control on the AI. What you’re doing is making sure the signal is as strong as it can be, without overloading the AD converters in the AI. This is not the same as overloading analogue gear! Sometimes, overloading analogue tape recorders yields pleasant, warm saturation, but the AD converter turns electrical signals into numbers. There is a finite maximum level that can be recorded as a number, based on the largest binary number that the bit depth you‘re recording with can represent. If you go beyond this level, you’ll get very nasty results, so be careful. The red light will come on just before the maximum input is read in most units, but it’s either on or off, so it will be on for just before an over the limit reading and everything reading higher than that too!
You may be wondering why I suggest living dangerously close to the maximum level? Well, it’s all about utilising the dynamic range of your equipment and getting a strong signal to noise ratio. In any recording you make, some noise from the system will also be there with the recorded performance. If you record your performance at as high a level as possible, this noise represents as small a part of the total signal as possible.
Don’t be tempted to turn the gain down if the sound is too loud in your headphones. Turn the monitor level down. In the next guide, when we look at mixing, you’ll be glad you have such good, solid levels in your original tracking. It makes things easier down the track.
Getting a Good Signal (with an external microphone preamp):Nothing much different here, except you have another unit in the signal chain before the AI. People use external preamps to replace the ones in their AI. I have a couple that I always use, too. Preamps are a subjective type of thing! People tend to hear different qualities than others, and people argue about which are the best etc…
Setting up an external preamp is as easy as plugging your microphone into it, and plugging it’s output into a line input on your AI. Turn the gain on the AI all the way off, as this is the AI’s preamp gain control and we are not using it anymore. Make the necessary adjustments on the preamp to achieve the best input levels and away you go!
Be aware that most stand alone preamps will provide more gain than an AI, and they’ll have some features that you should learn about properly by reading their manual before use.
Using Compression:I feel this is a life saver for vocals, bass and acoustic instruments. You place a compressor in the signal chain during tracking. The compressor will lower the level if it’s too high. This allows you to record at higher levels safely without worrying about overloading the AI converters. Check the other guide for instructions on how to use a compressor.
http://guitaraustralia.com/forum/index.php/topic,12.0.html <-
Equipment GuideThere are some drawbacks to using compressors though:
- You can’t easily undo the compressors effect once you’ve recorded the track.
- The compressor may add it’s own tonal characteristics to the track. Sometimes, this is desirable though.
- You’ll lose dynamic range. This means that the gap between the quietest and loudest parts of the track is diminished. It happens because compressors have a control called ‘make up gain’ that raises the output level of the compressor. You need this because after the highest levels have been ‘compressed’ you have lost gain in the signal, so you turn up the make up gain control to compensate. This effectively raises the level of the below threshold signal, whilst the above threshold signal doesn’t rise in level as much, because it’s being compressed.
For vocals, try a ratio setting of about 2:1 or less. Any more than that will produce unnatural sounding vocals. Play around with the threshold whilst the singer/you is performing what would be the loudest part of the take. As you adjust the threshold, you’ll see a readout of how much compression is taking place. It’ll be a LED readout, or a needle, showing an amount of decibels. It’s not a law, but you generally use this to gauge how much make up gain to add back to the signal.
Doing this will smooth out your vocal recording, and reduce the difference from the highest signal level to the lowest. But there is another way, if all you want to do is ensure you don’t exceed the maximum input to the AI, whilst retaining dynamic range.
Most compressors have a mode known as ’limiting’. This is still compression, but it’s called ’brick wall’ compression, because the threshold is now a setting for the highest signal level allowed to pass the unit. If you threshold is set to -2 dB, nothing over -2 dB will leave the unit. Whereas, with a normal compressor, the threshold sets the point above which the reduction ratio will be applied. There’s a big difference.
Using a limiter allows you to retain all the dynamic range between zero and the threshold setting.
If your compressor doesn’t have a limiter mode, just turn the ratio to it’s maximum setting. This will be as good as a limiter, and if there’s a little ‘infinite’ symbol for the max setting, it will be a limiter.
For acoustic guitar, you can approach compression like you would a vocal, but be a little more aggressive. Often acoustic guitar parts lack ‘punch’, so adding some compression set to a ratio of about 4-5:1 with a threshold biting in a good way, you can really broaden and beef up the guitar part. You might like to play around with the attack and release controls to attain the most natural sound possible. As discussed in the equipment guide, the attack and release control the rate at which the compressor begins to reduce volume and then return it to the original level, respectively.
I’d suggest a very fast attack and moderate release as a starting point.
For bass, get even more aggressive. I personally approach bass compression as a special effect that you should be able to hear. I set the compression ratio very high, to around 6-7:1, and adjust the threshold so the gain reduction is lit up a lot, for all but the quietest parts. It’s my personal taste, but I think a bass should be as solid and as powerful as possible. Doing this will give you something good to work with in the mixing stage. Don’t be afraid to have a fair bit of treble on your bass, as definition is often a problem once the drums are added to the equation. Attack and release times are important to getting that solid bass sound. There are no magic figures, so you’ll just have to adjust to taste. The faster the attack, the less punch you’ll get, but if the attack is too fast, you’ll lose punch too, as the life will be squashed out of the part.
As with all topics here, play around with your equipment to find which settings work the best. There are no rules.
NOTE: Most compressors have an ‘auto’ setting for the attack and release parameters. Turning this on will allow the compressor to dynamically change the attack and release settings based on the signal it’s processing. Can be good for natural sounding vocals and acoustic instruments, but I’d turn it off and make your own settings for bass and drums.
Monitoring:If you’re overdubbing, you’ll need to hear previous takes as you record you new one. It pays to get a good sound in your head phones, because if your struggling to hear, or cringing in fear, you won’t be focussed on the performance!
The monitor mix is built using the faders in your recording software, and the monitor level dial on your AI. Set up the proportional levels of the existing tracks first, using the software mixer , then with the monitor control level on the AI, adjust the overall level. Be aware that a very loud monitor mix may be picked up by any nearby microphones, and you probably don’t want this.
If you’re recording directly into a line input, you can use your monitor speakers. I do this, as I don’t really like wearing headphones.
Tips:The following tips relate to the mixing process mainly, but can help make a more pleasant monitor mix too. If some of the concepts below seem difficult, all will be revealed in the next guide on mixing.
+ Copy a track and pan the original and the copy hard left/right. Then move one forward ever so slightly. Zoom right in until the wave looks like a wavy line before you move, because otherwise, you might move too much. It should sound ''spacial'' but not like an echo
+ Add some ''flanging'' to lead vocals. Set the depth to about 50%, but have the effect mix to about 5%, so you can hardly hear the effect. Subtlety is the key to any added effects.
+ Use panning to separate instruments with similar frequency ranges. For example, you’d try and keep guitars, vocals and keyboards as far apart as possible. I’d usually recommend panning guitars hard left and right, vocals center and keys about halfway between hard left/right and the center.
+ Double track everything! The trick is to bring the double tracked part up in volume until you can just detect it. It’s something that the listener probably won't notice unless it's removed all of a sudden.
+ Guitars and vocals don't mix well. Think about lowering the volume of any guitar parts when you're singing the main vocal. Use the automation feature of your recording software to achieve this. If you’re not sure what this is, check out the specific information for the software you’re using.
+ Tune the bass guitar ever so slightly flat! Well, the E string should be a few cents flat, but the G should be concert pitch. The same for guitars. Why? Because the western chromatic system is inaccurate... Doing this will help bass and guitar parts to sit better in a mix.
+ Add a 50 - 60ms delay to lead vocals and guitar parts. The effect level should be set so you can just hear the effect. Set the feedback to zero. Feedback controls the number of echoes.
+ Play around with equalisation.
In the next guide, we’ll look at mixing in detail. Hopefully it’ll tie in everything you’ve learned and help you to use this information in practice.
Just remember though, if it sounds good, it
is good.
