Teach me how to record

[jfrey]

If someone will teach me how to do recording/mixing/whatever like over skype or something, I'll send them a pedal or two.

This is the kind of stuff I'm looking to record:

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/jfrey/branches-virtual-instruments[/soundcloud]
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/jfrey/held-quiescent-by-winter[/soundcloud]


[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/jfrey/some-new-ideas[/soundcloud]
(unfinished)

I'd like to do it with I guess what you'd call a midfi sound? Listen to the album The Setting Sun, by Fjordne to see what I mean.

EDIT: Probably should have put this in the music section instead of general.

[The4455]

What do you need to know? I can help you out, but you need to be more specific. Do you have software? an interface? microphones?

[morange]

I'd be interested in knowing about what mastering is and how it is done (if I can get in on this free learning).

[The4455]

For sure. Mastering is a term that has a few meanings. Many of people think that mastering is when you take your recorded tracks and change them with eq, filters, editing etc. which is wrong, that is mixing. Mastering is when you, and this will sound odd, listen to all of your songs at once to see if they are all equal volume on the album as not have one really loudly recorded song and then a really quietly recorded song so the volume of teh song as a whole form song to song is equal and that the volume of your recorded tracks or songs are the standard (or close) for loudness. Also putting overall effects on the track as a whole, which I recommend against, but it happens a lot in remastering of old music.

A lot of the time what happens is that during a mastering session the artist or producer will have the sound engineer make their tracks louder and then put a compressor/expander on them, to I don't even know what. Which takes away from the dynamics in the song and the overall tonality of the song. I try not to listen to remastered versions of anything, because this is usually what happens. Although if it's been remastered from analog to digital for obvious formatting reasons, you can't download vinyl to your computer, then you have to. But that mastering is necessary, the way vinyl is mixed mastered and produced is very different form the way digital audio is.

In remastering a lot of tracks are carelessly mastered for digital consumption. From old master tapes and vinyl to digital for iTunes and such the tape and vinyl are converted to digital and put into a music editing software (like pro-tools) and is then mixed about until the producer (and perhaps the artist) is pleased. At the end of said mastering session most always the track is increased in volume to match today standard of commercial music. Which like I said really does ruin the music.

The main points would be:

1. Mastering is not mixing, know teh difference

2. Mastering is very simple and should take less than twenty minutes tops, but is often over compensated for

3. Remastered music is often not a good representation of the original, although there are exceptions for some in which the original recordings had a very low production value. Two examples would be Led zeppelin two and Raw Power by Iggy Pop and the Stooges

I hope this answers your question of "What is mastering?" feel free to ask whatever you like and I'll answer it to the best of my abilities.

Side note: When I was in the studio mastering my band's album It was a very interesting experience to listen to ten songs at once, i highly recommend doing it at least once.

[excane]

^^ GREAT stuff.

[spacelordmother]

Raw Power by Iggy Pop and the Stooges

JUST PUSH IT ALL INTO THE RED FTW.

[D.o.S.]

I actually love the Iggy remaster of Raw Power.

[mathias]

Side note: When I was in the studio mastering my band's album It was a very interesting experience to listen to ten songs at once, i highly recommend doing it at least once.

Ten songs in a row, or did they all play all at once? (on top of each other)

[Holy Schnikes]

feel free to ask whatever you like and I'll answer it to the best of my abilities.

Any interface recommendations? Also, is GarageBand capable of recording more than rough ideas or do I need to step up my software game? Not looking to record a pro album, just some song ideas that are fairly fleshed out without end result sounding like a shitty band practice recording.

[mathias]

GarageBand is pretty full featured if you ignore the loops and auto-band and stuff. It's the stripped-down core of Apple Logic Pro, I'm told.

[The4455]

Side note: When I was in the studio mastering my band's album It was a very interesting experience to listen to ten songs at once, i highly recommend doing it at least once.

Ten songs in a row, or did they all play all at once? (on top of each other)

All at once, it was rad. My band mates and the engineer didn't like it, but I like "noise" and such so, ya know.

[The4455]

I actually love the Iggy remaster of Raw Power.

Yah me too, I actually like ti better than the original.

[Derelict78]

jfrey,
Mics and mic placement can make or break a recording, also with digital recording NEVER go into the red. With Tape you can get some cool compression pushing it (especially with drums) but digital just clips.Also Less is more.

[The4455]

So on garageband. For just putting down ideas it's fine. A friend of mine uses it to record practices because he plays with a lot of different people, so just a reference it's a nice tool to be able to listen to something you played a month ago. Here is a link to a youtube channel you'll enjoy a lot called "Garageband and Beyond" the guy basically explains how to get the best out of the free software that is gargeband.

I've never used garageband to record music but I've used it to record vocal overdubs for a short film or two and it sounded just fine. Based on what you said you want I think Garageband would be fine the quality of the recoding with garage band comes more from the interface, mics, and instrument quality than the software it's self.

The channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GaragebandandBeyond?feature=g-all-u

In terms of interfaces there are a few thing to consider. The main one is "how much am I actually going to use this thing?" Interfaces are usually expensive for what it sounds like you are looking for. To record a band you could get a a one channel interface and put a large diaphragm condenser mic in the middle room and see how that sounds, and it could be fine. Or you could go all out and but two eight channel interfaces and sixteen mics to capture every essence of you band!

I would start by asking yourself what do I want to record before even looking at interfaces. If it's just you playing guitar and singing, then a two channel would be fine: guitar and vocals. But if you want to record a band than an eight channel may be what you want:

1. Guitar
2. Guitar two?
3. Bass
4. Vocals
5. Kick
6. Snare
7. Overhead one
8. Overhead two

Also depending on how many mics, stands, and cables you have an interface could be an unwise investment if you have to spend another grand on mics, stand, and cables after the interface to actually make use of the interface it's self.

I have heard great things about the Motu interfaces (I think Behndy has one). They are built very well and, to me, have no real sound at all. They just do what an interface should do: take a mic level signal and boost it up to line level and then convert it into a digital signal to be processed by the computer. With recording equipment you really do get what you pay for, considering how much that stuff costs. Like I said earlier though, teh interface and software are second to good mics, amps, and instruments. A 5watt practice amp could sound amazing through a Royer into a Hardy M-1 pre-amp into Pro-tools 10HD and a Twin reverb could sound awefull through a radioshack mic into a behrigner mic pre into garageband.

I know I didn't really answer your question but I told you what I think about interfaces in general and I hope it helps.

[IEatCats]

Side note: When I was in the studio mastering my band's album It was a very interesting experience to listen to ten songs at once, i highly recommend doing it at least once.

Ten songs in a row, or did they all play all at once? (on top of each other)

All at once, it was rad. My band mates and the engineer didn't like it, but I like "noise" and such so, ya know.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QlL1o3sBdk[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhML9zftSok[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ1xLKzZ1wU[/youtube]

Reminded me of these. I love it, too!