I'm finally recording...need helps

[Jwar]

After years of procrastination...no but really, I am and I'm having fun and I will share it here. I'm not what reception I'll receive but whatever.


I have a few things I need help with or suggestions perhaps?

I recorded a few riffs just to test out my mic and everything works perfect. There's just one thing. I get a LOT of feedback in my recording spot. As I look around, it's no wonder. There's a billion things to interfere with the signal. I have to turn my back to my amp to get rid of it.

I'm limited on space in my home and unless someone has a software solution or maybe a suggestion? I'm thinking about recording outside in the woods. I want the nature ambience and background. My family owns a farm with 47 acres, so I ought to be able to do it.

Does that sound like a good idea? Dumb asf??


I need to figure out how to get power that far back there too. That's an issue.


What I'm trying to do is record 6 songs for my children, have 3 of 4 vinyls pressed with the music and then give them to them as gifts to keep for whenever they want to hear dad in the future. I need help figuring out where to have that done too and I fear I may not find it. Maybe...

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions and can read through my tired ramblings, I'd appreciate it!

[goroth]

Record direct and then choose your favourite speaker cab with Two Notes Wall of Sound.

As to the other questions... I dunno man!

[Phosphene Audio]

After years of procrastination...no but really, I am and I'm having fun and I will share it here. I'm not what reception I'll receive but whatever.


I have a few things I need help with or suggestions perhaps?

I recorded a few riffs just to test out my mic and everything works perfect. There's just one thing. I get a LOT of feedback in my recording spot. As I look around, it's no wonder. There's a billion things to interfere with the signal. I have to turn my back to my amp to get rid of it.

I'm limited on space in my home and unless someone has a software solution or maybe a suggestion? I'm thinking about recording outside in the woods. I want the nature ambience and background. My family owns a farm with 47 acres, so I ought to be able to do it.

Does that sound like a good idea? Dumb asf??


I need to figure out how to get power that far back there too. That's an issue.


What I'm trying to do is record 6 songs for my children, have 3 of 4 vinyls pressed with the music and then give them to them as gifts to keep for whenever they want to hear dad in the future. I need help figuring out where to have that done too and I fear I may not find it. Maybe...

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions and can read through my tired ramblings, I'd appreciate it!

Even when I play pretty loud,I rarely get feedback unless I am trying to. Are you doing live monitoring with speakers in the same room where your amp is? If so, shut the speakers off and use headphones.

[D.o.S.]

Recording outside, in my limited experience, is pretty cool to do but in practice you just end up with quieter instruments than you'd like and not a lot of 'vibe' to be had.

Dunno if you've heard the new Yawning Man album yet but they recorded it out in the desert (because social distance and no touring), which makes for a very cool DVD to watch in that sort of Live at Pompeii way... but listening to the album you'd have no way of knowing it was outdoors at all. Which is exactly the same as listening to Live at Pompeii, actually (you can listen on the Obfuscation CD in the Early Years box/albums from a couple of years ago, but its also on Spotify).

[coldbrightsunlight]

I agree with dos about the outside recording. If you want to try it and find it fun, cool! But with electric instruments, it's likely to be more of a nuisance than it is worth. You've got to haul the gear, power it, worry about the weather (wind in mics will not sound good, rain is a clear issue), and it doesn't even sound particularly inspiring because there's no reflections in the wood and it's a dead sort of sound. With acoustic instruments I think the story is a bit different! You can get a lovely ambience in the right place, playing acoustic and/or singing with some nature noise. But you'll still be dealing with not having the reverb that we're used to hearing playing music indoors (of course this can be added in the box).

For electric stuff I'd probably recommend just recording the nature sounds separately and mixing them in with indoor music recordings. Not trying to be a downer, if you're having fun you're having fun

As for the feedback, you're saying if you turn back to your amp it goes away? Try experimenting more with amp placement and standing positions. There might well be something you can do to improve it by moving around the room a bit. Or if you can swing this, amp in a different room! Clearly the exact position of the guitar and amp have an effect on this so it is worth trying different placements.

[Never]

This reminds me of Li Jianhong, a Chinese noise guitarist who has done multiple albums of "environmental improvisation" in various natural sites. https://coldmoss.bandcamp.com/album/fat ... gging-down

At least some of those albums are electronic guitar -- not sure how he mics them up, except that on an older acoustic album, it says he used one of those handheld Zoom H* mics. I have a similar Tascam DR-05 I like a lot.

I think it's a great idea, even if you are using electronic instruments! In general, we think of art as an object, but isn't it more accurate to see it as a process, where something gets left behind? I think there's a huge difference between recording songs for your kids in a studio and recording the same songs on your family's land, even if they came out identical sonically -- just knowing how they were produced would make for a different listening experience. And in reality, you wouldn't produce identical sonic artifacts anyway, because we aren't robots -- being in that environment would, presumably, have an affect on you, even if you're playing songs you've already written and practiced.

That said, of course it would be better with some of that ambiance recorded in the audio. You could setup an extra Zoom/Tascam mic like, 100 feet from wherever you're playing and mix it in. (On my Tascam, I can screw in a camera tripod to prop it up anywhere)

I think ideally, if I were doing it, I'd either (A) have one 4x (or two 2x) USB recording interfaces running off a laptop (or two), so I could record a stereo signal DI'ed, plus a mic or two on a small combo, then setup a Zoom/Tascam a good distance away to record the space while I play. Or (B) no amps, just a good DI or amp sim box to record directly into a USB interface, then place a Zoom/Tascam close enough to pick up a bit of un-amped guitar -- which seems more easily portable, but you'd have to play with headphones on.

And also uhh, I know nothing about portable power, so I could be completely off base! Aren't there a couple chargeable pedal power boxes now?

[Lurker13]

Record direct ...

This right here. Record direct and never worry about room noise, the noise of that pesky police helicopter that just happens to be hovering over your house, the desperate cries for help coming from the "guest" in your basement, the noise of the SWAT team kicking in your front door, string slap, or anyone else slapping you while recording ever again.

[Jwar]

Ok. So, I've had to revisit my plan quite a bit since I started this thread and have gotten almost no recording done. Of course. My options are a tad more limited now, but here's what I was thinking based on all the feedback I'm getting. I will studio record (cab sim probably) and compare to my mic'd sound and see what's going to do the job for me. I can't cab sim my bass. I just won't do it. They all sounds like garbage to me. LOL. Ideally, I'd be in a real studio, but alas, I don't have the money to build one currently. Especially with the cost of building up so high. Sigh.

I think I'm going to experiment with my acoustic outside in the woods and see what type of acoustics I can get from the natural barriers the trees create. I have several very unique place I can record and one of them is a creak. That's where I'm thinking. Right smack dab in the middle of the woods. I'll bring a battery recorder and see what I think. If it sounds terrible, I'll nix the idea but I know I can create something cool in that tunnel. There's a huge concrete tunnel under the train tracks at our farm. The natural ambience in there would be rather unique as well. Lots of feedback I bet though.

So, anyone have any cab sim suggestions for guitar??? I'm using a semi hollow body if that makes a difference. One with a compressor wouldn't hurt.

[Jwar]

Ok. So, I've had to revisit my plan quite a bit since I started this thread and have gotten almost no recording done. Of course. My options are a tad more limited now, but here's what I was thinking based on all the feedback I'm getting. I will studio record (cab sim probably) and compare to my mic'd sound and see what's going to do the job for me. I can't cab sim my bass. I just won't do it. They all sounds like garbage to me. LOL. Ideally, I'd be in a real studio, but alas, I don't have the money to build one currently. Especially with the cost of building up so high. Sigh.

I think I'm going to experiment with my acoustic outside in the woods and see what type of acoustics I can get from the natural barriers the trees create. I have several very unique place I can record and one of them is a creak. That's where I'm thinking. Right smack dab in the middle of the woods. I'll bring a battery recorder and see what I think. If it sounds terrible, I'll nix the idea but I know I can create something cool in that tunnel. There's a huge concrete tunnel under the train tracks at our farm. The natural ambience in there would be rather unique as well. Lots of feedback I bet though.

So, anyone have any cab sim suggestions for guitar??? I'm using a semi hollow body if that makes a difference. One with a compressor wouldn't hurt.

[coldbrightsunlight]

For cab sims I use Torpedo Wall of Sound. I like the results, you can trial it and trial cabs without spending any money and it's not expensive when you do buy. It does have a built in compressor but you can just use another plugin as well?

The tunnel sounds worth a go - real weird reverb is fun. And yeah definitely did not want to stop you trying stuff out. Experimentation is great!

For bass recording I am a big believer in a mix of a mic'd cab and a DI signal. Can help to dial in the perfect sound.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

Tunnel reverb rules!

[BitchPudding]

Yea for bass, me and my producer usually go for Direct in wherever possible for the cleanest sound we can get or at least so we have something we can blend later.

If you have a laptop thats decent enough, that + DAW of your choice + mic + interface is super portable. You could do field recordings with that setup, or even a small handheld recorder for max portability.

Also just generally for mics: Get an SM57. Its the standard for a reason and sounds good with pretty much everything. That and something like a Focusrite Scarlett for the interface are all you need to get started really.