Bedroom recording?

[jfrey]

Anyone know of some good guides to bedroom/apartment recording? Like step by step?

[aen]

Just be sure all the equipment is hidden, or she'll freak out. You can probably just put a decent condenser in the closet and crank the gain up to capture those Bedroom Sounds you're after.

[jfrey]

Just be sure all the equipment is hidden, or she'll freak out. You can probably just put a decent condenser in the closet and crank the gain up to capture those Bedroom Sounds you're after.

I'm ashamed to say that it took me a good 30 seconds, and at least 3 or 4 reads, for this to click.

[skullservant]

I only record in my bedroom/my apartment when I was there. I just made sure a fan was never on if I was mic'ing anything and kept my roommates out by turning it up!

[jfrey]

I kind of mean more the actual process of recording. Like the detail work with your interface and in your recording software.

[aen]

OH I SEEEEEEEE NOW!
If i were to do some bedroom recording, i would actually do plenty of stuff int he closet. No for reals. Because it's usually full of clothes and whatnot, so you will get a clean dry sound. Then you can do echo vocals in the bathroom or whatever. Just like a studio, you gotta work the room. I only have one interface, a firepod, or something, but if you had choices, obviously you would go smaller. Bring a couple good mics and a good attitude!

[skullservant]

ahhhhh alright. I use GarageBand. I know a lot of people don't like it, but I find it really easy and simple to use.

I usually start by tracking a drum loop and get the BPM I want first. I don't necessarily care about changing the loop in the beginning because I can see the bars and know when I need to start a new section of the track. After I track the drum loop, I usually track guitar, but if I'm feeling adventurous I track bass and then improvise guitar overtop.

It depends on my rig that I'm using at the time, but I've got two USB interfaces- a mono and a stereo. I use the mono interface when I want to specifically record two channels seperately of guitar than running one stereo guitar track, ie from my TimeLine or something like that.

I've never used a mic'd rig, I've only ever gone direct in, but it's always seemed to work one way or another

[coldbrightsunlight]

I use an M-Audio fasttrack interface, it's ok but not great. Couple of mics, just up mic amps wherever sounds nice, occasionally go for a stereo track but normally only use one. Bass sounds ok DI because I don't have a mic that can pick up the low end of bass well enough. I'll occasionally double with a DI and mic'd cab to get better tone and keep the lows, when I can be bothered.

I use Reaper for a DAW and really like it, it has an unlimited free trial too. Very easy to use but it's capable of quite a lot if you know how (which I don't really). I use addictive drums to make drum sounds, it's really awesome.

So basically, get a decent interface and a couple of ok mics and you're set!

[jfrey]

I used to have a Fasttrack and Ableton, but I couldn't really figure them out. I ended up selling them to somebody on here. I forget who. Someone in Canada I think.

[Seedy]

I have an M-Audio delta 66 breakoutbox with 4 1/4" I/O. I use a Yamaha 12/4 mixer to power my mics, and will either send 4 individual tracks to the four M-Audio ins or if I'm just recording jam sessions I run everything in stereo to stereo ins on the breakout box. This is all recorded with an old $50 Cakewalk program. I have a particular setup saved on the Cakewalk so if I choose to record I just turn everything on and check my levels. If I'm just recording myself, I use a cheap Behringer Ultra G direct inject for bass and/or guitars, but if I'm recording the band (there's only 2 of us) I put 3 mics on the drum kit (a matched pair of Samson condensers; SM58 on the kick) and one on my bass amp (SM58 again), then use a Samson multi-pattern condenser and an Alesis nanocompressor for my vox. It's pretty elementary but that's all I need.

[gunslinger_burrito]

I mic whatever amp I'm using with a sennheiser e609 into a little mixer I have (behringer xenyx 802...) and run THAT into my interface, which is an m-audio firewire solo. This way, I can boost the signal or EQ with my own damn fingers before it gets digitized. Much simpler for me. Also, having the mixer to boost your signal (with the little trim/Db boost knobs) helps if you want to record quietly, late at night, etc. I have an old foam camping pad (the kind you'd put under your sleeping bag) that I curl around the mic and amp so as not to catch room sounds, or the sound of my pick hitting the strings of my guitar, etc. It seems to work pretty well. If you were to listen to some of my stuff, a fair amount of it was recorded relatively quietly.

Oh, and I've been using Fruity Loops for ever, even though I pretty much only use it to sequence drums and record. People seem to really like Audacity, though.

And I second the recommendation for addictive drums.

[Ashahalasin]

I use Reaper for a DAW and really like it, it has an unlimited free trial too.

Reaper trial is only for 30days. After that you need to pay for it. However, I don't believe they have anything to enforce this, so you can use the trial for an unlimited time and not pay for it. But it's only $60, so it's nice to support them.

See here for more info: http://www.reaper.fm/purchase.php

[lucas]

I mic whatever amp I'm using with a sennheiser e609 into a little mixer I have (behringer xenyx 802...) and run THAT into my interface, which is an m-audio firewire solo. This way, I can boost the signal or EQ with my own damn fingers before it gets digitized. Much simpler for me. Also, having the mixer to boost your signal (with the little trim/Db boost knobs) helps if you want to record quietly, late at night, etc. I have an old foam camping pad (the kind you'd put under your sleeping bag) that I curl around the mic and amp so as not to catch room sounds, or the sound of my pick hitting the strings of my guitar, etc. It seems to work pretty well. If you were to listen to some of my stuff, a fair amount of it was recorded relatively quietly.

Oh, and I've been using Fruity Loops for ever, even though I pretty much only use it to sequence drums and record. People seem to really like Audacity, though.

And I second the recommendation for addictive drums.

you have some good ideas here. i always just turned up my amp to get rid of the pick hitting strings sound. i look the fool now.

Also experiment where you place the mic, i find on small amps that it's best placed right on the side of the speaker

[kbit]

I mic whatever amp I'm using with a sennheiser e609 into a little mixer I have (behringer xenyx 802...) and run THAT into my interface, which is an m-audio firewire solo. This way, I can boost the signal or EQ with my own damn fingers before it gets digitized. Much simpler for me. Also, having the mixer to boost your signal (with the little trim/Db boost knobs) helps if you want to record quietly, late at night, etc. I have an old foam camping pad (the kind you'd put under your sleeping bag) that I curl around the mic and amp so as not to catch room sounds, or the sound of my pick hitting the strings of my guitar, etc. It seems to work pretty well. If you were to listen to some of my stuff, a fair amount of it was recorded relatively quietly.

I'm wanting to get into recording and this was a nice bit of advice. Thank you

Anyone have an advice on what mic to use in recording acoustic guitar? I want to use a contact mic and an acoustic mic (or two).
Keep in mind I'm a college kid who ain't that rich

[coldbrightsunlight]

I use Reaper for a DAW and really like it, it has an unlimited free trial too.

Reaper trial is only for 30days. After that you need to pay for it. However, I don't believe they have anything to enforce this, so you can use the trial for an unlimited time and not pay for it. But it's only $60, so it's nice to support them.

See here for more info: http://www.reaper.fm/purchase.php

Yeah that's what I meant, they don't actually enforce the 30 days. I agree you should buy it though, it's cheap and they update very frequently (annoyingly often!), for $60 you get 2 major versions of the software, which is pretty great imo. Something like that deserves support.