MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR OWN SPACE Welcome to the first installment of the Blog. My aim with these blog posts is to encourage people to make their own DIY recordings and provide helpful tips and tricks to make the process enjoyable. Now to the serious stuff.
First and foremost… If you are in a band you should be recording your own material. Period. The process of recording is challenging and a daunting prospect at first, but incredibly rewarding in many ways. In the long run it will make you a better player and arm you to make better musical decisions in your arrangement and performance. In the short term it will give you direction, focus (on your music and art) and recorded material so people can enjoy your art. It is possible in the current day to make records with no budget and in any bedroom or space imaginable, which is incredibly empowering. It only takes a laptop with free recording software and a single microphone to get results. Its that simple. So here are my recommendations for getting the most out of the space you already have.
Where will I do it? – This is the first excuse for non action, a bedroom is enough, however you will inevitably want more. Avoid this at all costs as it will instill doubt and detract from the end goal and slow your progress. First play your instrument in the room does it sound good?/bad? what do you hear and what don’t you? Then plug your mic in and play the same passage. What does it hear? This is an enlightening exercise as it is training your ears and training your brain to adapt simultaneously. You will naturally problem solve, you just need to take action. Heavy blankets and mattresses are an inexpensive way to remove unwanted outside noise and tame hi frequency harshness (in my next post i will go into diy acoustic treatments).
Embrace your limitations – Neighbours complaining? Have a chat to them and come to a compromise (only play drums from 10am-3pm). Again, problem solve and be understanding of them. People love when you listen, and they will be much more pleasant if you extend the olive branch. Use amp simulators, which in my opinion can get pretty convincing results – (see – bomb factory sansamp) and you can avoid the noise issue entirely. Obviously some instruments have more inherent noise problems than others, if you cant play drums at home, take your recording rig to your jam space, and you’re away.
Record demos and build confidence – One mic in the middle of a jam can do wonders, even an iphone can provide demo quality. Each time you setup move to a new position or adjust volume and find your optimal balance as a band.Communicate with your band mates what you require for the demo recording and turn everything down if need be. Your confidence will grow with practice. Recording my own band demos in high school was the spark that gave me the confidence to continue in the field.
Start with one Microphone – The brand is irrelevant, however if i were to choose one mic it would be a Shure SM58. A purpose built dynamic microphone tailored for vocals. It has a warm and flattering bottom end and smooth top end and is also virtually indestructible. Place the mic where you think you need to and experiment from there. Drums – centrally over the kit, directly in front hip height two meters from the kick. These are great starting positions and will more often than not give you a good amount of each element. Guitar + Bass – centre of the speaker cone and move in very small increments until you find the most even picture of the source. It is important not to over complicate by adding more mics until you have mastered the frequency response and positional options of your single microphone.
Hopefully some of these recommendations will help you along the way to gain confidence in recording your own material. Until next time, Keep Motivated.
