need help with recording a band... well part of a band

[zaviere]

hey guys,

same ole story, been lurking for a while now but this is my first post. I'm trying to record myself along with my drummer friend (no bass player). I can handle the guitars and drums but I recently added two audix om-2s for vocals. I guess I have a few questions.

Obviously with the drummer there is a lot of bleed from the snare mostly, when I turn up the gain to hear the drummer vocals. Is there a trick or something that I can do to minimize that? I have the mic on a boom coming in from the hihat side and aimed up towards his mouth . trying to keep the end of the mic pointed at the snare. but I still get the snare in there with really high peaks while the vocals are really low.

the other question is should I be singing right up on the mic. I ask because I saw a thread here in the work-in-progress board and a lot of people recommended to sing about 6 inches away from the mic due to proximity effect. while other things I've read and videos that I've seen from audix say that the mic is designed for the singer to be right on the mic. could someone just clear this up for me.

I'm using a digidesign 003 for the guitar and vocals with a digimax lt 8 ch pre for the drums. I dont have any outboard stuff. the problem is that we're in a TINY room. its my bedroom actually so its pretty small. the only thing I can think of is that since the drums are up against a wall ( I know its the WORST place to put them) the snare is bouncing right back into the mic. so if that is the case then we'll just have to deal with it since there is nothing we can do about it for now.

I'd really appreciate any help on either of the 2 questions. thanks.

[casrec]

Try this first, have the drummer overdub his vocals... if you absolutely must sing live, yes get right on the mic. This will cut bleed and feedback if monitoring through speakers. Put a high pass in the chain to cut down on proximity. But try to do the drums and vocals separate. Good Luck

Brandon
Casual Records

[zaviere]

thx for the quick reply. yea this is just for us to listen to. we do tracking seperately on recordings but this is for weekends when we just feel like playing a few songs. its fun recording it and then listening to it later. I'm just trying to make it as good as it can be. we both monitor through headphones so feedback isnt much of an issue. thanks.

is the hpf what most bands do? I see some dvds where some singers are a few inches off the mic while some are almost eating it. is that how they cut out the proximity? with a hpf or eq or something?

[casrec]

Yes, most live sound guys will engage the High pass on the eq to cut the proximity, or kicking the stand or just back ground rumble. You just need good mic technique while singing live or tracking. But you want to be much closer if not touching the mic while singing live. Also I don't think you will ever really get the snare out of the vocals...