Advice for recording equipment

[bobbyM3]

I am doing production for my band and was going to rent equipment for the recording process.

I wanted advice for what would be more ideal for a pop punk band sound.

Important parts of my rig: Windows PC. Presonus FP10 for the interface. Cubase 5.

What peripherals (mics, preamps, etc.) would be a good addition if I we're just to rent?

Any feedback would be awesome! Thank you!

[Beat Poet]

Do you want to track the band live or sequentially? Sequentially has the benefit of you not having to shell out as much for the mics, as you can re-use ones like the D112 for the kick and bass amp.

[bobbyM3]

Oh everything individually. I got some good drum mics I think. I should have mentioned I was looking for more of a vocal mic. I have a D 112 lol. Def the best out there. I got some sm57s as well.

[willylumplumps]

This is a pretty vague answer for a pretty vague question. As none of us have any idea what the singer sounds like.

But I would rent an API 3124 preamp and record the kick, snare, and OHs through that for drums. (It has 4 channels of preamps).

Then you can try recording vocals with a 57 going thru that. If you aren't liking the sound of the dynamic mic on your singer, you can try a condenser mic. Maybe a Neumann U87. It'd be cool to try an SM7B also, but I think a 57 would probably sound pretty close to that already. And you wouldn't have to rent another mic.

Like I said...Its a shot in the dark. But that might work for you.

[sonic dogg]

Originally Posted by bobbyM3

Oh everything individually. I got some good drum mics I think. I should have mentioned I was looking for more of a vocal mic. I have a D 112 lol. Def the best out there. I got some sm57s as well.

Saying the D112 is "def the best out there" is a matter of opinion.

But having a good set of trustworthy drum mics is particularly important to arriving at a quality sound for a band.

[desotoslo]

hire studio time. put the slutz to work.

[stagefright13]

Yeah hiring someone to record you is Way more worth the rentals. Then you get an actual engineer to record you properly. Your just wasting your time trying to do it yourself. Trust me.
There is A lot more to it than you think. Do you want the sound to be good enough to mix with other songs on the radio etc. ???

And you will have tons more fun just playing. And leaving the work to the pros.

John

[bobbyM3]

I'm fully aware of how I'm going to be doing this EP. I've been recording for about 6 years and have taken many courses and worked under 2 instructors at 2 different schools.

I'm not doing the mixing or the mastering. We're sending everything off to some engineers that specialize in that.

We pretty much just want the time to mess around with different tones of everything. Me and a band member are looking in to getting into this business so we're just getting as much HANDS ON experience as we can familiarizing ourselves with new equipment.

I've gotten a lot of help from instructors/graduate students but I just wanted to expand my inquiries and see if other people would share their experience with equipment they've used.

[decocco]

Ideal pop punk sound is captured the same way any ideal sound is captured...

...with the best gear you can possibly get!

You only have 2 mics right now?

You need a lot of mics for the drums, more than 2.
D112 is good inside kick. Throw a U47 FET on outside kick. 421's on toms. SM57 on snare top and bottom. AKG 451's on hats and ride.

For vocals try a U87 if you want hi-fi. Lo-fi go with the SM7 and let the singer hold it.

Guitars can be anything. SM57 is good and bright. U87 is big and clear. Coles 4038 sounds huge and dark.

Bass, go with a DI and D112 on the cabinet.

Get the best pres you can. Neve, API, whatever. Somethin; good.

[bobbyM3]

I have a lot of mics. I just want better ones lol. I have a decent shure drum mic kit. I just like the tom and overhead mics it came with. Snares, i use sm57. Kick, i use the d 112. I usually just use drumagog for the snare and kick anyways. Unless i got something i liked more.

Yeah I'm most likely going to go with the API 3124 just so I can run the drums through 'em like someone above mentioned. And as for vocal, the u87 sounds very promising.

I'll keep in mind of those 421's for the toms though.

[Slikjmuzik]

Do you have a studio around you where you can rent this stuff? Usually it's only larger studios that will do it, like Blackbird in Nashville, who have a plethora of extra mics. I don't rent out gear...neither do any of the facilities around me, especially not to an unknown and not knowing how the gear will be treated.

[decocco]

Originally Posted by bobbyM3

I usually just use drumagog for the snare and kick anyways. Unless i got something i liked more.

IMHO it's best to use drumagog in addition to real mics, not as a replacement.

Take the time to get your drums sounding good before you record them. It is always more important to get your instruments sounding great than it is to get great sounding mics.

The instruments, how they are played, and the space they are played in are really the key to getting a great recorded sound with any gear. High end gear is more like gravy on top. Gravy on delicious mashed potatoes is great, but a shoe with gravy on top is gross.

I hope your Shure drum mic kit isn't the one with the battery powered condensers. Those are horrible mics. Really horrible. Don't use them ever.

[Pschelfh]

Originally Posted by bobbyM3

I have a lot of mics. I just want better ones lol. I have a decent shure drum mic kit. I just like the tom and overhead mics it came with. Snares, i use sm57. Kick, i use the d 112. I usually just use drumagog for the snare and kick anyways. Unless i got something i liked more.

Yeah I'm most likely going to go with the API 3124 just so I can run the drums through 'em like someone above mentioned. And as for vocal, the u87 sounds very promising.

I'll keep in mind of those 421's for the toms though.

I did the same on our last CD (celtic punkrock), drums were recorded with Audix D6 on kick, D4 on floor, D2's on toms, SM57 on snare and Oktava MK-012's on overheads. I also used drumagog (with Steven Slate V2 drum sounds) because the room sounds...erm...bad, to put it politely!

Everyting went into a Tascam US-1641, together with guide tracks for bass (DI), guitar (Vox amp emu), bagpipe and lead vocals (SM57).

Guitars were recorded next with an SM57 (2x for stereo spread). Then the bagpipe, also SM57. All the vocals were recorded with a modded Oktava MK-319 thru a UA LA-610 MkII.
I recorded my bass last with an Ampeg tube DI, so I could 'embellish' eventual little timing mistakes of the others.

You can hear the result here : The Black Tartan Clan

Peter.