I had a revelation about self-recording

[gavriloP]

Hi, I had an idea and I wrote this on Reaper forums, but I thought I'd like to share it with my fellow gearslutz too I really think I it is pretty cool thing for people recording and miking themselves:

Every one that has been recording himself playing acoustic guitar, drums etc. alone knows the pain and hassle with miking. The very heart of recording process is mic placement but when you do it by yourself, it is very difficult to really "listen" where to put the mike. Usually we just go by tried and true methods or by the laborous trial-and-error, you know placing the mike, recording a snippet and after that going back to listening the take, and repeating that or settling for something less than ideal. At least that has been far too often the case with me.

I've tried some guerilla tactics with isolation earmuffs with small headphones in them, but that wasn't very satisfying either. Then it hit me, after all these years, I might add: DELAY. Man, that was so simple. I just set reaDelay to the track/s I'm about to record and monitor through it. I put the delay time to something like one or half second and then I just start experimenting. Even the drum mic placement turned out to be really fun now that I hear the real sound after I've hit the snare for example. The only problem is instruments with long decay time, but I can mute them by hand or increase the delay time.

Check it out, it really makes miking a breeze, and much more fun. Also chaging mikes is easy. Also drum tuning got much simpler because the mic hears the overtones way different than my ear itself.

And this works nicely with stereo mic placement too! Also I think amp cab miking would be little easier for everyone.

[Dean Roddey]

Also, for guitar/bass, a re-amp box is very useful as a virtual assistant. I don't use it in the actual recording process, but you can DI in the track and use the re-amp box to spend as much time as you need getting everything just so. Then trash the DI'd track and do the real thing. And since you can do extended portions of the part, and hear it in context, it really helps a lot. I find myself not needing it so much these days, but it's nice to know it's there if needed.

Sometimes the tone will change a bit after you go back to playing it for real. You have to spend some time learning how to make sure you get the same level out of the re-amp box as the guitar is going to put out on its own later.

Anyway, not to hijack your thread, but just in case someone else may be looking for more tricks.

If you have a looper pedal that might also be useful in this context.

[ChrisTownsend]

This is a great idea for adjusting drum mic placement! I usually use iso-headphones to get rough placement, but then have to record and play back over and over to really get it perfect. I can't wait to try this out!!!

[mr jkn]

Great tip!

[fastlanestoner]

Never record yourself.

[malawk]

Originally Posted by fastlanestoner

Never record yourself.

Wowser..never lose touch with the real world.

[piotr]

Originally Posted by fastlanestoner

Never record yourself.

Let the eagle soar, man!

[Papanate]

Or...you could talk to other musicians and invite them over to play...
But you know...that's probably too interactive for people...gotta keep isolated.

[mahler007]

Originally Posted by piotr

Let the eagle soar, man!

LOL! I sure do miss John Ashcroft

[roundaboutmusic]

Originally Posted by fastlanestoner

Never record yourself.

Cool man. Wanna come over and record me for free?

[Happy Musicfan]

Originally Posted by fastlanestoner

Never record yourself.

But the temptation is just too great when the energy and confidence is high. But something happens when you commence the tracking - the pressure is on. On your mark, get set, go..... (''all by myself, I wanna be, all by myself...")


Once, my bass player cancelled on a session and I was totally pissed off at him and had convinced myself that I could lay down his track. I was already visualizing exactly how I'd be placing it in the mix, compressing it, eq'ing it, etc. I was sure I could play it better than him.

So, I start the tune off (a simple, mid-tempo prog rocker in A), and make it to the 1st chorus when it starts falling apart. So, I start again, and make it half way through the 1st verse, then crash. I restart, making it through the first 3 measures, then crash. Start again, and crash repeatedly during the first 2 measures, then I can't manage to even make it past the first several notes of the 'piece of cake' bassline.

At that time, my ears were itching and burning with sweat and pressure within the normally comfy sennheiser headphones. I felt like I had a fever or something. I looked at the digital thermometer on the wall - it said 21 degrees Celsius (70 degress Farenheit).

So I quit, threw down the headphones, put down the bass guitar, swearing profusely the entire time.

Later, I dragged the .wav file into the DAW just to see what I managed to pull off. I tell ya, not even a 30:1 compression ratio would even that puppy out. It was and is to this day, THE worst bass guitar track in the history of rock music.


Yet, in hindsight, I'm totally happy about the entire experience.

[neirbod]

Great tip! Thanks for sharing

[vernier]

Yep ...crazy tip. Might try sometime.
.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeojoDlzcY

[Graal]

Great tip!

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by gavriloP

Hi, I had an idea and I wrote this on Reaper forums, but I thought I'd like to share it with my fellow gearslutz too I really think I it is pretty cool thing for people recording and miking themselves:



And this works nicely with stereo mic placement too! Also I think amp cab miking would be little easier for everyone.

Very clever idea.

Best, most original tip I've heard here in months. Maybe years.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by fastlanestoner

Never record yourself.

I wouldn't go so far as to agree with my LB homie there (who I don't actually know in the 3DW, I don't think, but it is a small world), but I would say that, for those of us who've been recording ourselves for some time, it can be a good change-up to have someone whose skills you admire record you, even if you weren't dissatisfied with your own results.

I took up one of my pals who offered to kill some downtime by doing a one-afternoon project on one of my songs and it was a bit of an eye-opener.

We all get in habits and sometimes those habits become ruts.

[henge]

Amazing tip! Wish I thought of this years ago.

[Mikereardon]

Very glad I clicked this thread, Im having such a DUH moment right now haha

[Puffpastry]

Great tip. I'm definitely going to try that.

[DrFrankencopter]

Great tip, even if you're not just recording yourself. I've got a one room studio and this will be real handy for getting drum sounds. I figure I'll get the drummer on the headphones too so he can hear the delay and time his hits accordingly.

Cheers

Kris

[Kiwi]

Exellent tip. I discovered something similar for myself recently when I bought a Korg Wavedrum. I found that the acoustic sound of hitting the drum was preventing me from hearing the actual electronic tone it was producing. It has some really bad internal FX which are better left turned off - but I found that using the longest delay setting I could play the drum, and then hear the actual sound come back without the acoustic noise to mask it.

I use a mixer for latency free monitoring, and a hardware reverb if I want reverb in the cans. Seems to me that using a long delay patch would allow even better fine tuning of mic placement when recording myself, whether vocals or instruments.

[Are Sorknes]

Thanks, great tip! This one, and the keyboard shortcut for turning off your screen makes GS worthwhile.

[joeq]

cool idea

it reminds me of Bob Shaw's Science Fiction stories about a substance known as "Slow Glass"

it is a piece of glass that light takes a long time to go through

if you have 20-30 second slow glass, you can use it like a mirror - pose in front of it, flip it over to the back and see what you looked like 30 seconds ago

that's the part that reminded me of this idea


(in the stories 8 hour and 16 hour rectangles of slow glass were hung over roadways to provide free 'streetlights' using the previous day's sunlight, and 5-10 year slow glass was used to collect lovely scenery and go in someone's window. Look out your window and see Scotland or Tahiti every day for 10 years.)

[famousbass]

Originally Posted by Happy Musicfan

But the temptation is just too great when the energy and confidence is high. But something happens when you commence the tracking - the pressure is on. On your mark, get set, go..... (''all by myself, I wanna be, all by myself...")


Once, my bass player cancelled on a session and I was totally pissed off at him and had convinced myself that I could lay down his track. I was already visualizing exactly how I'd be placing it in the mix, compressing it, eq'ing it, etc. I was sure I could play it better than him.

So, I start the tune off (a simple, mid-tempo prog rocker in A), and make it to the 1st chorus when it starts falling apart. So, I start again, and make it half way through the 1st verse, then crash. I restart, making it through the first 3 measures, then crash. Start again, and crash repeatedly during the first 2 measures, then I can't manage to even make it past the first several notes of the 'piece of cake' bassline.

At that time, my ears were itching and burning with sweat and pressure within the normally comfy sennheiser headphones. I felt like I had a fever or something. I looked at the digital thermometer on the wall - it said 21 degrees Celsius (70 degress Farenheit).

So I quit, threw down the headphones, put down the bass guitar, swearing profusely the entire time.

Later, I dragged the .wav file into the DAW just to see what I managed to pull off. I tell ya, not even a 30:1 compression ratio would even that puppy out. It was and is to this day, THE worst bass guitar track in the history of rock music.


Yet, in hindsight, I'm totally happy about the entire experience.

YEAH, I remember my first session too.

[softwareguy]

Best tip ever! Brilliant! Thanks so much!

[Happy Musicfan]

Originally Posted by famousbass

YEAH, I remember my first session too.

Well, that wasn't my 1st session, but it was my 1st session all alone in a studio.

Why did I have to morph into a petrified, pathetic, trembling toy poodle ? It just wasn't supposed to end that way...

[rmedek]

Originally Posted by gavriloP

Hi, I had an idea and I wrote this on Reaper forums, but I thought I'd like to share it with my fellow gearslutz too I really think I it is pretty cool thing for people recording and miking themselves…

Tip of the year, right here. Thanks so much for sharing.

[oceres]

Thank you for the tip!! No control room here and sometimes record by myself so this will help most definitely.

And the keyboard shortcut for turning off your screen idea good too. Thanks GS!

[baslotto]

Best tip in a very long while!
Thank you for sharing.

[basmartin]

Cool! Going to try that out!