blog

Future Sound Vol.1 - Gearing Up For Home Recording

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:21:42 +0000

I have had a long romance with music, one that goes back far as I can remember. My parents have embarrassing photos of me as a toddler dancing to Rod Stewart records and in one way or another I can recall music always having an amazing impact on me. I hit my formative years in the 90's so Grunge was the dominant scene at that time - I had the long hair, faded cardigan, and electric guitar and I was ready to change the world, just like everyone else.

Garage bands were in abundance, and I'm not talking about the kind made by Apple. We filled our parents basements with terrible renditions of Nirvana and Black Sabbath songs and our ears pulsed with the distorted tones of rebellion. I have wonderful memories of this era and it was during this time that I discovered the drums, something that would become a huge passion for me.

I played drums for about 10 years in and out of bands but nothing really serious, mostly bad cover bands with big ambitions of writing original material. After having a couple of Kids I didn't have a lot of time (or space!) to pursue drumming so I sold my kit and vowed that one day I would try to write and record my own material and learn how to produce it all myself, and that is what I have been delving into for the last 6 months.

I've always enjoyed listening to electronic music, especially artists that can fuse live instruments and electronic sounds together to create something highly emotive. I remember hearing Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" for the first time back in 1998 and being totally floored by it's brilliance - the dark vibe and heavy beats instantly connected with me, I knew that this was the type of music that I wanted to make someday.

It was around that time that a friend introduced me to Nine Inch Nails and the genius that is Trent Reznor. Over a decade later I am still an obsessive NIN fan and the man is still making fantastic (although much mellower) music.

I knew going into this adventure that I wanted to bring that dark vibe that artists like Massive Attack and Nine Inch Nails capture so well, sometimes it's aggressive, sometimes it's melodic and ambient… there is no real definitive genre that their music fits into and that is what makes it so interesting.

Conceptually everything sounded wonderful, I knew what I wanted to do - then came the learning process, something that I have discovered becomes more and more difficult with age!

To say that learning how to write and record your own music is a steep learning curve is a giant understatement. There is a lot to learn and it can certainly seem like an overwhelming task. I have definitely hit the point where I have considered throwing this pursuit into the "too hard" basket after reading in-depth articles on mastering and understanding compressors.

Sometimes it is good to just dive in and have a play around with your recording setup, try out different things and see what works and what inevitably doesn't but don;t get too bogged down in technical stuff.

Luckily there are some great resources and forums online where people are happy to share what they have learnt and also explain things in a way that a newbie can understand.

In the spirit of sharing knowledge I wanted to start writing about what I have learnt so far. I am hoping to write a few articles to cover the many divergent subjects that a beginner needs to think about - everything from technical stuff, writing process, equipment, getting your music out to the world and whatever else I work out along the way, I am still learning myself so it is also good for me to get all this down in writing.

So once you decide you want to write and record your own music, what comes next? Equipment. Let's take a look at where you should begin and what you need to keep in mind.

There is an abundance of equipment out there to add to your home recording setup. A lot of gear looks cool and seems like a wonderful idea, but as a beginner do you really need it?

If you are like me and working to a fairly tight budget you need to purchase wisely. I would recommend not buying the cheapest equipment as inevitably you will grow out of it and need to upgrade, the last thing you want is technical limitations and frustrations turning you off writing your own material. So you might not start out with everything you need, but that's OK, just work with what you have and add equipment to your setup as you can, if you work out a good process you can work around limitations.

For example, I am currently saving for a microphone, so for now my focus is getting the tracks I am working on into a good structure so that when I do get a microphone I can basically go straight into laying vocal tracks.

First of all you will need a fairly kick ass computer. Recording software (Also known as a DAW or Digital Audio Work Station ) is processor intensive and you will no doubt spend a lot of time working to the sound of your computer fan blasting. I am working on a Macbook Pro with 4GB memory - So far this setup runs smoothly with minimal overload.

If you are reading this site then congratulations! You have the first piece of equipment you need. From here it gets slightly more confusing. The diagram below shows a fairly standard home recording setup and how each item works together.

When I first started thinking about recording I naively thought that I would be able to plug my guitar into my computer, fire up Garageband and create an epic CD quality recording, this is of course not going to happen.

To get the editing capabilities required to record/mix/master high quality music you are going to need professional level recording software - Pro Tools is a widely used DAW and one that most people have heard of, there are a few other great options out there such as Logic, Ableton Live and Reason.

Finding the DAW that best suits you is really a matter of doing some research and checking out the features that make each one different. I chose Logic as I am a fan of Apple products and I was impressed with the instrument library that it came with. The general specs and operational functions across all DAWs are fairly similar but I liked Logic's interface and capabilities.

I have heard some really good things about Ableton Live and have a "lite" version that I'll definitely check out sometime soon, but for now I am making Logic the core of my musical world (bad Apple joke not intended).

Logic, like all DAWs, is a complicated beast. It is jam packed full of features and you are really going to need to take the time to read some documentation and/or watch some video tutorials about it, youtube is full of helpful videos to get you going. Start simple and build your way up to more complex editing procedures, sometimes it's a matter of hitting a wall with what you are working on and having to learn your way out of it!

A midi-controller is essentially a keyboard that allows you to control instruments within your software, this can be done using your computer keyboard and mouse but for a more hands on "real" feel you need a good controller.

There are a lot of midi-controllers around and they range from a simple 25 key to the more complicated 61 key with additional features like faders, knobs, drum pads etc… a great start is the Alesis Q25, it has a 25 note keyboard, modulation/pitch wheels, and one fader that controls the track volume, you simply plug it in and play. Most controllers are USB powered.

I recently upgraded to a Novation Impulse 61 - this has a 61 note keyboard, drum pads, knobs and faders to control various DAW and instrument settings, The extended features of this controller mean less time using your mouse to click tiny controls on screen, there is definitely something nice about getting more "hand's on" and it has definitely helped my writing process.

Again, it is really a matter of doing your research and also checking out some controllers in-store so that you can get a feel for how they work, many of them have semi-weighted keys to give them a more natural feel so find one that suits you.

Read some online forums and see if people are having any issues with certain brands of controller and also try and find people that are using the same DAW as you. Sometimes there can be controller/software issues that may create problems while you are trying to record.

Also check out the company that makes the controller and see if they regularly release bug fixes for their software - more complicated controllers come with "mapping" software that will map the controls on your midi-controller to functions within your software, the easier it is to setup the better!

If you are lucky enough to own an iPad there are controller apps available that will provide you with some really experiemental methods of working in your DAW. Lemur and TouchOSC are two great options.

This little box will be the main go-between from your live instruments/monitors to your computer. You can think of this device as an external sound card made for studio quality recording and playback, rather than for home users.

The Audio Interface plugs into your computer via USB and has all the plugs on it that you will need to track guitars, vocals, keyboards and output the audio from your DAW to your studio monitors.

With home recording you probably won't be tracking more than one or two instruments at a time so you only need a couple of inputs to get the job done. As long as it has good quality pre-amps, low-latency (a short amount of time to get the data from your instrument to the computer) and 24-bit or higher resolution you should get a good result.

A little research will show you that there are loads of options out there, so just compare the specs and see what comes out on top. One that has grabbed my attention is the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 - they have packed a lot of high quality features into this interface and I can't wait to get mine!

Studio monitors or reference monitors are speakers designed for audio production, they produce a flat signal so that you get an accurate representation of how your music will sound when you create your final mix.

Hearing an accurate version of your music is absolutely crucial to getting a good consistent sound. Your music will be listened to on a huge array of devices so you what to ensure that it sounds good in all possible situations.

Different brands of monitors will give you slight variations in sound, some have a tendency towards a more low end reproduction and others have a higher peak. You will often see a wall of monitors in a studio so that they can test songs on the most popular options.

It is always a good rule that if a company specialises in only one type of product, then they are going to know what they are doing - KRK Systems have a great reputation and have everything from entry level to high end options. Go to your local music store and check out some different monitors, see what your ears can pick up and what you feel gives you the best playback.

A new and really price friendly option is the Focusrite VRM Box - it is a virtual monitor system that allows you to mix your tracks through headphones, It uses mathematical formulas to reproduce the sound of some of the top brands of monitor. It should give you hints as to where your mix might be off. You also need a really good set of headphones to get the full benefit from it.

Microphones are complex little devices and you can easily spend a lot of money on them. For home recording you want a decent quality condenser mic, this will let you record vocals and achieve relatively good results recording live instruments such as acoustic guitar.

A condenser microphone has a greater frequency response which means it is better at reproducing the speed of an instrument or voice. Condenser mic's are typically used in studio setups and dynamic mic's are more geared towards live performance.

Initially I really underestimated the importance of a good microphone (and admittedly, vocals in general) - the way your vocals sound within a song will make it something special or a complete failure, it is not something that you can go back and fix within your software, if your microphone isn't up to the job your music will never reach a professional level.

There is also a great deal you can do with layering vocals within a song, and also manipulating vocal tracks with effects to create interesting soundscapes - essentially your vocal tracks can really shape the sound and flow of your song.

Companies like Shure and Rode make great microphones that are generally considered "industry standard". The Rode NT1-A comes highly recommended and it is packaged with a shock mount and pop filter - basically everything you need in one box.

So there you have it, a breakdown of the basic equipment that you will need to start thinking about if you want to put together a home recording studio.

Depending on the style of music you are creating there are probably certain items you can skip over but generally speaking these are the basic things you need to record and mix effectively. For me, it's about fusing electronic and live instrumentation so things like microphones are required.

The best thing you can do is hit some online forums and start reading up and comparing the specs of the products you are considering purchasing. Familiarize yourself with the terminology and basic functions of recording equipment so that you have some idea of what achieves a good result.

There are some great resources out there where real people (non-endorsed) are talking and comparing products and aren't afraid to tell you what sounds like shit. Always try and find people that are using your DAW with the equipment you are thinking of purchasing to ensure that there are no driver or compatibility issues.

The market these days is quite competitive so companies are fairly quick to release bug fixes if you do happen to encounter issues.

Get down to your local music store and try everything out, most places will have monitors and equipment setup so that you can listen and compare brands and talk to the staff about what they recommend.

All the equipment I have talked about is available at your local Rockshop, I have been dealing with the Tauranga branch and the guys there have been great, very knowledgeable bunch of people!

In Future Sound no.2 I'll talk about the writing process, admittedly this is something I am still learning but I am starting to work out methods that help move things forward.

Scott Brown is the Creative Director at one of New Zealand's premiere web development companies, he maintains a blog at www.scottbrown.co.nz

He has been a drummer for over a decade and is now turning his attention to writing and recording original material under the name Fake Empire.

Notes on Recording Pre-production and Choosing a Recording Studio

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:21:42 +0000

: Recording Notes from York Street Studios :

In our years of experience at York Street Studios, we have found that there are certain aspects of producing a recording that should not be overlooked.

To maximize your budget and to help you to achieve the best recording possible, we have outlined some tips below on pre-production, selecting a studio and engineer, and what to look for in the recording process in order to get the most from your budget.

Pre-production:

Pre-production (sometimes overseen by a producer) is the first stage in the recording process and ensures you have a smooth and time-efficient session once you get into the studio.

Pre-production is your opportunity to ensure the successful outcome of your recording through good preparation, which is the most important part in any creative process, especially when time spent in the studio, is both limited and expensive.

Think of pre-production as the foundation that you build upon, a solid foundation is vital to a successful recording.

Here are some areas to focus on before you enter the studio:

Song direction, structure and arrangement:

It is important to decide early on which direction you want your song to go in as countless hours can be lost in the studio sorting out musical issues.
Pre-production is the time to fine-tune the arrangement (for example the placement and order of verses and choruses), and make key decisions such as whether you will record with a full band (live) or individually. This is also the time to decide which instruments and or backing vocals to use and in which part of the song.

Rehearse:

Whether you are recording with a band or as a soloist, every musician needs to know the song well before going into the studio. The only way to achieve this is through practice!

Once the song structure and arrangement has been decided, practice the song, as you would like to perform it. The main point here is that you do not want to learn or write the song in the studio. Practice will make the performance tight and will ensure a stress free time in the studio.

If your song has drums, it is always beneficial to practice with a click-track. Find a drum machine that you can borrow to generate a click. In this age of digital recording, much can be achieved through the process of digital editing; a process that is made much simpler if the performance was recorded along to a click track. Practicing to a click track can be very difficult, but we guarantee that it will achieve a better recording.

Being organized and ready to use the limited studio time efficiently is what you can do to help the engineer get the result you want from your recording.

Instruments:

Assess the quality of the instruments you have at your disposal and try to acquire the best ones you can, it will make a huge difference. The studio you choose to record in may have some quality instruments available, or it may be able to hire some in for you; it is best to discuss this with the studio well in advance.

We recommended that you re-string all guitars (but not always bass guitars as this can be an expensive exercise), and re-skin your drum kit as it can notably improve the sound. It is of particular importance that your drums have good skins and are re-tuned before a recording session.

Starting with instruments that sound great and are in good condition will get you a long way towards achieving a good sound in the studio.

Choosing a studio / engineer:

It is important to discuss your budget and expectations openly with the studio you choose so that everyone is clear on details such as how many studio hours you actually have.

Regardless of any financial arrangements that are made between you and the studio, we strongly believe that if a studio or engineer agrees to work with you, you have every right to expect their full attention and dedication to providing you with a product that is to the best of their capabilities.

In order to make the most of your time and money, it is important that you choose a studio and an engineer that is suitable for your project. Ask the engineer for examples of their previous recordings to get an idea of their style and abilities. It is important to visit the studio for a tour. The day of your recording should not be the first time you set foot in the studio.

If you are impressed with the facilities and staff, play your demo for the engineer and discuss what direction you want the song to go in. It is a good idea to bring some reference material (for example bands that you like the style of) as it helps the engineer determine how you would like your recording to sound.

At this stage, you will need to develop a plan with the engineer as to how your studio time will be structured to ensure all elements are recorded and mixed in the time available.

We hope this information will help you achieve the best recording possible, and make your recording experience an enjoyable one.

Good luck with your music.

Jeremy McPike
York Street Recording Studios.

NZ Rockshops are proud to support York Street Studios. You can view our York Street Studios page here...

About York Street Studios

"We offer the best vintage analogue and state of the art digital equipment, friendly and knowledgeable staff, a clean and comfortable environment... and extremely good espresso coffee!"

From demos to "single" production packages and full albums, your project will be given the attention and enthusiasm it deserves. It becomes your studio, with a comfortable TV lounge and a separate kitchen, even free pinball!

Located in Parnell, Auckland, our studio is only minutes from the central city and is surrounded by restaurants, bars, cafes and retails stores. It is also very close to some of New Zealand's finest hotels.

For Bookings and Studio Enquiries call Jeremy McPike
Ph: +64 9 307-1444 Fax: +64 9 3071454 Mob: 021-309-300 e-mail: jeremy@yorkstreet.co.nz
www.yorkstreet.co.nz, 28 York Street, Parnell, Auckland

Home Recording 101 by James Lissette

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:21:42 +0000

I have always thought that after you learn to play your instrument and then played a gig or 2 then the next thing to do is record your music. Now if you are not fortunate to live in Palmerston North where we have cheap recording studios like the Stomach and the City Library (yes we have a studio in our library here) the cost of going into a studio can be a bit daunting.

Professional studios certainly have their place for people who want to go in, pay their money, play their song and get a CD … but for those of you that like to DIY and learn about the process … then it’s an amazingly fun and enjoyable ride.

What I am going to talk about here is the basics of what you need to set up a small and productive studio for yourself. Further blogs will advance and expand upon this. This one here is just a bit of an introduction and explains the basics of what you will need. Later on we will get into Mics and setups, monitors and headphones.

You can take over the garage, record on your bed or just have a small setup in a cupboard.

So what are you going to need?
Well to start with ... something to record onto. There are two main options, computer or digital recorder. There are a few keyboards that have multitrack recorders in them, but those features will be covered in a later keyboard blog.

Computer Based
These days 9 times out of 10 it’s going to be a computer. It's important to note that you will need a small degree of computer experience to begin with. Clicking, dragging, double clicking, right clicking, folders, copy, paste, delete - if you are familiar with all of them ... then you'll be almost set to go computer based.

Either an Apple (Mac) or a PC. There are endless debates about the merits of both, but in the end I think the most important thing is to find the computer that works for you. It’s important to make the computer and software package decisions BEFORE you purchase the computer.

Despite computer stores saying that their system will run just about everything … computer recording has some specific requirements and the newest, hottest, fastest PC on the planet … may not be ideal for recording.

So what to buy a laptop or a desktop? Well from my own experience if you want to move about a bit, you should buy a laptop. A laptop allows you make your studio portable, take it on holiday with you, or take it to the band room etc. The smaller screen can be a hassle sometimes and it pays to remember that a lot of laptops have slower speed drives than desktops. Desktops are the business for at home and if you want to separate the computer away from were you are making music so you don’t hear the fan noise or any hum etc from it. You can also have a large monitor (or two) with a desktop. I mostly use a laptop as I can take it to band practice and set up for gigs easy as, and I have found it suits what I do.

PC have the heritage of being cheaper and having cheaper, more expandable parts, however they also have the pedigree of operating system issues. A lot of these issues have been ironed out now and there are some very professional recordings being done on PC these days.

Mac, have been the solid workhouse of audio/video studios the world over. You have very little worry about whether your Mac will be compatible with the software – because 99% of the time, the answer is yes. Certainly anything you buy today will be excellent. As an Apple Authorised Reseller, we actually provide custom configured and installed Mac based recording packages which you can see on our website under the Packages section.

When you are researching your computer, one of the most important things to consider I reckon, is what software you are going to use and then get a computer to suit that. Check out programs like Pro Tools, Logic Audio, Record and Sonar. Most software comes with recommendations as to what processor and RAM it needs and it is very important to get a computer to suit this otherwise you will just get errors and a sore head from hitting the table in frustration. If you’re not sure, make sure you ask one of our staff before you purchase the computer to make sure that it will do what you want it to.

You will find once you start recording you can fill up a drive quick so get a big one and also a portable drive just for backing up. A 1TB (that’s 1000 GBs) drive is very cheap today and is becoming more common in computers.

Inputs / Outputs / Interfaces
The next thing to think about is what you want to record.

Is it just you and your accordion or do you want to record drums etc as well? Perhaps you want to record your whole band at once?

The reason to think about this is that the next most important thing to get is an interface. These connect to the computer via USB or Firewire. This is what you plug your mic and/or instrument into. To get an acceptable quality of sound, you can’t use the default MIC input on a computer. It also plays your music back out of the computer into headphones or speakers so you can play along with what you have recorded (this is what multitrack recording is). My good hint here is to think about how many inputs you need, two will suit most people but if you want to record a few things at once then get one with 8 inputs. Remember, that multitracking allows you to record many tracks alongside other tracks so you may be able to just use two.

The difference between 2 inputs and 8 inputs is a few hundred dollars, so it’s worth considering if you are working to a budget

Digital Recorder / Workstations Based
If you don’t want to go the way of the computer you can still get a good ol’ fashioned 4 track tapedeck but one of the best ways is to get a Boss BR digital recorder. There are a few models in the range to suit all needs ranging from models that record to flash media to models that record to a hard drive.. My personal fave is the Micro BR (4 track recorder with drum patterns and effects!!!).


MICRO BR	BR 600	BR 900 CD	BR 1200 CD	BR 1600 CD
Click to enlarge

What these machines are is an all-in-one recording device with mic and instrument inputs and have a fantastic sound. The BR1600 features 8 mic inputs!!! They have effects and amplifier simulators in them and record to an internal hard drive like a computer does. Some of the larger models in the BR series have a built-in CD burner with mastering software which means you can go from playing to recording to mastering to burning a CD - on the unit. They are easy to use, as portable as a laptop and very creative.

Some models having drum and bass sequencers in them as well. This allows you to program up drum beats and bass lines (very useful if you don’t have a band). They have faders and are a very “hands on” machine.

Final Thoughts
So either a computer or a hard drive recorder are the main two options. These days we are almost spoilt for choice with options but this also means you are going to be sure to find what you want. After you have made your decision, the most important thing is to record as much as possible as this is the best way to learn but more on that later …

James Lissette is the Hi Tech Guy and Branch Manager at the Palmerston North Rockshop.

He has been making music and recording it for far too long. Starting out with a tapedeck he then got a 4 track reel to reel before progressing to using a computer.

Being a little over the top he has a rather large garage studio and has also taken over a room at home.