Recording music at home

[Exxon]

Hi guys, I need your help.

 

For school, we eventually need to make our own videoclip for a song that already exists, but you can also do one for your own song, if you have one.

 

I with my band had the idea to make one for a song we made, but we have to record everything by ourselves.

The idea was that we'd record it over at my place, seeing that I have a drumkit and piano, and the guitarist will bring it's own mic and amplifier which can be connected to PC.

I have a mic for the piano (put it on its speaker) and I was thinking about using the other 2 for my drumkit (probably awful quality, but well ...).

Besides that, if I can find one more mic I have everything I need, because I need one for the singer.

 

Is there any way I could do this at home with 4 mics (1 for the singer, 1 for piano and 2 for the drumkit) and the amplifier connected to the PC?

And what kind of software could I use for that? I have Sony Vegas Pro 10 ...

[King Kapone]

Cool Edit Pro, FL Studio, Audacity.

 

Any of these would work. Just learn the art of recording the song one piece at a time,

unless you have a decent recording system in place, with the right environment too.

If you record the entire thing at once, without any editing in-program to adjust

volume/bass/treble levels, it will sound like crap. You'll need to compensate for any echo

you'll get from recording somewhere, like in your garage for example.

 

If your school has a studio OR if you can visit a local college for their radio room ie. studio,

you'll get the best results. But if it's just for a school project that you'll most likely

get an A for simply showing up, just do whatever is the most fun for the group.

[DEALUX]

Exactly. If you don't have the right microphones you won't be able to record properly all at once. You'll have to record each instrument\track sequentially.

 

Vegas Pro works as an audio editor as well, it is very similar to (Sony) Sound Forge Pro which is an excellent audio editor.

You just need to record and lay the tracks down in the editor, synchronize them, add effects to each track etc.

[Exxon]

Thanks for helping guys

 

I thought, the drums will most likely sound the worst, so after recording the song I thought I could redo the drums (using more mics) for better sound. We'll see

 

But can I do it in such way that I plug the mics into my computer and record the sound immediately using Sony or do I really have to do all instruments one by one?

[King Kapone]

Well, if you had an advanced setup, you would be able to record at the same time and

the different inputs would automatically be separated into their own channels. From the

sound of what you have going on, though, I think your best bet would be to get the song

figured out, then record each part individually. You have to make sure the timing is perfect

though.

 

As for the drums, when in doubt, download any of the millions of free drum loops available

on the internet. There are loops for every genre out there.

[RomansMoobs]

 

Hi guys, I need your help.

 

For school, we eventually need to make our own videoclip for a song that already exists, but you can also do one for your own song, if you have one.

 

I with my band had the idea to make one for a song we made, but we have to record everything by ourselves.

The idea was that we'd record it over at my place, seeing that I have a drumkit and piano, and the guitarist will bring it's own mic and amplifier which can be connected to PC.

I have a mic for the piano (put it on its speaker) and I was thinking about using the other 2 for my drumkit (probably awful quality, but well ...).

Besides that, if I can find one more mic I have everything I need, because I need one for the singer.

 

Is there any way I could do this at home with 4 mics (1 for the singer, 1 for piano and 2 for the drumkit) and the amplifier connected to the PC?

And what kind of software could I use for that? I have Sony Vegas Pro 10 ...

Your best bet would be to record the drums with 4 mics, 1 for cymbals, 1 for toms, 1 for kick and one for snare. Always experiment with mic heights and distances. Same with recording the guitar and keys.

 

 

Honestly, most recording studios don't charge that much, and if your band practices enough you can knock out a few songs in a few hours. Tracking drums always takes the longest, so make sure you have your sh*t together. My band recorded a high quality demo for 180 USD mixed and mastered. Divide that between the members of your band, and it's not that much.

 

You'll need a high quality mic, high quality recording equipment, and high quality gear to get it to sound somewhat decent if you decide to DIY. It's probably better just to record it in a studio, you'll get better results, and you won't rip your hair out.

 

As for your last question, yes one by one. It sucks. Then you have to mix them together, level them out, add effects... it's a long f*cking process.

 

And find an online metronome to keep timing better, it's nearly impossible to get timing exactly perfect by ear.

Edited March 11, 2013 by RomansMoobs

[Exxon]

If I wanted to record music with a videocamera, which ones would be adequate?

The videocamera I have is the Exilim EX-Z90, but I don't know about it's sound quality with drums.

And, it's just to record drums. We'll do a global recording and then I'll do the drums separately.

 

If I'd have this quality, I'd be oh so happy!

What cameras have this kind of quality, and does my Exilim come anywhere close to it?

 

 

[xrk]

you should look at forums like gearsluts for this sort of thing. To do it properly takes a lot of reading, learning and practice.

 

A lot goes into being a producer/engineer. money too and that is what you would be doing. different types of mics, audio interfaces, mixers, studio monitors, sound proofing (not to stop from disturbing others but to treat room acoustics for recording), decent sequencer (reaper is a very good free one that's seen as competition for daws like cubase/logic etc.

cheaper and easier to hire a studio and someone thats already gone through to learning and had experience.

 

I mean you could just get a dj mixer and record through that with some stage mic but it wont sound good and with out experience you probably wont hear where your problems are, if you hear them at all.

for example micing up the speaker to your "piano" will sound sh*t. but if your piano has a speaker, surely it has a line out?

 

production forums imo.