Recording other instruments

[Colin Mac]

Hi there. Hopefully some of you kind folks can help and give me some advice. I own an 8 track and I'm very happy with it and the recordings that I've been making. I want to take the quality to a new level though.

I'd like to get some sounds from other instruments such as violin, piano and brass. What's the easiest way to do this? I've got an upright piano but the level of hiss is at an unacceptable level. I'm going to get an audio programme from a friend for the pc so I can experiment with that. Howeveer, an old friend used to have a small portable drum machine where you could plug in your guitar, play licks and melodies and it would produce pretty good sounds that closely resembled various instruments. This would be ideal. Any pointers?

[KimyReizeger]

Regarding hiss with your piano, I'm assuming buying a decent mic or two is out of the question?

[TigerInk]

Colin - I would go to SOS Home and search for whichever instrument you are considering recording - loads of good advice there.

Steven

[Colin Mac]

Cheers guys. I've just recorded piano and acoustics with my shure 58 and I guess I could experiment a bit more with placement for the piano and I know this aint the mic for recording these instruments. I just wanted to find something to work with for easyness and hopefully not to compromise too much for authenticness.

[lovers_spit]

what 8 track do you have?

i have a fostex mr-8 hd/cd and to be honest, the level of hiss and recording quality, even on non miced up instruments (electric guitar) is fucking shocking for whats meant to be a good 8-track.

anyone else had this problem?

[Colin Mac]

Originally Posted by lovers_spit

what 8 track do you have?

i have a fostex mr-8 hd/cd and to be honest, the level of hiss and recording quality, even on non miced up instruments (electric guitar) is fucking shocking for whats meant to be a good 8-track.

anyone else had this problem?

I've got a zoom mrs-802 with cd. Got to say, the level of hiss is non-existenet when I plug electric guitatar straight into the recorder. I'm pretty satisfied with the results I'm getting. I use mics for recording vocals(obviously) and sometimes guitar and now piano and I find that the mixing and your recording levels(obviosuly) goes a long way to determining how much hiss you hear. Ins hort, keep experimenting! You don't need a £80 000 000 record deal to record great music! Good songs help though!

Also I've experimented this weekend with recording my old rickety piano and again I've found that the mix goes a long way to determining what you want to hear and what you dont want to hear. Although ultimately I'm aiming for the recording quality that Lennon and Spectre got at the start of 'Imagine'. More experimentation needed methinks!