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[Jan]

Originally Posted by black_matter

There's nae sense even discussing it because its a stupid as fuck idea to stick a mic in the middle of a room to record something, even if it is to get a 'perspective'. Surely you can chuck £20-25 together each and go to Toms. It'll develop your songs much better than a mic in the middle of a room?!

1864 in Art have gotten some pretty reasonable recordings from just sticking two mics in a room and recording straight into a laptop. This has been brilliant for listening back to jams and deciding how songs should actually go.

[John W]

Well it's just so we can record as we go along pretty much, so investing in a microphone or two to record your ideas and develop them is just the route i want to take, and just to suit the style of the music, when the time comes, do a live recording somewhere.

I really like the sound of the 1864 in art recordings on the myspace, near enough to sound and feel this band are going for i think.

[soundian]

Originally Posted by John W

Well it's just so we can record as we go along pretty much, so investing in a microphone or two to record your ideas and develop them is just the route i want to take, and just to suit the style of the music,

The boys doing well. I think he's got it!

Originally Posted by John W

when the time comes, do a live recording somewhere.

D'oh!

Originally Posted by John W

I really like the sound of the 1864 in art recordings on the myspace, near enough to sound and feel this band are going for i think.

But the recordings on there weren't done with 2 mics, as explained above. Remember, he called them "pretty reasonable recordings". Not good, not adequate, just the lower side of reasonable.

[Hog]

I would go to captain toms

[John W]

I guess, well i'm still just writing these songs, but live recording seems to be the pattern in the sound we're looking for. makes it sound natural and well, live.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by soundian

But the recordings on there weren't done with 2 mics, as explained above.

Yeah the ones on our myspace aren't the ones Jan was talking about, the myspace ones were recorded live but a bit more time was taken on it with proper mic setup and it was into the main desk at musical vision with a bit more time taken over levels. We ran through the songs a few times over a couple of hours and picked out the best takes, cleaned them up and changed the mix slightly then put them online. It was a cheap way of getting something passable for myspace (think it was about £30 or £40) though.

The ones Jan was talking about aren't up anywhere to hear as they're not very good quality. Just 2 mics placed in a room into my USB interface, quick level check then we hit record on audacity and go for it. It's purely as a writing aid and not something suitable for public consumption (not least because each track is about 15 minutes long!).

But for what they are I think they're pretty good and it's been a great help for us, but it depends how you write really. As an instrumental band that writes together its a lot more useful to record our practices than it might be if you're a song based band that's turning up to practice with songs already written.

[Original Spies]

Originally Posted by black_matter

There's nae sense even discussing it because its a stupid as fuck idea to stick a mic in the middle of a room to record something

I can only assume you've never actually done it, or tried it once without taking any time to figure out where the mic would e best placed to suit the acoustics of the room. There really isn't much point paying out too much when John has reiterated over and over that it is just for him to put vocals to and not much else. As long as the levels are even and not too loud that it will cause the recording break-up, then even a dictophone under a jacket in a practice room will suffice for being able to listen to the song and figure out how the vocals are going to be put in place.

I think it's obvious the result isn't going to sound great or useable for any other means, but it will do for what he needs.


Really, in this day and age when home recording is easier and more accesible than ever (the World and his wife owns a copy of Cubase these days), if you're running to the nearest studio for something as small as a track to work on or a bit of perspective then it certainly lacks a bit of creativity, and that all important can-do attitude; in my opinion anyway.

It'd be like taking your guitar to a tech every time it needs restrung instead of figuring out how to do it yourself. It really is that small in the grand scheme of things.

[Dan G]

I think it all comes down to what you are planning to do with the track to be honest. What is being discussed is great for learning/writing purposes. Black Atom used to do it quite a lot with a mini-disc recorder in the middle of a captain toms room.

But if you go down the "one-mic recording" route I REALLY would recommend not using the track(s) for public consumption, because it can easily go down this route...:

Leave It To Egon Track Online

[RockAustin]

If you are working on songs, I recommend sitting in your livingroom with your guitars and a bass, perhaps something for your drummer to bash. You can mess around for as long as you like to develop an idea or until you're neighbours can't take it any more and there is no money/time pressure. You can play through heaps of different ideas that you have worked out before hand or that just spring into your head. We stick an SM58 through a sound card and record on cubase so we don't miss any of those precious ideas, it doesn't sound amazing but you can work it back easy enough once your done. The ideas process doesn't work best when you feel the pressure of time on your back, I think the studio should be used for the last stages of writing a song and getting the shine on it then for getting tight and slick with your performance.

Once you've done this get your demo done at Tom's or Vision. We did ours for 60 quid in vision and it is good enough to let venues hear. Plus because you are increadibly well rehearsed by this point there is no fucking around during the recording session bang bang bang done.

[John W]

Me and the drummer and the writers, so it's all done in his garage, but if we record the drums with a mic or two, we'll do it in his living room (He has a smashing big house built near enough completely of wood and the acoustics are nearly orgasmic!).

So my plan is to get these tunes we're writing, finished and have a rough demo of sorts to finish the vocals too. I find writing vocals much easier if i don't need to think about what i'm playing on guitar at the same time, then with the music and the vocals finished, i assume the cold will be back and practising in the drummers garage will be near unbearable, so we will finish off practising in toms, record at MV or CT, and get gigging.

Seem's like the plan we're going to stick with now.