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1. Get the right gear first
As well as your instruments and amps, you’ll need a laptop capable of running DAW software such as Cubase, or if you’re old-school, a multi-track Portastudio. You’ll also need an interface that can take multiple XLR inputs; eight would be ideal to cover amps, drums and room mics, too.
Dynamic mics for amps are a must, as is a set of condenser and dynamic mics for the drums. If possible, an extra condenser or two to use as ambient mics is useful for capturing more of the overall sound of the band in the room.
You might decide to DI some sources, too; bass and acoustic amps are prime candidates, as they often feature XLR outputs. Also, bring spare strings, patch leads and guitar cables, because you never know!
2. Prepare
Before setting up to track your band, make sure you choose a song, or songs, to record that you can play consistently well live. You’re going to be capturing the instruments live and while you may leave solos and vocals for a separate session, you need to nail your live parts and make sure the band dynamic and tone is as good as can be.
Having a friend who can engineer is useful, as it allows you to focus on your performance and speeds up the process of checking levels, and starting/stopping recording. Next, you need to choose your location. It could be your usual practice room or even a village hall, but you’ll need enough space to position your band and not have excessive unwanted reverb…
3. Positioning the band
Because you’ll be using mics to record the instruments, ‘spill’ or ‘bleed’ is inevitable between them. This is when the instrument on one mic is picking up the sound of another. It tends to happen less with the close mics you’ll have on amps, but the drums are a loud instrument and spill from them is likely.
Because of this it’s advisable to record your vocals in a separate session rather than have a sensitive condenser mic picking up the other instruments as well. You can minimise bleed between the other instruments by positioning musicians in a semi-circle or horseshoe shape so they’re spaced out from each other but still close enough to communicate but amps aren’t facing each other where they could cause feedback.
4. Drum mic’ing basics
Using a four-mic setup for the drums to capture clean sound, start with the overhead mics first. These capture the sound of the kit being played in the room and help produce a clearer cymbal sound.
Start by positioning them six feet above ground level and aimed down at the kit. It’s vital that they are equal distances from the kit to avoid mic phasing (which happens when the sound is hitting each mic at different times).
For the kick drum, the closer you position the mic to the batter head (the side that is hit) the more attack you’ll get from the sound. You may also choose to place a pillow inside the kick drum as a muffler to reduce unwanted overtones and help give a punchier, less boomy sound.
For the snare, position the dynamic mic a couple of inches above and an inch from the edge of it. The further you move it away, the more room ambience you’ll get. And to reduce the amount of hi-hat cymbal sound hitting the snare mic, make sure it’s facing directly away from the hi-hat.
Article published by musicradar