Running a recording session

1
Running a recording session

• Basic decisions probably already made
• MAX 16 tracks
• 44.1kHz
• And some information already known
• Instruments
• musicians
• Song
• Style
• Equipment installed/required

2
Procedures

• Record all at once or overdub?
• Probably a mixture of both
• Conventionally record rhythm section (bass and
  drums) at the same time
• Could overdub bass onto good drum track

3
Procedures

• Normal to have all musicians playing together
• Helps produce a more cohesive? Stable? Playing as
  a band feel? Tighter?
• But how to achieve isolation?
• Allow musicians to be close together or at least
  see each other

4
Procedures

• Phase (3 to 1 rule) and leakage problems
• Large studio with baffles/isolation booths
• Close miking, cardioid or hypercardioid, careful
  positioning
• Small studio, some musicians in control room, use
  of DI (POD)?
• Headphones to bassist and drummer in live room?
• Practise on headphone mixes
• Guide guitar and vocal tracks (record if enough
  spare tracks)

5
Recording drums

• Set up day before, get drummer to tune/set up
  before you mic
• Varying qualities of cymbals/skins/drums
• Listen to the kit
• Rattles
• Squeaks
• Damping etc

6
Recording drums

• Click track/metronome use sequencer (Cubase)
  click or set up drum track
• Very important if drums do not start at the
  beginning.
• If no click then at least count in by drummer
  (click drumsticks)
• A lead instrument or vocal to guide them
• Blend drums with bass guitar
• Few sounds will be heard in isolation in the
  final mix
• Dont be too picky, time is against you

7
Think about the final mix

• Stereo recording?
• Pan across the stereo field
• Separate tracks for ALL drums or a mix of toms on
  one track?
• Cannot separate later

8
Enough tracks on recorder?

• A few tricks to ensure you have enough tracks
• Stereo drum mix on to 4 or 5 tracks
• Bounce tracks by combining onto unused tracks
• Used a lot in the old 4 track days
• Quality would deteriorate
• Record two or more instruments onto a single
  track
• Be careful of eq, pan etc would have to be
  dissimilar instruments i.e. not sharing the same
  frequency range.

9
Signal processing During recording process

• EQ, compression, gating, reverb
• If it is on tape it cannot be unrecorded
• Several schools of thought
• Leave all tracks as dry as possible
• Do not do anything that cannot be undone
• It is (nearly) possible to negate any EQ added
• But not compression or FX
• It all adds noise
• Some EQ may be essential (low rumble/hiss)
• May be able to deal with this by moving the mic

10
Signal processing During recording process

• Compression of drums/bass is quite common
• But less is more...
• Dont guess at any stage with signal processing
  etc best to leave it off altogether than get it
  wrong
• Compression of vocals is also common but even
  more tricky
• FX could be mixed into headphone or playback
  monitoring mix, but not to tape

11
The desk

• Dont forget to normalise before using
• Check all channels and groups
• Use tape to mark channels with instruments
• use your track listings in your plan
• Test every mic and lead
• Don forget phantom power for condensors

12
The desk

• Start setting level for each instrument/drum
• Get each drum level
• Ask each instrument to play solo
• Remember they will probably play louder when
  running through the song
• Set level to tape and monitor level
• Use PFL
• Usual to monitor tape returns
• route to main mix
• Hence route mic/line inputs to tape and not main
  mix

13
The Desk

• Set up headphone mixes and level
• Let the musicians warm up
• Run through the song a couple of times
• Monitor during these rehearsals
• Check levels again
• Maybe even record.?

14
Recording

• Good idea to make a rough note of song length and
  structure (use locate points)
• Start time
• Time of second verse etc
• Where the guitar solo is
• Rough idea of BPM (click track)
• How many separate takes?
• Keep a record of each take (comments, tape
  position, track number etc)
• could slate to multi track?

15
Recording

• Listen and watch
• Mistakes by the band (concentrate on drums and
  bass)
• Slipping out of time
• Overloads
• Next stage is overdubbing
• Similar process to initial recording
• But tape is now the backing track
• Rewind tape each time
• Or use punch in or punch out

16
Vocals

• Arguably the most important part of a recording
• We have several good vocal mics
• Check your vocalist(s) and think of a suitable
  recording method
• Be careful of spill from headphones

17
Recording

• Back up your recording
• Hard disk drives can be accessed by FTP
• Ask studio technicians how to do this
• Copy your multi track to PC then back up on CD
• Time constraints

18
Groups/assignment 1

• Should all be in groups by now
• Should all have contacted band
• Preparing assignment one
• More importantly getting ready for recording
  sessions
• Book extra equipment with stores