4 track recording

greeninc13 · Little Goldfish Joined: 29 May 2004 Posts: 53

my band wants to get a 4 track cassete recorder to record sum of our stuff. However is it possible to record 2 guitars, a bass and drums in decent quality? If so how will i mic the kit?

random white person · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 4:39 pm Post subject:

its possible to do that. the thing is, you will have so many mics for your kit, youll need to get something to convert all of those signals into one so they dont take up all the tracks on the tape. then, youll have to decide if you want to record the entire band at once, or each instrument individually. its probably easier to do it all at once, so you dont need to fine tune the timing on the tape.

the most common way to mic a kit is to place one mic a few inches from the snare and each of the toms (usually 4"-6"), a kick drum mic inside of your bass drum (at least several inches from the batter head. make sure the mic is not pointing directly at the beater, so just angle it down a little bit to avoid problems), and 2 overhead microphones to pick up your cymbals. you dont have to mic the hihats, since they usually bleed through to some of the mics around them, but you may have to if they arent coming through as much as you want.

simply plugging an electric guitar into a 4-track doesnt sound great, and sending it first through an amp and then straight to the recorder can mess up your equipment. probably the best method is to just play your guitars into fairly small amps, and place a microphone in front of them to pick the sound up.

dont play too loud. if you bash away at your kit, it may sound great to you, but may cause distortion in the recording. hit your cymbals fairly softly. the mics will still pick them up, but your drums will have a bigger, clearer sound. for the guitars, it may seem like a great idea to plug em into a whole stack of massive amps, but a small amp will give you more clarity and you can always adjust the volume after the fact.
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Radialprofan · Grizzly Bear Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 728

The limitations of a four track are very apparent when doing a band. They're terriffic for an acoustic duet or doing a demo with a drum machine.
Cassette Sucks! No other way to put that and four tracks on a cassette are terrible audio compared to what you can do with a computer. I'd go with a mini disk or even a zip drive before going cassette if possible!
Now that I've gotten that of my chest; A cassette 4 track can record a band but you'll have to do multiple instruments in one take on one or two tracks. It'll all have to be mixed in mono for the most part and you'll be limited on vocal tracks too of course. For example; Put drums on track one (you'll need to mic all your drums and mix them with an outboard console, then send that mix to the four track recorder), bass on two, guitar(s) on three and vocals on four. It's been done. Heck I've done it! But I was never happy with the end results. Good luck!

greeninc13 · Little Goldfish Joined: 29 May 2004 Posts: 53

radialprofan, wat exactly do i need to record my band on a comp? How much will it cost? Keep in mind im 16 and dont have a whole lot of $ to be throwin around

Radialprofan · Grizzly Bear Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 728

http://www.dealtime.com/xPO-Creative_Labs_Sound_Blaster_Audigy_2_ZS_Platinum_Pro
According to the specs; this card has 5 stereo inputs! That's 10 mono channels of input it can use at one time! It takes me 8 channels to mic and mix my drum kit! That should give you plenty of inputs to record your band! You'll also need some mixing and editing software. I highly recommend Adobe Audition. With Adobe you can not only mix in 5.1 surround sound Exclamation

but you can also edit your videos of your band as well! I see it on ebay for 149 bucks and thats the "buy it now" price! So for about $300, you could turn out broadcast quality recording of your band bro! $300 Exclamation

Sounds like a lot for a 16 year old. But really it's mowing 15 yards at $20 each. Chump change! Wink

greeninc13 · Little Goldfish Joined: 29 May 2004 Posts: 53

hmmmmmmmmm thanx radialprofan, ill look into that. by the way how much does a decent set of drum mics cost?

greeninc13 · Little Goldfish Joined: 29 May 2004 Posts: 53

hmmmmmmmmm thanx radialprofan, ill look into that. by the way how much does a decent set of drum mics cost?

Radialprofan · Grizzly Bear Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 728

Man mics are a different beast for sure. So many to choose from and in that respect I'm a creature of habit. I honestly haven't tried a lot of different mics because I'm real happy with what I have. That being said, I suggest you ask you local dealer if you can rent some different mics to try. I hear great things about Audix. I haven't used them but just a couple of times one someone else's PA system so that's not a fair comparison. You should be open minded and open eared!
I use and really love the old stand by and still industry standard Shure SM57's on toms and snare. I have an AKG D-112 on my kick. Again, what I get out of these mics is much to MY liking, but you should be open to try others and see what YOU like. The 57's are cheap enough. I have 4 I bought on ebay used for $40 each. You can buy new ones for $89 and some come with a cord! The D-112's run about $200. Look for used gear whenever you can bro. If it works who cares if the paint is chipped? Wink

Last thing about mics is; Buy the BEST you can afford. When you record it’s like making a chain. Your weakest link is what will hold you back every time.