The web home of Kim o the Concrete Jungle, including Kim o the Concrete Jungle, Kinsley Castle, the Mortal Taint, the Mojo Liberation Front, Creighton Keane, and the Blues Convicts.
The web home of Kim o the Concrete Jungle, including Kim o the Concrete Jungle, Kinsley Castle, the Mortal Taint, the Mojo Liberation Front, Creighton Keane, and the Blues Convicts.
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Kim o' the Concrete Jungle's 3. Noise GeneratorsWe're not quite done buying equipment yet. And yes, I know, I promised to show you how to record song demos on the cheap. But if you wanted to make a bad recording, you could just set up your video camera in the corner of the room and play to it. There's a million Youtube videos that do exactly that, so it can't be wrong, right? But to get the best possible results at home on your computer, you'll want to do a blend of computer generated digital sounds and real analogue sounds. Blending the two together is the best way of getting a good recording at home. The pristine shininess of the digital stuff will cover over the low-fi grime of cheap microphones in untreated rooms. Whereas the edginess and depth of the analogue parts will smooth over the cheesiness and mechanical rigidity of the computer-sequenced stuff. So you'll want at least one decent microphone. This might worry you a little, if you've heard audio engineers bandying brand names like Neumann about. Thankfully, one of the best microphones money can buy is also one of the cheapest. You can have the industry standard microphone for next to no money, and it's not even like you're cheating. It's called a Shure SM57, and don't worry, you won't be the first person to record an entire album worth of music using only this microphone.
While you're at the shop, make sure you buy a microphone stand and pop-filter to go along with it. Back when I was young and stupid, I kind of neglected that part (because going into a shop to buy a microphone stand isn't cool enough, or something). A friend of mine laughed in my face during one recording session, because I was trying to stuff a microphone into my shirt pocket so I could sing and play guitar at the same time. Trust me, you never want to look this foolish. Buy a microphone stand. And yes, buy a pop-filter as well, Your feeble and fumbling efforts to improvise one out of a wire coat-hanger and a pair of nylon stockings will make you look equally as stupid. This is doubly true if you happen to be a single man, and this prompts your friends to ask, "Err, dude, why do you own women's clothing?" Do you play electric guitar and/or bass? I ask because the trifecta of bass, guitar, and cheesy plastic keyboard has been at the heart of home recording ever since Paul McCartney invented it in 1970. If you own and play all three, it's probably because you're already into home recording. In which case, hey, what are you doing reading this? Electric guitars and basses are interesting because they're already halfway to being electronic instruments. There are all sorts of gadgets you can buy that mess around with a guitar's electric signal in sonically interesting ways (and quite a few of those are now available as plugins for your computer). Personally, guitar and bass are my primary musical instruments, so I'll be covering both quite extensively in this guide. But don't worry, I won't be neglecting other instruments. There are two problems with electric guitars in home recording. The first problem is a bit delicate because, quite frankly, electric guitar players can be very stupid and superstitious about their chosen instrument. There are still some out there who insist that putting a microphone in front of an all-tube guitar amplifier is the only legitimate method of recording electric guitar. A decade ago they had a point, but now in the twenty-teens? Not so much. Nowadays, you can buy guitar amp simulators that sound just as good (and in some limited circumstances even better) than real amps recorded in professional studios. Some will deny the fact, which is understandable if you've just dropped a mint on a vintage Fender Twin, but nevertheless, it's a demonstrable fact. If a professional recording studio can't do a better job than a good amp sim, then what makes you think you can in your home studio? The second problem exists at the other extreme. These days you can buy software plugins like AmpliTube for your computer. And you might think that's a really neat idea. It's not. To run a premium plugin like that, you need a really fast computer. For the majority of us plebs who can't afford the latest and greatest of everything, running a software amp sim is going to be a latency nightmare. If your interface has direct monitoring, then you've got a work-around. You can monitor the dry guitar signal going in. It won't sound very inspiring, but at least it will be in time. If electric guitar is not your main thing and you don't want to spend too much money on guitar stuff, then that's what I recommend. If you're a real guitar or bass player, then I think you ought to stick with hardware amp simulators. The hardware will give you the best sound with the least latency. I'm going to recommend two units here, one for electric bass, and one for electric guitar.
Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro: "What?" I hear you ask, "More Behringer gear? Are you on the payroll?" I know that most Behringer gear doesn't have a great reputation with audio people. When you're being generous you would describe most of it as cheap stuff that works but sounds like crap. But the Bass V-Amp Pro is the real sleeper in Behringer range. It's a genuinely good bass amp simulator -- not just good for the price. This, alongside the ADA8000, is best thing that Behringer makes. People actually rave about how good this thing is. Don't confuse it with the guitar version, which is pretty ordinary -- you want the silver one, not the blue one. Vox ToneLab LE: If you play a guitar as a second instrument, the Behringer unit has you covered. Even though it's technically for bass, it's got enough guitar amps in there to pull double duty (it's got some keyboard amp models as well). But if your primary instrument is guitar and you're going to be recording guitar-centric music, then you'll want something better. The Vox ToneLab LE is about as good as it gets. It does a really good job of simulating a tube amp because it actually is a tube amp. If the LE is too rich for you, you can get the cut-down ST version, but personally, I think you should indulge yourself. When you're not recording with it, you can switch off the amp/speaker simulator stuff and use it in front of your real amp as multi-effects unit. Mine goes everywhere with me -- to the home studio, to band practice, and to gigs. Because I'm primarily a guitar and bass player, I'll be delving deep into both the V-Amp and the ToneLab in this guide. That doesn't mean I'll be neglecting you keyboard players, but because it's not my primary instrument, I've made an executive decision not to buy any hardware synths or electronic pianos. If I want that stuff, I do it in software. But if you're primarily a keyboard player, you'll be looking at the real keyboards. It's just that, because this is an in-depth guide, I'm not going to be able to cover stuff I don't actually own and use. Just A Bit More Money...So what happens if your main instrument isn't an electric guitar or bass, or a keyboard, or anything that you can plug in? Well, this is what microphones are for. And if you're mostly going to be recording real acoustic instruments, maybe you want more than just one little SM57. In fact, the more deeply you get sucked into a home-recording obsession, the more you're going to want additional microphones, regardless of your main instrument. If you've got some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket and you want to expand, you'll probably be looking at condenser microphones. Large diaphragm condensers are a lot more sensitive than dynamic mics, and they look way more impressive when you set them up in their shock-mounts on the microphone stand (yeah, I know, that's the real reason why you want one). At the same time, you probably don't want to drop a couple of thousand on the industry standard Neumann U87. But equally, you don't want to go out and buy the cheapest most mass-produced condenser you can find. I guarantee that a cheapy will sound worse than the Shure SM57 you already own. So, what would be the point of buying it? (Oh yeah, teh shiny.) For your second microphone, you're going to have to dig a little deeper than that. The condenser microphone I'm going to recommend is about middle of the range in price, and about middle of the range in performance. But come the day when you go full audio-geek, it will still be able to hold it's own in the mic locker next to the Neumann, the Pearl, and the Beesneez that cost you thousands. For your first large-diaphragm studio condenser, I recommend you get a Røde NT2-A.
Don't mind what the audio engineers say. Those guys have a Neumann U87 sized hole in their brains. The very idea that other microphones even exist is enough to confuse the heck out of them. It's hard to go wrong with a Røde NT2-A. I mean, just look at all the shiny switches on it! Those switches mean it's a do-anything microphone for all occasions. Of course, being a person recording your own stuff in a crappy sounding home studio, you're going to leave those switches set to cardioid and 40Hz low-cut pretty much by default. But it's just remotely possible that one day you might find yourself in a nice sounding room, and you will want to capture the ambiance. On that rare and celebrated occasion, you might even reach up to your Røde NT2-A and -- gasp -- switch it to omni. Well, you can always dream. But hey, at least the low-cut switch will come in handy fairly often. On the bright side, maybe you're into the low-fi thing and you want to celebrate the crappiness of your recording space. Well, it's good news. A large diaphragm studio condenser microphone like the Røde will capture every bit of the suck in minute and scintillating detail. If you want to record a lot of delicate acoustic instruments, you're just going to have to deal. Do as much close micing as you can, and get online to seriously research acoustic treatment for your recording space. One Last Thing...Oh yes, if you buy a second microphone, get a second microphone stand as well. What, another one? Yes, another one! Now you own two microphones, you can explore the possibilities of multi-mic setups. But that's a subject for later. And another very last thing. I'm willing to bet that some of the fancy devices you've bought won't come with an appropriate cable. Every time you buy a new bit of kit, buy a cable with the right connectors to marry it to your interface. That way, you'll never be caught short. And yet one last thing more... Here's all the stuff you're going to have to get that I forgot to mention in the first three chapters:
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "You promised to show me recording on the cheap, and now you're asking me to spend thousands." So, am I a lying liar who lies? Let's put this into perspective. If you're only spending into four figures, then rejoice, because that makes home recording one of the cheapest hobbies out there. Go and have a look at para-gliding or radio-controlled cars and see how far a couple of grand will get you. Also, you don't have to buy all this stuff before you can get started. You probably already own a good-enough computer. Download all the free software I'm about to recommend and you can turn out a few midi-based instrumental tracks without needing anything else. If you get the interface and microphone next, you can start doing some real recording. Stuff like controllers and hardware amp-sims can wait until you have the spare cash. You can treat all of the above as buying guide rather than a list of pre-requisites. I'm just listing it all up front, because I'll be referring to it later. |
