Recording - August 2015 - 16

By Alex Hawley
Your band has been spending countless hours rehearsing and refining its arrangements, and now you've decided it is time to record your
music. Recording your band at home can be a very exciting endeavor; there is a lot that goes into it, but if you do some planning and
know a few techniques, it can be very rewarding. The needs of your
recording will determine how involved the process will be.
Why record? For starters, it is hard to book a decent venue
without having anything to show the club owner. Perhaps you
already have a demo recorded, and now your band is looking for
something with a higher production value that you can sell at your
merch table. For the purposes of this article, we are going to
assume that you want a full-production recording of your band,
without the stress of being on the clock at a commercial studio.
You want the recording to be something that sounds like the band
is playing tight, the groove is locked in, and everyone is playing
with energy. Your band has the intention to not only book shows
with all of the local club owners, but also to sell copies of the
album or EP after every show. This is all very much within reach.
Pre-production
Pre-production is a very important part of the process. One of
the first items of business will be deciding if you want to record
the group playing live, or record separately and overdub each
instrument. Both methods have pros and cons. Recording live
can help bring more energy into the recording. You and your
bandmates have rehearsed and performed all together, so why
should recording be any different? This might be the most organic way to capture the sound that you intended.
However, there are some drawbacks to recording live.
Microphone bleed from other instruments in the room is going
to be a concern; this can cause challenges in the mixing stage
that can be hard to avoid. For example, let's say the guitarist forgets about the double chorus you added to the end of the
arrangement, and skips straight to the outro. Even if you try to
re-record the guitar part to salvage the great take that everyone
else had, you can still hear the old guitar take from the amp
bleed making its way into the drum mics. Not good.
16

RECORDING August 2015

Recording everyone separately makes it harder to capture the
same energy as playing live, but it is easier to get the perfect take
for every instrument. Making edits, punching in for the tricky
bridge, or taking several takes of a guitar solo becomes very
easy to do.
Ideally your band wants to capture the energy and the vibe of
a live recording, while still being able to make easy edits and
have the option to add more overdubs. One solution is something commonly known as "basics". This consists of recording
drums and bass live, sometimes with keys or guitar live as well.
Doing this allows the rhythm section to get locked in with each
other and play with the same energy of a live performance without getting too much bleed from the rest of the band. After drums
and bass are recorded, you are left with a rock-solid foundation
to start adding the rest of the instrumentation.
The next step is assessing the gear and space you have available. The number of inputs on your interface will determine how
'creative' you will need to be with your microphone techniques.
If you only have one or two mic preamps, it will dictate a very
simple approach. I would suggest looking for an interface with
more inputs to rent or borrow. If you are bound and determined
to make it work with only two inputs, try using an auxiliary mixer
to sub-mix the recording into a stereo feed on your interface.
Depending on the mixer, this should open up options with four
or more mic preamps. The only downside would be that you
have to commit to the mix on the way in, as it will be printed to
a stereo pair rather than individual tracks.
According to the number of inputs you have to work with,
make a plan for what microphones you want to use where.
Check to make sure you have enough functioning stands and
enough XLR cables that will reach far enough to make it from the
live room to the interface. Also, check your DI boxes (Direct
Inject) and make sure you have enough headphones for everyone that will be recording basics. All of this is good to check out
ahead of time; there's nothing more irritating than getting the
band all set up and realizing you don't have enough stands, or
the XLR cables won't reach far enough.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - August 2015