EQ Magazine - February 2008 - (Page 10) Punch In OUTFOXING YOUR LIMITATIONS Ian Eagleson’s Tips for Tracking Big Sounds with Budget Gear Extra Golden (left to right)—Alex Minoff, Opiyo Bilongo, Ian Eagleson, and Onyango Wuod Omari. SM57 to work with on the source sounds, so I put the PL11 inside the kick, as it could translate the low end, and the SM57 on the beater side of the head to get the attack. Then, I just blended the sounds together. It came out great. You’ll probably never see anyone else using those two mics to record a kick drum, but they work if you just apply them creatively. ” WHEN IN DOUBT, RECORD DIRECT “Whilke traveling around Kenya, it’s not like I could bring a ton of guitar amps to get the perfect sound. So I recorded everything I could direct. Afterwards, I could treat the signals however I wanted with plug-ins. In my opinion, it’s more important just to get the performance, than it is to worry about the sound. And it’s better to get a nice, clean, and malleable direct signal, than it is to get stuck with a bad sound due to poor miking techniques. ” GO SMALL “If you’re recording in your bedroom, you don’t need to spend thousands on a 100watt Marshall stack to get a good guitar sound. For this last album, we recorded the majority of our guitars in a small room using a Z.Vex Nano Amp, which is a really cool half-watt amp that lets you get a very thick, overdriven sound without turning it up loud. It was great for recording in a small space. So use little combos. They’ll save you cash, and, if all else fails, you can always reamp later. NOEL KUPERSMITH by Greg Reynolds There’s more than one way to bake a cake, but you don’t have to be a world-class chef in a state-of-the-art facility to cook up some tasty treats. Ian Eagleson—cofounder of the band known as Extra Golden—knows all about maximizing what you’ve got, and recording greatsounding albums on a budget. Tracking the entirety of Extra Golden’s newest foray into the world of American rock and Kenyan Benga dance music fusion, Hera Ma Nono [Thrill Jockey], at his portable “Nyathi Otenga Flying Studio, Eagleson ” is an ardent believer in the power of lowbudget gear. “My entire set-up is a PC running Sony Vegas, an RME Multiface II, a Mackie 1604- VLZ3, and just a handful of mics, he says. ” Here are his tips for making the most of what you have. EXPERIMENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE “When I was recording on location in Kenya—and working on my doctorate in Ethnomusicology—every session was totally improvised. I’d be working in very remote places—at times having to bring a generator to even track. And I could never bring much gear, so I had to make what I did have work. I learned a lot from those times, so, on this album, when I was in a similar position, I used an old Electro-Voice PL11—which is designed as a broadcast mic—to record the drums. I only had a PL11 and a Shure EQ’S EXCLUSIVE “MASTERING IN THE HOME STUDIO” WEBINAR If you missed our LIVE online “Mastering in the Home Studio” master class, don’t fret. Gentlemen we are, we’ve archived it for you. Don’t believe us? Head on over to: www.visualwebcenter.com/musicplayernetwork/storefront, and we’ll gladly prove you wrong. For a reduced price, you can download the supplementary instructional materials, and watch award-winning mastering engineer and EQ Executive Editor Craig Anderton’s 47-minute tutorial on home mastering. PLUS watch an hour-long interactive Q&A session where Craig answered viewers’ most pressing questions about how to master properly in the confines of your home. You’ll also see that you can download and watch artist master class webinars with Victor Wooten, Larry Carlton, and Jeff Lorber. We guarantee that these special classes will give you all you need to take your bass, guitar, and keyboard playing chops to the next level. So what are you waiting for? 10 EQ FEBRUARY 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.visualwebcenter.com/musicplayernetwork/storefront http://www.eqmag.com
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