Advice needed - can you effectively record at home and then mix in a pro studio?

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What would be needed to record mainly acoustic instruments at home prior to taking them to a proper studio to be processed and mixed?

My band doesn't have loads of money or available time, so I'm looking at this approach as a possible option. On the plus side, I have a reasonably quiet space, a decent MacBook, Logic X, a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, an Aston Origin, a couple of SM58s and stands etc. I have the basics of Logic, well enough to record multiple tracks but after that, things get sketchier.

My thinking is that we could meet up in the evenings over an extended period of time and record clean, unprocessed tracks using the Aston and maybe another mic for the drums - it's a stripped down 'skiffle-style' kit with just a bassdrum, snare and a wee cymbal/hi-hat thing. We'd use roughly the same set up for the acoustic and electric guitars and the Aston for the vocals. I've recorded my vocal with the Aston before and the mic seems to compliment my voice well enough. We'd aim to DI the bass guitar. 

I'd aim to record without any compression or effects and then take the tracks to a decent mixer or studio to be worked on there. Is this feasible? What would be the worst mistakes we could make? Any tips to make this work more effectively? Choose the mixing studio first and get their input? Or wait until we see what we end up with and then speak to different studios? Presumably one plus side of this option is that we could work with a far wider range of mixers/producers across the world if we were happy to trust them to do it without our input.

Any suggestions of another mic that would pair nicely with the Aston Origin and the SM58s? Another Origin or a different style of mic altogether? 

Or is it a mad and stupid idea. :)

Happy New Year ya wee beauties! 

cam f
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  • That would be fine. Better mics are always better but it really depends on your budget. I'd at least get an Audix i5 in place of the 58s if on a lower budget. On a higher budget I'd look to add a decent midrange valve condensor and a ribbon mic for very bright sources like violin, mandolin or crappy guitar  etc
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  • spark240spark240 Frets: 2073
    No problem with this approach...and you can post up the tracks for us all to mix as well ;-)

    I would suggest your main objective is to achieve separation, Ive only sampled the Aston Mics but they seem very capable, so I wouldn't worry there, or you could maybe borrow a couple of other mics to add some colour.

    Acoustic guitars , I would DI as well if possible, use 2 mics on each one as well so you get the best overall sound.

    Personally I would probably use some light compression on the guitars juts to keep an even level, but its top to you of course.

    The studio can always trigger some sample drums to sit under the actual kit, this is quite common now in particular with Kicks.

    Will you be working to a click track...this could also prove very useful in the studio.


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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    I thought this would be a slow-burn thread. That’s great, guys.
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  • MusicwolfMusicwolf Frets: 3627
    MacBook, Logic X, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Aston Origin.  All good kit capable of producing good results in the right hands.  The SM58s are dynamic mics so are probably not the best suited for recording - however, nothing wrong with trying.

    The most critical thing in any recording is the performance.  If recording at home, without the pressure and cost of a 'real' studio, allows you to get the best results then this is the right approach.

    The acoustics of the recording environment may be an issue, especially with drums.  You'll need to choose the best sounding space available to you (I appreciate that this may be a limited choice).  Bigger is generally better.  Hanging duvets behind the mic is a good, low cost, way to minimise room reflections.  Do not fall into the trap of putting carpet on the walls (or worse, egg boxes).  You'll make things worse because these will tame the top end reflections whilst doing nothing for the mids / lows resulting in a boxy sound.

    Experiment with mic position (there are some good books available to give you pointers) but try to minimise the use of compression / eq during the recording process.  You can add in the studio during the mixing - you can't remove it.  Keep the levels sensible.  If you record at 24 bit you'll have loads of headroom.  There is no need to record as close to max as possible - there used to be a reason that we did this with analogue tape, there is no need with 24 bit digital (there are still plenty of 'Engineers' out there that still do this - because they do not understand what they are doing!).
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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2393
    This can work, but you do need to take the time to make sure you get good-sounding raw tracks. If the room you're recording in sounds horrible, or you just sling up the mic in the first place that comes to mind, you'll get something that will always sound a bit compromised.

    A good example of this approach is the first Villagers album Becoming a Jackal -- I think that was recorded at home and mixed by Ben Hillier -- you can hear some dodgy room sound and other issues in places but the feel and mood of the album are great.

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  • wave100wave100 Frets: 150
    I think you have everything you need to give it a try at least - the main problem with recording acoustic instruments  (especially drums) at home is the sound of the room, if that sucks then no amount of gear is going to make it sound any better.  I assume you will be recording the instruments individually rather than all at the same time?  If the latter then you will probably need more mics, headphones and a headphone amp.

    (cross post with @Musicwolf )
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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    Outstanding, people. Outstanding!
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    Musicwolf said:
    The SM58s are dynamic mics so are probably not the best suited for recording - however, nothing wrong with trying. 
    The SM58 is the same capsule as an SM57 but behind the spherical pop shield.

    The Shure SM57 is an old favourite for close positioning on an electric guitar amplifier. Ideally, in conjunction with a second, more sensitive, mic placed at a distance.

    Some in-house engineers swear by the SM57 for almost everything. Just apply the relevant dynamic processing and EQ. 

    Musicwolf said:
    The most critical thing in any recording is the performance.
    I agree with this. Whenever possible, record the bulk of each song with the entire band playing live together. 

    Stuckfast said:
    If the room you're recording in sounds horrible ...
    ... try the Sound On Sound magazine trick of dampening hard room reflections with duvets.
    Be seeing you.
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  • Talk to your mix engineer, ask what he'd advise. I don't think that getting totally raw tracks to him will help - it's often more than advisable, for example, to compress the vocals on the way in.

    We did this for our album (we're working on the release now) - everything was recorded by us (including vocals). We then handed it all off to a guy in Leeds, who decided that our drum recordings were utter balls and dragged us up to his studio to do it properly. The end result, though, is probably the best-sounding record I've ever been a part of; I'm genuinely proud of the way it sounds.

    So yeah, it can be done. It can be very time-consuming though. You'll inevitably spend a lot more time tracking than you would in a studio, because you can. That's a double-edged sword...you'll end up with a performance you're happier with, but it'll be exhausting.
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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    All great advice. Thanks guys. 
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    It presents a challenge for the engineer if you haven't recorded things well but I frequently mix for people who have self-recorded.

    From time to time I will ask them to redo sections, especially if the gain staging is off (ie digital clipping).

    The biggest issue is when the rare customer is precious about their work and refuses to acknowledge when something is not right and needs to be fixed.
    The entire project works better when the engineer phrases their request properly when the engineer is trusted and listened to.

    Also be clear about the arrangement- nothing is worse than trying to rearrange a tune after it has been recorded.

    Drums are the biggest issue to record well, using fewer mics makes phase relationship issues easier to sort but affords fewer opportunities to sample replace, should you wish too.
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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    Cheers @octatonic. Thats insightful info. 
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  • I am by no means an expert or even particularly experienced at recording but personally I was going to suggest @digitalscream 's suggestion of recording everything else yourself and then doing the drums "properly" in the studio (or, do it vice versa---speaking as a bass player I always found recording along to a proper drum part much easier than just using a click or guitar part).  

    That said, there's no reason not to try doing the drums yourself and see what happens---particularly with a stripped back kit that may be easier. 
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    I am by no means an expert or even particularly experienced at recording but personally I was going to suggest @digitalscream 's suggestion of recording everything else yourself and then doing the drums "properly" in the studio (or, do it vice versa---speaking as a bass player I always found recording along to a proper drum part much easier than just using a click or guitar part).  

    That said, there's no reason not to try doing the drums yourself and see what happens---particularly with a stripped back kit that may be easier. 
    In reality it means you need to record *everything that is not drums* twice.

    IMHO adding drums into a tune after everything else is recorded is a one way ticket to aintgotnogrooveville.
    So track the tunes with midi drums, then go do the real drum tracks, then re-record pretty much everything to lock in with the drummer.

    Ideally I like to see bass and drums tracked at the same time.
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  • I am by no means an expert or even particularly experienced at recording but personally I was going to suggest @digitalscream 's suggestion of recording everything else yourself and then doing the drums "properly" in the studio (or, do it vice versa---speaking as a bass player I always found recording along to a proper drum part much easier than just using a click or guitar part).  

    That said, there's no reason not to try doing the drums yourself and see what happens---particularly with a stripped back kit that may be easier. 
    To be fair, I wouldn't advocate doing the drums last if you can possibly avoid it - you end up doing a lot of touching up and re-doing sections to get everything lining up right.

    The rest of it stands, though.
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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    Yep, that all makes sense. I'd definitely aim to get a good drum recording from the outset and then build from that. I'm thinking that the mic or mics that might be the most useful addition to what I have would be a low/mid priced matched pair of small diaphragm condensers. Does that sound about right? Recommendations? Better suggestions? 
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    edited January 2019 tFB Trader
    I've always found the opposite approach to work best. Get in a decent room with a good engineer and bash out all the rhythm tracks with a good drum sound and the proper live sound. Then spend any amount of time doing guitar and keyboard dubs on a laptop at home. Vocals you can either do at home or come back and do in a booth.

    I've then typically had a band member mix it but this has gone one of two ways once we got it done over a weekend with a great result the other time took nine months of agony and then sounded really over done, but this was more about the person doing it than the process.
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  • You can do both at home if you know what you're doing, and if you know your limitations and your strengths.

    Bye!

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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    @monquixote Fair point, but given the stripped-back, raggedy acoustic nature of the band, it feels like it might be worth having a go at trying to get a drum sound we're happy with. If that proves elusive or beyond the resources we have at our disposal, then your suggestion will be the next step: go into a studio and plough through as many drum/bass tracks as we can, then take the tracks home and add everything else we can manage at home.

    However, there's nobody in our band with the technical chops needed to tackle the mixing part and we know that's where external expertise and input could prove crucial to getting a finished sound we all like.

    This thread has really helped clarify my thinking on what we should do. We won't be rigid about it and will be as pragmatic as we can be. But the simple fact is, we don't have the money between us to record an album in a studio setting, so needs must, and all that. It has to be better to get of our arses and start working on this album project than sitting around talking about how we MIGHT raise the money to MAYBE go into a studio. I guess. 
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  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    @WiresDreamDisasters ; That pretty much sums it up. Being realistic seems key. But also pushing what you can do, learning and investing the time it takes to learn, and listening to what other people say while being sure about what you're aiming to do.

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