Guerrilla Guide 2010 by Alchemedia Publishing

A$19.95

www.guerrillaguide.com.au

Contents

A Note To Educators

Chapter 14 – Virtual instruments, samplers & synths

Chapter 1 — Getting Set up

Chapter 15 – Audio plug-ins

Chapter 2 – Software

Chapter 16 – Guitar amplifier simulators

Chapter 3 – Music hardware & setups

Chapter 17 – Keeping your CPU within limits

Chapter 4 – MIDI – where it all started

Chapter 18 – Recording vocals

Chapter 5 – Digital audio

Chapter 19 – Mixing down

Chapter 6 – Looping the loops

Chapter 20 – Spending the extra dosh

Chapter 7 – Windows & GUIs

Chapter 21 – Compressors

Chapter 8 – The track list

Chapter 22 – Monitor speakers & headphones

Chapter 9 – The mixer view

Chapter 23 – Turning a room into a studio

Chapter 10 – The edit views

Chapter 24 – Planning a recording session

Chapter 11 – Recording audio

Chapter 25 – Microphone placement

Chapter 12 – Recording MIDI

Chapter 26 – Mastering

Chapter 13 – File management

Glossary

Live The Dream The Creative Industries are full of passionate people. Whether it be music production, post-production for film/TV, animation, gaming… there are thousands of very driven and passionate individuals working tirelessly at what they love. This isn’t an industry for the half-hearted… but you already knew that. Chances are you can’t imagine a career in anything other than creative industries. Chances are you eat, sleep and breathe what you love doing. But chances are you don’t know how to take the next step; how to polish your skills and get that all-important leg-up into the industry. The Right Place: SAE is the world’s premier college for the creative industries with more than 30 years experience. It has a network of over 50 schools across the world and a campus in most Australian capital cities. SAE understands your passion, in fact, it shares it. Widen The Breadth Of Your Skills: SAE has one of the broadest syllabus going, which reflects the fact that professionals routinely find themselves jumping between music recording, film sound, games or even live sound. SAE courses are industry recognised and its degree courses are university-accredited. Stay Bang Up To Date: Technological changes play a big part in the way audio is captured, mixed and delivered and SAE has the the best equipped, most up-to-date studios, classrooms and edit suites on the planet. In fact, even Neve – arguably the most famous name in mixing consoles and a staple in Hollywood – is part of the SAE Group.

Real World Employment: Connecting real-world employers with students is a big part of SAE’s remit, and the school takes its responsibility for helping students find work very seriously. SAE owns the world famous Studios 301 in Sydney, Byron Bay and in other European musical hot-spots and offers student internships. Furthermore, SAE has a vibrant alumni network, where SAE graduates can connect. Sky’s The Limit: No college in this sector offers global opportunities like SAE. For example, as a high flyer you can elect to complete the first year of your degree here in Australia and finish your last year overseas in places such as London, Amsterdam or even at SAE’s flagship campus in Oxford. SAE Oxford houses state-of-the-art technology and creative facilities, including a classical recording studio, specialised library and computer technology. Furthermore, the Oxford campus exclusively offers the SAE Tonmeister (Masters Degree) audio engineering and music production program – the highest academic qualification in the audio industry. Enrol Now: Whether it be a short course to hone your Ableton Live or web design chops, or a long-term commitment to a industryleading Tonmeister course, SAE would love to hear from you. Get online, where you’ll find all the information you could possibly want on the SAE site. You can request a brochure, find the details of your nearest college, and learn more about the types of courses available, including some exciting possibilities you may not have even thought of yet. Exciting? You bet. SAE: www.sae.edu GG :: 7

A Note To Educators There’s more music making going on now than there ever has been. People are buying guitars, drums and instruments like they’re going out of fashion… which, of course, they’re not! The allure of musicmaking remains as strong as ever. Saying that, the pathways for getting into music have changed out of all recognition. If you want to excel in the performance of a musical instrument then there’s no substitute for a lot of hard work — practice, practice, practice. The traditional route of playing hours of scales and being whacked over the knuckles by an octogenarian music mistress might be fine for some, but there are plenty of other ways to get into music now. Technology has pushed things along enormously. These technologies range from the comparatively low tech teach-yourself DVDs, on-line lessons or the built-in introductory music-making applications now found on many computers to the positively hi-tech solutions offered by many of the specialist products highlighted here in the Guerrilla Guide. These technology products not only assist in the acquisition of skills, but they serve other important functions, especially for many young musicians. The ability to capture and then share your music with others is an important element in this on-line, social-networked age of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. Of course, social connection has always been an important element. After all, music is a social art and there is nothing better than making

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music with others. However, with the technologies available, that social activity is no longer being restricted to members of the same orchestra, band or lesson group. The connection can easily be extended to musicians of all ages and skill levels from around the world. Mind blowing, really. Mostly this technology falls into the bigger basket of ‘creativity tools’ and it is the use of these tools that is leading to a revitalisation of many of the creative elements of music-making; elements such as composition, production, improvisation and song writing. The ability to record, produce and share music widely is helping emerging musicians around the world develop their own musical identities, as well as exposing them to many more musical styles and genre. For youth, this identity is vitally important if they are to sustain their interest in music-making. In particular, these technologies are helping developing musicians to pursue their own musical interests through both informal means alone or in conjunction with and alongside other more formal musical learning. In my view, the Guerrilla Guide is a valuable tool for all musicians and especially music educators. Even if you are not currently using these technologies in your own music-making or teaching, this Guide will provide you with valuable insights into the way your students are studying, learning, playing and recording music outside the classroom–and how that will shape them as the next generation of musicians using the musical tools of the 21st century. Ian Harvey Executive Office, Australian Music Association

Author Graeme Hague ed@guerrillaguide.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@alchemedia..com.au Design & Production Heath McCurdy leigh@alchemedia.com.au Additional Design Leigh Ericksen leigh@alchemedia.com.au Advertising Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Contributors Brad Watts, Cal Orr, Martin Walker, Christopher Holder, Mark Davie.

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Introduction The ‘long way to the top’ isn’t quite so steep as it used to be thanks to computers, software and the great affordable recording gear that you can buy these days. You can practically turn your own bedroom into a recording studio overnight and begin to create pro-sounding demo tracks — an entire album, if you want. You can get your music ‘out there’ by printing up your own CDs to sell after gigs, or add tracks to your MySpace page, link it to your own website where you can sell tracks, get radio airplay by sending finished material to your favourite community radio presenter... So, The Dream — fame, fortune, a wall full of platinum discs — is possible. And best of all your success can be entirely in your hands — if you have something that people want to listen to, then you can get your music out there and you can be successful without the help of managers and record companies. But, like anything worth doing, it’s not going to be dead easy… Music-making software and computers are extremely powerful and often packed with literally thousands of features, so it’s a big help when you can be pointed in the right direction. Actually, you can think about producing and recording music like you would picking up a guitar for the first time. Can you figure out how to play it yourself? Sure, it’s possible, but it helps to be shown the ropes by someone who knows. Do you need to play like a demon to entertain a crowd and start gigging? No, of course not. But like any technical/ artistic pursuit, let’s get the basic techniques right, that way you can improve with practice rather than locking in bad habits.

Plug Yourself In And to begin with, we must return to that musicmaking software/computer combo we just heard about. In the Guerrilla Guide, this is what we refer to as the DAW (or Digital Audio Workstation). It’s not just like a big iPod for recording and/or re-ordering your songs, not by a long shot, in fact, it’s the most creative tool you’ll probably ever own — the stuff you can do with your DAW is just mind-blowing! Like what? Well, not only can you record your performance, you can sweeten it or mangle it as much as you want in ways you never thought possible. You can add artificial reverb that sounds so amazing that studio owners paid $10,000 for it only 15 years ago. You can make your own ‘loops’ and ‘samples’ and manipulate them in a thousand ways. You can program your own music with software synthesisers that can sound like anything from retro ‘70s disco to the latest bleeding edge underground dance music. The possibilities are truly limitless. So please enjoy the Guerrilla Guide. Jump right in and read it cover-to-cover or keep it as a reference next to your computer for when you might get stuck. Let me know how you get on: info@guerrillaguide.com.au Good luck! Graeme Hague, Author

DAWs & Other TLAs Like any specialist area, the world of audio is rife with jargon, buzzwords, abbreviations and acronyms. Audio is especially afflicted by the TLA or Three Letter Acronym. Let’s see… there’s VST, DAT, DXi, MAS, WAV, RCA, XLR the list goes on and on. And of course, there’s DAW — the Digital Audio Workstation. What is a DAW? It’s best we cover that here and now before going any further. A DAW is a term used to describe any of the recording/sequencing software packages on the market today. Ten years ago, the term DAW was reserved for the superexpensive professional packages, mostly used to edit sound for film. But now, any of the popular Audio + MIDI programs like Cubase, Logic, Sonar and ProTools can be described as a DAW. MIDI? Ah. We’ll get to that a bit later. In the meantime feel free to head to our Glossary to remind yourself of any terms you’ve forgotten.

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any discount machines that leap out of the Sunday papers at you. The idea, though, is to save you a lot of stress and disappointment. Because that’s what you’ll go through trying to get any ol’ computer to run DAW software properly. First of all, where do you go to buy a computer for your DAW? Who are the real experts?

For starters, don’t go to a computer store — not to buy a music computer anyway. The chances of finding someone in one of those ‘Superstores’ who will understand what you’re after aren’t good. No offense to the legions of salespeople who do know their RAM from their ROM, but there are some pretty specific needs for a DAW that, if you don’t allow for them, will come back to haunt you. Your software will keep glitching and freezing, the computer will crash and lock up, and you’ll invent a whole bunch of new swear words until eventually you go back to the computer store and buy that better motherboard, or the extra RAM you should have spec’ed in the first place. Even the specialists stores are generally owned or run by people who can make a spreadsheet for the New York Stock Exchange or simultaneously fly three Sopwith Camels in Microsoft Flight Simulator and never crash, but if you explain you want to record eight tracks of 24-bit, 48kHz audio through a Firewire interface, monitor them in real time and run plug-ins on each one... well, trust me, you’ll be very lucky to find someone who’ll know what the hell you’re talking about.

So the obvious place to buy a DAW computer is actually in a musician’s store where they sell musical gear. Having said that, it’s worth pointing out — just to annoy you — most don’t sell them. But they will know an IT business or a local computer nerd who can build you something right — something that avoids the pitfalls of off-the-shelf PCs.

Getting set up It’s okay to be a ‘newbie’, or ‘noob’, as some forums like to say. We all have to start somewhere. But for the purposes of this guide we’re going to assume you’re not a complete novice when it comes to computers. Like, you know how they work... roughly, and you understand what the various hardware components do and the role of software drivers. Because let’s face it, if you’ve got a nice, shiny new machine sitting on a table and you’ve got next to no idea how it works, it’s going to be tricky getting your head around how any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software does its stuff. What Sort of Computer Do You Need? The truth is that if we could provide you right here, right now, the latest, greatest and most up-to-date advice on computers it would still be obsolete by the time you’ve walked down the street to try and buy it. The computer industry just moves that fast. When it comes to basic computer set-ups, the best option is going to be a little more expensive than GG :: 12

Mac or PC? Whatever… Mac or PC? It’s probably best to make up your own mind, based on a few facts. For old time’s sake, let’s start by touching briefly on the ‘PC versus Mac’ pie fight, because despite everything, it’s a debate that refuses to go away. In the past, the PC versus Mac argument (which had the best operating system and which had the better, more powerful hardware) has been fierce and acrimonious. It was right up there with ‘who shot John F Kennedy?’, ‘do UFO’s really exist?’ and that bizarre gerbil legend out of Hollywood — it was serious, passionate stuff. The truth is, Mac computers were always better at multimedia applications, but seemed to be lacking in a lot of other software. Conversely, older Windows platforms supported a vast amount of applications — which was appealing and useful — but only Microsoft’s Windows could spawn a whole new acronym of its own called BSOD, or ‘Blue Screen Of Death’, which is what happened when your PC collapsed under the strain and decided to have a quiet nap without asking you first. Thankfully, the XP operating system came along and after releasing a few service packs BSOD’s were almost unheard-of. Next came Windows Vista and, to be honest, a lot of people got their fingers burnt with third-party compatibility issues and stuck with XP — hence the XP Tweaks later in this chapter are still worth mentioning. Now we’ve got Windows 7 and we haven’t finished kicking the tyres of that one. Regardless of which Windows OS is used some machines are ultra-reliable and others are never quite happy — but you always get that with PCs. Some people want their cake and try to eat it too by running Windows on Intel Macs via an Apple program called Bootcamp… that’s not a practical approach for DAW software, which doesn’t like being confused. Otherwise, Macs with their own OS are still the rock-solid multimedia machine they’ve always been. The answer is probably that neither computer platform is significantly better than the other anymore — I say ‘probably’ because someone will still

NEW OPERATING SYSTEM RELEASES Twenty four hours after Microsoft release a new operating system you’ll hear rumours of a better version in the pipeline. Apple will be hinting of another “cat” to be let out of the bag, too. It’s so tempting for people like us to get the latest and greatest OS and reap the rewards (yeah… right). The problem is all the software drivers and thirdparty applications need to upgrade to any new OS as well and chances are they’ll be months, if not years, behind in development. Don’t get caught out by a lack of device drivers for your computer hardware, because you upgrade the OS. You’ll have to be a little more patient.

Korg Zero 8 Is it an audio mixer? Is it a software controller? Is it a sound mangler? It’s all the above, and demonstrates how hardware combined with software is much more powerful than software alone… provided you’ve got the dosh.

THE ‘MUSIC COMPUTER’ QUESTION

disagree. You just have to be aware that whatever you choose, it’s the beginning of a different journey. Meaning that a lot of software you may buy over the next few years won’t work on both systems, so if you change your mind... PC System Basics For a few moments let’s just forget about Mac computers. They don’t present the multitude of hardware choices that PCs do. When it comes to a Windows PC you’ll have a few extra things to think about that Macs quietly deal with on their own. DAW applications can be fussy and there are issues that for Windows can be troublesome — it’s why you need that music store expert to help you. In no order of importance: the core of any Windows PC system is in the motherboard with its chipset and the CPU. No one expects you to become an instant IT genius, but you should know that some chipsets aren’t as efficient as others at running large amounts of multimedia data — particularly audio — and some

Mac Tweaks

CPUs aren’t very handy with it either. This isn’t to say they’re bad, they were just designed with other things in mind. Definitely here’s where the experts should really step up and give you good advice on what is currently available and what’s compatible with the DAW you’re intending to use. With every new motherboard (and chipset released to go with it) there’s always some that work better or worse with multimedia software. CPUs are the same. Different brands like AMD or Intel will offer better performance over various models compared to each other. Who knows why within the murky, magic soup of binary decoding that every product isn’t simply brilliant at everything, but let’s just say it’s worth investigating thoroughly. Bear in mind, by the way, that when we suggest that some software doesn’t work best with particular hardware this is under conditions where things are being pushed, and it’s guaranteed when making music on a DAW, it won’t be long before you are pushing the limits.

Rule No. 1 is always get the fastest Mac you can afford, and aim to replace it during the next two to three years. With this plan of attack you can take advantage of all the attractive plug-ins and updates that appear. However, by the time your machine is over three years old you’ll find operating system upgrades will usually outclass the machine, and you’ll experience worse rather than better performance. That is unless you wish to follow Rule No. 2. Rule No. 2 disallows upgrading your operating system and DAW software entirely. Set it up (or have a tech set it up) to do the recording work you’re intending to do. Then leave it that way. It’s a similar concept to using a standalone recorder, such as a tape machine or digital recorder. This way, you won’t have your main recording machine fail halfway during a session because you’ve installed a set of incompatible plug-ins, or an operating system upgrade that isn’t quite right for audio work. Make sure the machine doesn’t attempt to upgrade itself via the web, by either disabling the Software Update preferences or, better still, don’t connect the Mac to the web at all. As mentioned earlier, always use a separate drive to record to, as recording to the same drive that your operating system resides on is a complete no-no. The OSX operating system is working hard behind the scenes, looking after virtual memory caches and generally keeping the show on the road. Don’t confuse the computer by saving your audio recordings in among thousands of tiny system files. Equally as important, is using a separate drive for any

sample libraries you may use. Sample playback plug-ins reading directly from hard drives don’t like competing with your record drive for processing bandwidth. To aid your plug-in samplers (along with overall system performance), install as much RAM as possible in the machine. Modern desktop MacPros can take an incredible 32GB — which will cost you an arm and a leg. Kick things off with at least 4GB. Software samplers can take up scads of RAM nowadays and reading those samples from RAM rather than relying on the software manufacturers direct from disk technology, is a far quicker and more reliable method. Turn off any non-essential processes in the system such as file sharing and the firewall. These extra processes take up valuable processing cycles that are best directed toward recording, mixing, and power hungry plug-ins. OSX has a bunch of features that you really don’t need for audio functionality — especially if the Mac isn’t connected to the web or a local network. In the System Preferences panel go to Sharing and turn off all types of sharing. Do the same with the Firewall — again in the Sharing preferences section. If you have an Airport card installed, turn that off as well. Disable the FileVault feature. This is an Apple invention for encrypting your documents so their contents remain hidden from prying eyes — many audio applications don’t take kindly to this being turned on. That’s found in the Security preferences. If you’re running ProTools software turn off the Spotlight key command ( Space). The ProTools

The Guerrilla Guide strongly recommends buying a PC that’s been configured for music recording. Why? Well, if you spend your first six musicrecording months hunting down glitches and gremlins it’ll drive you mad — you may even give the whole game away. Sure, you might need to spend a couple of hundred bucks more on getting a music computer spec’ed but it’ll be worth it — there will be far less down time, and far less stress. Having a reliable, predictable hardware setup is one compelling reason why many people

will opt for an Apple Mac computer. When you go to get advice from a Mac expert they don’t need to ask what configuration you have because each model is the same, while in PC Land there are a million different hardware permutations. So go to your music store and ask them to recommend a music PC builder. If the store only sells guitars and doesn’t know, ring a music store that has a ‘hi-tech’ department. Don’t give up. Keeping asking. Still no luck? Email us at the Guerrilla Guide.

installation will warn you of this conflict. If you’re trying to squeeze the last possible smidgeon of power, turn off any graphicintensive processes such as animating opening applications and icon magnification in the Dock. Fast User switching is also a processor hog, so disable this in the Accounts preference pane. Set the screen-saver to ‘never’ in the Screensaver pane and in the Energy Saver pane set your hard drives to ‘never sleep’. Speaking of hard drives, never, ever let them become completely full. You should always allow 10 to 15% of free space on a drive. Failing to do this will usually result in data loss. Rule No. 3: Repair Permissions regularly. If you’re using OSX 10.5 or lower, install Applejack (www. macupdate.com/info.php/id/15667). Applejack is a utility that will clean up most indiscretions within your system. It diagnoses the condition of your hard drive data, repairs the system permissions and eradicates damaged preference files. It will also clear the virtual memory caches from your system drive, allowing a new set of virtual RAM files to be created. If these invisible files become corrupt you’ll experience poor performance. So whenever your machine is acting strangely, or worse, won’t boot at all, you’ll still be able to run Applejack as it runs in what’s known as Single User Mode. More than likely the process will get your show back on the road. If you’re running OSX 10.6 and up, repair your system drive permissions using Apple’s ‘Disk Utility’ application, found in the Utilities folder. — Brad Watts

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CH 18

Recording Vocals

op filters: A good P pop filter can help save a vocal take from ‘plosives’ like ‘B’ and ‘P’. The standard nylon fibre filter has been around a long time, but if you have different singers or maybe a heavy smoker and you want something that can be easily cleaned there’s now a range of metal mesh filters. Stedman does a good one, for example.

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No doubt, since you’re so interested in recording songs yourself, you also listen to a lot of music as well (if you don’t, you should!) and you’ve probably heard some crazy vocals. Voices that sound like they’ve been crushed, mangled and stretched into all manner of alien noises. You’d be excused for even thinking some vocals were phoned into the studio weeks after the event. Musicians and sound engineers can come up with some pretty strange ideas in the wee small hours of the morning, but generally speaking, no matter how weird a singer might sound on any song, that vocal track would have started out as a clean, clear recording. This secret to success applies to almost every recording. Get it down in crystal-clear perfection and if you want things to be mashed and dirty later, do it during the mixdown. The exceptions are instruments that aren’t expected to be ‘clean’ in the first place. Things like distorted guitars or a growling Leslie speaker cabinet are recorded the way you want them... you get the idea. Dynamic Range For many reasons, vocals can be the hardest thing to record well. One problem is the dynamics of any singing performance. Dynamics are best described as the range of different volumes that occur during any recording (‘dynamic range’ is also a measurement of audio equipment like microphones and speakers, and it means pretty much the same thing). So a vocalist who might whisper the first few verses of a song, but end up screaming the last chorus would be presenting you with a wide dynamic performance. Think of acts like Linkin Park, Nirvana, even Kelly Clarkson and the like. If you watch some of the ‘old hands’ at bashing out a big number, you’ll see them moving the microphone close for quiet passages, then further away for loud parts. It’s called ‘microphone technique’, a kind of manual volume control the vocalist employs to compensate for a dynamic performance (love him or hate him, John Farnham is a master of it). Singers with good microphone technique are generally held in high regard by audio engineers.

In the studio where things are bit more predictable — rather than on a pub stage where things are far from predictable — good ‘microphone technique’ isn’t quite so critical. Compressors — a device or plug-in that evens out the dynamic range — make the job easier for the recording engineer and the average singer only has to worry about singing. But before we look at recording with any kind of signal processor involved, let’s talk about the most important tool of the trade, microphones. Condenser or Dynamic? There are three main types of microphone: dynamic, condenser or ribbon types. (You’ll also occasionally come across a type of mic called a PZM, but don’t worry too much about that just now.) Actually, for the moment, don’t worry about ribbon microphones either, they’re a little left-of-field and quite specific in their application. They’re a great addition to a mic arsenal, but you’re first mic won’t normally be a ribbon mic… so we’re going to ignore them for a while. That leaves us with dynamic and condenser mikes of which there are hundreds, if not thousands, to choose from. The main point here is that while some dynamic microphones, such as the legendary Shure SM58, are fantastic for live performances they need extra thought, if you want to use them in a recording studio. Microphones designed for a live stage mostly have a tighter pick-up pattern and aren’t all that ‘sensitive’. They’re meant to amplify whatever is close — like the singer’s voice — and ignore everything else around it. A lot of performers just don’t get this important fact about microphone designs and they get grumpy when you try to explain. Your vocalist will claim to be able to ‘project’ their voice (it’s a pride thing for singers). They’ll be classically trained, and they’ve watched every episode of Australian Idol — they can yodel across four octaves. To demonstrate, they’ll stand at the opposite side of the room and sing at the top of their lungs, scaring the neighbour’s chickens. However, the recording will still sound thin and horrible, because your dynamic microphone isn’t really interested in anything that’s more than about 15cm away.

Here’s the bottom line. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Pavarotti or Pink, if you’re using a dynamic microphone for recording vocals make sure the singer uses it close.

Proximity Effect Microphones have a ‘sweet spot’. A distance from the diaphragm where everything sounds pristine. Move too far away and you begin to lose bass tones. Get too close and things can sound ‘boomy’. In condenser and ribbon mics this is called the Proximity Effect and describes that extra bass when a singer gets too near the mic. Here’s one of those radical, techno-junky, electronic trickery solutions to fix this: tell the singer to move back a few inches. Saying that, sometimes it’s just what the vocals need. Use your ears.

itch-correction Eg.1: V-Vocal ships with Sonar P Producer edition. Interface-wise, it’s very similar to Antares Autotune, which pioneered pitch correction. These plug-ins can do more than fix a bad note — like create harmony tracks — so the interface is a little daunting for some. Take the time to learn all the features and it can be a powerful tool.

itch-correction Eg.2: Celemony’s Melodyne uses P a different approach to pitch correction with its interface, but it’s just as impressive with the results.

Another answer is to use a condenser microphone, which is designed to do exactly the opposite. Just about all good studio microphones used for vocals are condensers. They are far more sensitive and will naturally pick up a vocalist standing back from the mic. A condenser mic’s sensitivity does create another problem though. They suffer from ‘popping’ and it really is worthwhile investing in a pop-screen or pop-filter. (Failing that, try singing ‘across’ the mic and not directly into it.) Where to Record Vocals In Chapter 11 we got serious about setting input levels and doing a sound check, before attempting any recording. Nothing has changed here, but once you’re satisfied a good signal is coming into the DAW, the nicely-open microphone may reveal that the room you’re recording vocals in is far from ideal. You can hear all kinds of other stuff, like the fridge, traffic and even the rat in the ceiling. Yes, we’d all like a soundproof booth and a control room with that coffee machine, and an assistant running down to the shops to get beer and chocolate whenever we need it. The reality is you’re in a garage or a spare room. Maybe you’ve taken over the whole house for a weekend? So where is the best place to record vocals? Ideally an acoustically dead and isolated space will give you the least trouble, but if that’s too hard to arrange, don’t be afraid to use the sonic characteristics of some place to improve your recording. You’ll always hear stories of tracks being recorded in toilets, bathrooms and other ‘hard surface’ areas that create a natural reverb. If it works, why not? The lead vocal for one of the Corrs’ best ballads was apparently recorded inside Bono’s garden shed. When it comes to music no one is beyond a bit of improvisation and creative thinking. Certainly you have to avoid noisy environments — rooms filled with other electronic equipment or maybe closest to a busy road outside. Otherwise, experiment with your microphone in a corner or inside a walk-in wardrobe. Try it anywhere. You’re only restricted by your own imagination and... okay, the length of your headphones’ lead. Don’t get stressed by the idea your vocals have to be recorded somewhere lifeless and silent. Recording with Effects out of the Signal Chain A lot of vocalists will actually faint or have a nervous breakdown when they hear themselves singing for the first time in perfect 24-bit/48kHz digital clarity. The experience has shattered confidences and abruptly ended careers. Those who survive this first encounter with the truth about their vocal ability might know a way around the pain — they’ll ask you to put a reverb or delay over their singing to make it more natural. This isn’t a bad thing. Lots of guitar players get to disguise their finger-fumblings with distortion pedals and howling overdrive, so why shouldn’t the poor vocalist have a bit of help? The idea though is to still record the track cleanly and provide any helpful effects outside of the recording’s signal path — meaning you don’t record the reverb, but just send it to the singer’s headphones. If you have a separate mixing desk and an effects unit, like a Yamaha SPX or Lexicon MPX, this is simple. But, if you’re monitoring directly from your DAW it needs a little more trickery. Importantly, it will put pressure on your CPU, too. The way to do it is by adding an Effects Send into your Project — not an insert over the vocal track — and returning it normally into the main mix that your singer can hear. Because it’s a Send you’re not adding it to the recording. This is explained fully in Chapter 20 since it is exactly the same process as adding an effect to your mixdown. But don’t get too carried away, particularly with any reverb. Reverb

especially can really tax your PC resources and cause dropouts and glitches during the recording. If you absolutely have to give the vocalist some kind of confidence-boosting effect on their singing and you don’t have an external desk or reverb unit to do it, try a very short delay — probably a preset called a ‘doubler’. It will likely do the job and is comparatively CPU friendly. Recording with Effects in the Signal Chain Improvisation and creativity are just fine, so if you really want to record a ‘wet’ (effected) vocal track you have to make sure those effects are in your recording signal path. The best way is to insert them over the track or, if you have any external units, put them between the microphone pre-amp and the soundcard input. Beware, though, effects like reverb and delays have a way of sneaking up on you in levels. When you’re thinking it all sounds just right and it’s time to hit the record button, go for a walk around the garden or put the kettle on for a coffee. Then go back and check those effect levels again. Chances are it’s a bit more radical and ‘wet’ than you’ll want. Remember, recording this way means you won’t get an opportunity to remove any of the effect later on. You’re stuck with it. One thing to have in your signal chain that can come in really handy is a compressor to deal with those pesky dynamics. A light setting on a compressor can still keep the highs and lows of a performance intact, but put a cap on any sudden peaks in signal. Another useful tweak in your input path can be a touch of an EQ. Some cheaper microphones might need a little help in the top end or a notch out around the 2.5kHz area. Again, don’t get too heavy-handed. There’s an old maxim in sound engineering worth repeating a few times: ‘a little is a lot’. Look very hard at your recording signal path and you should see that software (plug-in) effects like compressors and EQs won’t prevent any signal overload happening before your soundcard’s input. If you’re using an external pre-amp or a small mixing desk, and the vocalist is lighting up red lights everywhere, then any kind of processing on your DAW might repair some of the damage, but a clip or spike will still get through as a nasty noise. So while it’s possible to record a vocal with a software compressor or EQ doing something good for you, remember they’re not part of the recording signal path outside your computer and won’t prevent any problems occurring there. Some old pros like to ride the output level of the preamp manually on the way in. This is a great option, but you need to know the song, the singer and the exact amount to reduce or increase. Pitch Alteration Plug-ins Occasionally you’ll find yourself trying to record a singer who can’t sing — it might even be you. Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean your dream of a Grammy is over. The Top 10 charts are heavily populated by acts who struggle to hit the right note, even on a good day. At the same time it’s not wise to believe the wonders of modern, digital recording can turn any screeching punk rocker into a new Celine Dion at the push of a button. Sure, a good sound engineer will have a few tricks up their sleeve, but don’t make any rash promises. In short, you can never make a crap vocalist sound amazing, but you

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Comfort Stop Some studios can go to extraordinary lengths to make their vocalists comfortable and relaxed — as long as it doesn’t make any noise. Low lighting is common and some performers use candles to create the right mood. Legend has it that Jewel preferred to record her vocals completely naked. Nice work for any bloke behind the mixing desk, you might say, but a professional engineer would keep their eyes firmly on the DAW the whole time and be grateful it’s not Meatloaf or Marilyn Manson at the mic.

You can never make a crap vocalist sound amazing, but you can make them sound acceptable. Meanwhile, great performers don’t need much help at all. ” GG :: 71

CH 25

Guitar Amplifiers & Cabinets There are four places to put a microphone for guitar amps; In (or On) Axis, Off Axis, either behind or in front of the cabinet, and at various distances. The choice affects the sound you hear. Whether you like them is up to you. ‘On Axis’ means the microphone is placed exactly in front of the speaker cone. This gives you a hard in-your-face tone — not to mention loud! Off Axis has the microphone pointed at the edge of the speaker cone. This creates a more mellow tone. Some cabinets sound quite good miked up from the rear — it’s crazy but hey, if it works, don’t ask too many questions. Finally, the distance you set the microphone from the cabinet can put some ‘air’ around the sound. You really can hear the space between the microphone and the cabinet making a kind of natural effect.

Microphone Placement If you get the chance to check out a large, professional studio you’ll find a cupboard somewhere filled with all kinds of different microphones — some of which will be worth thousands. The owners of these studios will never, ever try and calculate how much money they’ve invested in this cupboard of goodies. It can make them weep and telephone their accountants late at night just to apologise.

If you’re dealing with a twin or quad box, unless you can set up a microphone at a distance and let the guitarist blast away, you’ll end up focusing on one of the speakers anyway. So be aware that no two drivers (speakers) suffer wear and tear at the same rate, so whatever miking method you decide on, experiment with different speakers in the box itself. You might find that one sounds better than all the others. Importantly, changing the microphone position for any cabinet is a far more effective way of getting different sounds than tweaking EQ plug-ins. The same applies to bass cabinets, if you want to mike one up (rather than use a DI from the guitar). Bass boxes are prone to one problem that guitars also have — except much worse. We’re talking about rattling. Loose grilles, voice coils bouncing and that missing screw inside the cab that no one’s ever bothered to get out. Placing your microphone to avoid these unwanted noises can often be more important than anything. The thing is, listen for them during tracking. Often you’re so involved in hearing the guitar sound that you don’t notice the rattles until it’s too late. For this reason, it pays to keep a screwdriver in your back pocket.

On Axis

There’s a reason for these cupboards. Every microphone has a specific purpose and should be used in a particular way to get the best results. It can make all the difference. Or you can just whack a Shure SM57 in front of your guitar amplifier and get a really cool sound anyway. The truth is that while microphone choice and placement certainly is an exact science, not everybody can afford the luxury of a vast collection. You can, however, improve your recordings by applying a few easy rules to how you mike up things in your studio. This chapter outlines some helpful miking hints. We’ll assume you’ve got a good condenser microphone or two and a decent dyamic mic, like the aforementioned SM57s.

GG :: 92

Off Axis

Shure SM57 If the Shure SM58 is the standard vocal microphone for all occasions, the SM57 is the instrument microphone for every... well, instrument. There isn’t much you can’t mike up with an SM57. Guitars, toms, snare drums — you name it, the SM57 does them all. There are plenty of other great instrument mics out there — Beyer, Sennheiser, AudioTechnica, Rode, AKG etc, all have them — but it’s amazing how often you’ll see the 57 in action.

ass Drum B Put the mic in the shell for a more ‘clicky’ sound of the beater hitting the skin. Place the mic out of the hole for a deeper, subby kick sound.

Drums Recording drums can be tough and it’s one area where home studios find it very difficult to emulate the pros. Drums need a decent room to record in and (if you’re aiming for big rock sound) lots of microphones. If you’re after a more relaxed drum sound then often it’s just a matter of finding a good-sounding space to set up in and sticking up a mic or two – effectively capturing the sound of the drum in the room. But let’s get back to the multi-miked approach: As you can imagine, setting up and simultaneously recording up to a dozen microphones requires a lot of audio firepower – lots of preamps, cables, mics etc. Not only that, but with so many mics set up, and with the drums being such a loud instrument, every mic is ‘hearing’ what every other mic is ‘hearing’ – this is called spill and can turn your recording into one big mess if you’re not careful.

i Hats H Changing the angle of the mic as it points at the hi-hats alters the tone of the sound. So experiment.

So, for starters, it’s best not to set your sights too high. Try three mics – one for the kick, the snare and another mic that catches a good overall balance of the kit.

AKG D112 A large-diaphragm dynamic mic made for sitting in front of kick drums. Beyer’s M88 is another kick drum favourite.

The kick drum benefits from having its own mic – its sound underpins your mix and creates the groove with the bass guitar so it’s nice to have individual control of it in the mix. If the front skin has a hole for a mic then place it in the drum — it’ll give you a better defined, edgy sound, because you’re also picking up the click noise of the beater hitting the skin. A mic outside the hole can create a deeper whoof kind of sound made by the air being punched out of the drum through the hole. There are some good purpose-designed kick drum mics such as the AKG D112 and the Audio-Technica AE2500. Other ‘normal’ microphones might struggle to reproduce the bass tones and cope with the high sound pressure levels (SPL, meaning volume). Snare drums are best close-miked from the top (pointing at the middle of the skin at around a 30° angle). Often you’ll see or read about an extra mic at the bottom of the snare which lifts the snare wire sound nicely, but, for now, that’s finessing.

Snare Angle the mic to point at the middle of the skin. Have the rear ‘deaf’ end of the mic pointing at the hats if you don’t want them in your snare channel. Don’t get the mic too close, or the drummer will smack it.

Hi-hats are always useful on their own track. If you’re short on microphones and resources always mike the hi-hats rather than any toms. That other mic we mentioned, the one that captures a good overall balance of the kit, can be crucial. If you’ve only got a couple of mics then definitely don’t think of it as a cymbals mic, cos you’re also trying to capture the sound of the toms and probably the hi-hats as well. So experiment – put some headphones on and listen to what the mic is hearing. If your kit is set up well and you’ve got your room sounding nice then this mic can really make or break the overall sound of the drum recording. In pro studios mics can end up on the floor, in the corner… some really odd places that sound great — so don’t limit yourself by putting the mic somewhere conventional.

verheads O Overheads as we’re used to seeing them. But in the studio they can go anywhere, depending on how much of the room’s acoustics you want to hear. Stick your headphones on and listen to what these mics are hearing.

One last rule. Whatever position you settle on for a drum mic, keep it out of harm’s way. a) Because the drummer will be distracted by the mic — wondering if they’ll hit it; and b) mics aren’t cheap and they don’t like getting belted.

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i mprove your recordings by applying a few easy rules ” GG :: 93