0x000000FF Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 So I recently picked up a decent microphone (Zoom H2N) and decided to experiment with performing and recording tracks (as opposed to sequencing with virtual instruments). I'm completely new to this and the dark art of mixing and mastering in general. In fact, I'm quite new to music. I was hoping I could get some basic tips and advice as a starting point. I'm mostly recording acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar, vocals, and a few percussion instruments (shaker, hand drums, etc.). My pipe dream project is to make a very small album of acoustic arrangements of songs from Chrono Trigger (maybe four or five songs). To get there, I've started with a survey of songs to get a feel for them and the whole recording and arranging process. I've experimented with ten or so songs so far. Here are a few short samples: Undersea Palace Ayla's Theme Secret of the Forest Delightful Spekkio Schala's Theme Guardia Millennial Fair I realize some of these are a bit sparse. I tried different techniques for each of these tracks. Schala's Theme and Guardia Millennial Fair were my very first attempts, and Guardia Millennial Fair is particularly poorly mixed in my opinion! (I also think the bass in Schala's Theme is dissonant.) How can I improve these (as far as recording and mixing are concerned)? Are there any beginner pitfalls I should watch out for? Does it sounds like there's something consistently wrong with these? I appreciate any feedback or tips you can give me! I think specific feedback on a track would be helpful so I can hear the problem and try to fix it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 So I recently picked up a decent microphone (Zoom H2N) and decided to experiment with performing and recording tracks (as opposed to sequencing with virtual instruments).I'm completely new to this and the dark art of mixing and mastering in general. In fact, I'm quite new to music. I was hoping I could get some basic tips and advice as a starting point. I'm mostly recording acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar, vocals, and a few percussion instruments (shaker, hand drums, etc.). My pipe dream project is to make a very small album of acoustic arrangements of songs from Chrono Trigger (maybe four or five songs). To get there, I've started with a survey of songs to get a feel for them and the whole recording and arranging process. I've experimented with ten or so songs so far. Here are a few short samples: Undersea Palace Ayla's Theme Secret of the Forest Delightful Spekkio Schala's Theme Guardia Millennial Fair I realize some of these are a bit sparse. I tried different techniques for each of these tracks. Schala's Theme and Guardia Millennial Fair were my very first attempts, and Guardia Millennial Fair is particularly poorly mixed in my opinion! (Also, I apologize for the dissonant bass in Schala's Theme.) How can I improve these (as far as recording and mixing are concerned)? Are there any beginner pitfalls I should watch out for? Does it sounds like there's something consistently wrong with these? I appreciate any feedback or tips you can give me! I think specific feedback on a track would be helpful so I can hear the problem and try to fix it. Thanks! I'm listening to undersea palace right now...there doesn't appear to be anything particularly wrong with it. It's very central at the moment. You could do with panning somethings around the stereo image. It sounds like your rhythm guitar is the most suitable for this. Double tracked and hard-panned rhythm guitars IMHO are golden! It also doesn't sound like you've got much bass in there? Did you record or bass? Or were those the lower notes of your acoustic guitar? Anyway you could do with emphasising the bass. Do tell us how you're setting up your mic (with a picture would be even better!) so we can get a better idea of what you're doing. Generally i don't think these sound too bad at all! Secret of the forest sounds very nice to me (maybe that's just cos it's such a lovely tune). I think some other members of this forum would be better equipped to answer your questions as I am also a bit of a noob with regards to live recording etc. Good luck with it! I was expecting much worse from your description! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0x000000FF Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 You could do with panning somethings around the stereo image. It sounds like your rhythm guitar is the most suitable for this. Double tracked and hard-panned rhythm guitars IMHO are golden! I never thought of that! I've generally kept the panning very conservative here. I'll have to play around with that. Thanks! It also doesn't sound like you've got much bass in there? Did you record or bass? Or were those the lower notes of your acoustic guitar? Anyway you could do with emphasising the bass. There is an acoustic bass guitar in there. How can I emphasize it? Maybe notch the other tracks? I've actually found it particularly difficult to get good recordings from the bass, since it tends to be quiet! There's still plenty of headroom on the track, so I may be able to just increase the levels and see if that helps. Do tell us how you're setting up your mic (with a picture would be even better!) so we can get a better idea of what you're doing. Ah, great idea. I'm not at home now, but I'll try describing my setup with some pictures once I get a chance. Thanks for the feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannthr Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Can you provide a zip with the multi-tracks on one of them? It would be easier to guide you knowing what you have to work with and at the same time advise you on what to look for when recording in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederic Petitpas Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 One thing I'd do if I had decent microphones would be to find a room so it wouldn't pick up my computers sounds and try to find a sweet spot. Acoustic guitar is awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0x000000FF Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Here are a few samples from Ayla's Theme. I usually record a minute or so of playing and then cut out a few decent takes. I can definitely work on my performance; I'm a beginner to all of these instruments, and I've found timing and rhythm to be one of the more difficult aspects of recording, especially when playing in isolation with nothing more than a metronome (I have a hard time following a metronome for some reason). I didn't get a chance to take photos, but I'll try to describe my setup and hopefully post some photos later. I'm using a Zoom H2N microphone. I don't have a proper stand, so I use the included tripod, which props it about four inches above whatever surface it's sitting on. I usually sit the microphone atop a thick rubber mouse pad on my desk. I find that this significantly reduces noise picked up from the surface (without the pad, a very noticeable humming can be heard). I usually position the instrument 8 to 12 inches from the microphone (pretty close). For most recordings, I set the gain between 6 and 8 out of 10. For shakers, I drop this to about 4 or 5, because they pick up very well and its easy to get clipping. For bass guitar, I usually ramp the gain to 8, because it's quiet and doesn't pick up as well. Currently, I'm just recording this stuff in my apartment living room. Occasionally I have to deal with unwanted sounds, like my refrigerator and neighbors, but I haven't had too much trouble so far. It's pretty quiet. I'm using Ableton Live to mix and arrange. Like I said, better performance is probably something I should be striving for first, but Live is pretty good at hiding my mistakes (for better or worse). I practice whenever I can, so hopefully this will become less of an issue the more I record. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannthr Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Hey, A couple of things pop out listening to the isolated tracks: 1) Possibly due to your microphone, all of your tracks occupy a very similar bandwidth along the sound spectrum, making everything a little bit too mid-rangy to mix easily. This is most apparent with your "bass" tracks which have very little bass in them. 2) One thing to try, though, might be plucking your bass string with your finger pad instead of a pick. Picks tend to bring out the higher harmonics in the guitar, giving it a "brighter" sound and your bass notes need more fundamental. The Zoom H2n is a handy little recorder, but its onboard microphone is going to have limitations. Look forward to accumulating a small collection of microphones. Approach mixing from this perspective: 1) Find Levels 2) Pan 3) EQ (Which is fixing levels across the spectrum) 4) Compression (Fixing dynamic range) 5) Reverb/Delay/Time-based-fx I messed around with your tracks a little, but I couldn't easily get the timing just right, and stuff was missing, so I couldn't give you a good example mix. If you were sending these tracks to a pro-mixer, they would request that you send them all of the tracks rendered from bar one with space if they don't start right away, so that the mixer just has to load them into their DAW and the timing and arrangement is already correct. They would also request all the tracks be without any FX or panning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0x000000FF Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Thanks, dannthr. I really appreciate the help. Sorry, I didn't think to post the fixed up audio tracks. I just made a significant realization that should help though. I've been using the H2n's mid-side microphones to record. When I first bought the H2n, I did a few (non-instrumental) recordings using X-Y mode, and became accustomed to the notion of directing sound toward's the screen-side of the device (front). Well... I've been positioning the H2n so that I'm playing the instruments into the screen-side of the device, but the mid-microphone is actually on the reverse side of the H2n! I've literally been placing the microphone backwards! I haven't had a chance to record any instruments yet, but I get the feeling that actually positioning the microphone correctly will help with the apparent frequency response problem! I was also suspicious of the high gain I needed even when I wasn't playing particularly loudly. I'll post here after I get a chance to try it out. Doh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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