Recording a band?

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Silverado SS

Gawd
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Jan 11, 2003
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My cousin has a rock band and they are starting to play shows at bars. They are trying to get their music out there but do not have the money for a $4k+ studio recording session. I am trying to help them out, so do any of you have an idea for what would be the best and lowest cost solution to get their music onto a computer without sounding like total ass? One of the band members bought some kind of microphone setup to record some music for myspace but it honestly does not sound all that good, and I am thinking there may be a better alternative. Ideas?
 
To tell you the truth, to record something decent at home, provided you already have a proper recording space (carpet and perpendicular walls need not apply), is going to cost about $4K to start to outfit with the stuff you'd like. Make a list of the stuff you'd need. Here's an example -

Mics - need at least one good condenser vocal mic. And a mix of other mics for amp cabs, several for drums. If they use anything acoustic, you should use mics specific to that too.
Mic stands
Cables - lots of them
Headphones and headphone distribution amps - needed to play along with the music.
Software - Nuendo, Cubase, Protools LE, etc... Various plugins, reverb, mastering, etc...
Compressor/limiter - helps with singers that refuse to work the mic.
Sound interface(s) - how many channels will you need to record simultaneously? Playback? PCI-e, USB, Firewire?
Digital mixing interface - if you are ok with mixing with a mouse then you won't need this.
Monitors (as in sound) - headphones will not suffice, neither will Klipsch or bookshelf speakers.
Knowledge - this part is fun (really), but it takes time. Unless the band is kosher with your learning curve, expect a lot of pissed off people. Mastering is a whole different story, I've yet master that and I probably never will.

I recently helped a couple of friends record some demos at a studio. It was kind of frustrating because I knew if I had a setup similar to that I could have done it for them. The problem is (a) I don't have a proper recording space, vocal booths etc. and (b) I don't have the $30K to do it the way I'd like.

The studio we went to charged $5K for an album, unlimited time. Getting it mastered would cost somewhere between $800-1000. After looking at what it was going to cost to do it ourselves, that really starts to look like a great deal.
 
Hmm, it really depends on how much/how little money you all have to spend, where you'll be doing the recording, all kinds of things.

I've been looking for a Good (meaning stable drivers/software/durability) soundcard.

This one is way too much for me, I don't need all it has. But for $129 +s/h this soundcard may be of some help (and it comes with loads of software) http://www.floridamusicco.com/proddetail~prod~juli.htm
 
Meh, I've done decent recordings with only 200 dollars worth of equipment. It doesn't just take money to make a good recording.
It is MUCH cheaper to record their band in parts rather than live. It won't be as authentic, but you can still keep the passion.
 
If they are playing gigs and the club/venue is running everything through a soundboard talk to the sound guy and see if he'll let you record thru the soundboard. Certainly wont be studio worthy, but will sound better than just setting up some mics and trying to record.
 
Name a budget and we can make it happen. You need a minimum of three microphones and a mixer, as well as something to capture the audio with.
 
leezard said:
If they are playing gigs and the club/venue is running everything through a soundboard talk to the sound guy and see if he'll let you record thru the soundboard. Certainly wont be studio worthy, but will sound better than just setting up some mics and trying to record.
Click to expand...

hmm, might have to look into that, they are playing a show next Saturday, I will talk to them and see if that is possible. I wouldn't be able to bring my x-fi equipped gaming computer, but maybe the laptop will suffice? Any particular software I should use to do this? What about which connections should I bring?
 
Get a subscription to Sound on Sound and peruse the back issue archive. They have a monthly feature where they help fix someone's ghetto studio setup, and there are some very clever workarounds for budget studios in there.

You can either rent decent gear for far less than $4k if you don't need it for weeks on end, or put together something minimal for under $1000 and just do the recording in pieces (as noted) and with many more takes. With so much abysmal and over-compressed trash coming out of 'professional' studios you'd be hard pressed to make something worse, unless there's buzz or echo or something going on.
 
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