Home Recording and Mixing Basics: v. 3.0

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This section of my site was written to give info and tips to people with small, medium budgeted home studios. You could be recording just yourself playing various instruments, a band that your in, or a friend's band. It's assumed you own at least a limited variety of gear... a multitracker (any format), compressor, a multieffects processor, and microphone(s). Other gear would be useful, but not necessary. I also assume that you understand how to operate your gear. You don't need to be a master at using a compressor or multieffects unit, but at least understand what the different settings do to the sound. Read the manuals and ask questions in alt.music.4-track. You should also be fairly skilled at using your mixer to route sounds to your outboard gear, recorder and monitoring. Good headphones are important for monitoring mic placement and doing most tracking, and a pair of speakers for monitors is also important for stereo imaging. I survived a long time with home stereo equipment for nearfields, although real monitors and a dedicated power amp is much better. Even if you're a complete amateur, a lot of this will be useful, but some of the vocab might be a little confusing. This info is based on both my own personal experiments, books, magazines and the help of countless people from Alt.Music.4-Track and Rec.Audio.Pro, the latter being mostly professionals who record for a living. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or gripes, email me at DCMagnsuon@AOL.com.

Also, on a related note: I also prepeared another page, along with Chris Gieseke. It's named Getting Started in Home Recording and it describes most of  the essential equipment you'll need when you first start recording.

I'd like to extend a special thanks to the people who answered my long threads of questions on the Usenet Newsgroups including:

Scott Dorsey (kludge@netcom.com - http://www.techwood.org/kludge)

lxh2 (lxh2@netaxs.com - http://www.netaxs.com/~lxh2)

Fletcher (blkno9@ix.netcom.com - http://www.mercenary.com)

Lord Valve (detritus@ix.netcom.com)

I recommend you take a peek at the above sites for more ideas and information.

These techniques are only recommendations, and I therefore accept no liability for any type of physical harm or damaged equipment or media resulting from trials. Some of these techniques and recommendations are only suggestions that I have not verified. Use at your own risk.

Revised May 25, 1998

1) Added suggestions from email responses, corrected mistakes.

2) Added Section 2.7 about micing congas.

3) Added Section 2.10 about flutes.

4) Added Section 5.2 about compression attack/release

5) Added Section 3.5 on Producing

 Chapter 1:

• 1.1 Inexpensive Dynamic Mics

• 1.2 Midpriced Condensers

• 1.3 Other Good Mics

 Chapter 2:

• 2.1 Vocal Mics and Recording Vocals

• 2.2 Recording a Guitar Speaker Cabinet

• 2.3 Recording Electric Guitar Direct

• 2.4 Recording Acoustic Guitars

• 2.5 Recording Bass

• 2.6 Recording Drums

• 2.7 Recording Congas

• 2.8 Using a Drum Machine

• 2.9 Recording Sax

• 2.10 Recording the Flute

• 2.11 The Figure-8 Mic

 Chapter 3:

• 3.1 General Notes on Tracking

• 3.2 Track Sheets and Organization

• 3.3 Patchbays

• 3.4 Equipment Setup

• 3.5 Thoughts on Producing

 Chapter 4:

• 4.1 Mixing

• 4.2 Special Considerations for Mixing and Preparing for Mastering

 Chapter 5:

• 5.1 Compressors

• 5.2 Attack and Release controls

 Chapter 6:

• 6.1 Natural and Mechanical Reverberation and Effects

• 6.2 Reverb and Effects Processors

 Chapter 7:

• 7.1 Special Considerations for ADAT and Digital Media Users

• 7.2 A Few Notes   on Tape Recorder Maintenance (Analog or Digital)

 Chapter 8:

• 8.1 Basics of How to use MIDI in a Home Studio

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