Working on a rock musical with some friends, and it's getting really frustrating.
Thing that's fucking with me is our shitty recordings, although I hate to even bitch about it. The guy that's making the recordings has put a LOT of time and money into the setup, and really is doing the best he can. He's also a pretty big jerk, and being a jerk back at him causes some big blowups that I'd rather avoid.
So we're recording our rehearsals, and time and again the fucking guitar is completely smothered with everything else in the band. Literally you can not hear it all over everything else. This has been an ongoing problem, and I'm getting pretty fucking pissed at this point.
I've been playing guitar for more than 25 years now, I've played more than 400 live shows in 6 or so bands. I just feel like I deserve more respect than this.
Anyway, I know wingy's going to declare this the gayest thread ever or whatever, haha original... and tired. Ya old git. Oh look gay is so funny. Maybe it was a decade ago, but now it's just... dull. Gay is the new dull.
I don't know if I'm looking for advice or anything, probably just wanting to vent and willing enough to subject myself to the inevitable harassment to follow. So bring it on.
Fire your band mates and go solo. It works.
Didn't some dude invent multi-track recording once?
Once but it fell out of his pocket and he hasn't been able to find it ever since.
Yeah, and that would be great and all, but we currently don't have the gear to multi-track. So instead we're sending out a left and right mix to the left and right direct inputs on the computer. This means I get to share track space with vocals and keys, which really drown out everything else in the room. And he's also the only other person in the band that said anything at all about the guitars not being loud enough, so I can't really be mean to him or anything.
I just realized that I hadn't eaten all day before band practice, and I think the low blood sugar might have been making me cranky. Note to self, plan better eating schedule on practice nights.
Yeah, so set down with the guy.
[oprah] Tell him what he's doing.
Tell him how it makes you feel.
Tell him what you want him to do differently. [/oprah]
If it's clear that nothing's going to change, leave. Find someplace where there's some mutual respect. Life's too short etc.
Without multi tracking, I'd say you're fucked to be honest. When I was with my band, live rehearsal recordings were shit until we isolated everything; you could only hear the drums and vox. Guitars were background noise.
Good luck though.
p.s. u r gay
Originally posted by: Thad we're sending out a left and right mix to the left and right direct inputs on the computer. This means I get to share track space with vocals and keys, which really drown out everything else in the room. And he's also the only other person in the band that said anything at all about the guitars not being loud enough, so I can't really be mean to him or anything.
Come on dude, you're making it way more complicated than it has to be! If your vocalist and keyboard player suck, just tell them to stay home.
You're in a Rock Musical now? Who knew?
turn to 11.
Record each person separately while they monitor off of a stripped down version or whatever and build it up that way. It will take longer but who cares?
Originally posted by: daddybunchie Without multi tracking, I'd say you're fucked to be honest. When I was with my band, live rehearsal recordings were shit until we isolated everything; you could only hear the drums and vox. Guitars were background noise.
Good luck though.
you'd be better off laying down each track separately using either a master rec or a click track - would also make post work much more enjoyable and fruitful ...
and maybe i'm missing something, but dude couldn't have spent _that _much on the rigs if you don;t have multi-track capability.
A quick search shows that a seemingly half way decent multi track recorder is like...300-500 US dollars.
Without one your recordings are doomed to sound like crap.
I've heard that computers are also sometimes used for multitrack recording.
Weird, huh?
Originally posted by: oregondave and maybe i'm missing something, but dude couldn't have spent _that _much on the rigs if you don;t have multi-track capability.
.
Originally posted by: Storm Spend the $379!! Mmmm, that's some sexy right there, dig the computer interfacing capability. I wonder if it works with the software we're using?
According to you, you didn't really have any software per se. You definitely didn't have any multitrack software!!
This writes WAV files in it's internal HD or your USB drive separated out. You can also export the multitrack into one stereo track too. It also comes with ZOOM's effects which are pretty good. (I have the G2.1u.)
You can't beat the price and if you do get multitrack software, the R16 sends MIDI control data to the software so you can use it as a controller for your software too.
There is no excuse for not multitracking these days..... as od said: > ...but dude couldn't have spent that much on the rigs if you don;t have multi-track capability.
What I said actually is that we don't have the gear, didn't say anything about not having the software. We could definitely do a long-drawn out multitrack recording session, but this is for rehearsal/practicing purposes. But hell, if it does it's own recording and spits out wav's, I mean that's still pretty damn sexy. I just like the idea of having a controller to adjust the software's tracking on the fly, particularly if it has memory settings and auto-adjusts the faders on playback. That would be damn sexy... especially for that price.
Must look into it further...
Hey Thad... I just wanted to throw another suggestion out there for you guys since it looks like you might be willing to cough up a little bit of money for an upgrade. Storm's suggestion for the R16 is a good one for sure but you might want to take a look at Tascam's US-1641 audio/midi interface too. It's normally around $399.00 but it's currently on sale at Musican's Friend for $299.00 which is a great price.
The specs on the two units are very similar but each has edges in various areas (the Zoom has Mackie control emulation whereas the Tascam has a built in MIDI controller for example). This next bit is purely speculative on my part but I'd probably give the nod to the A/D convertors in the Tascam over the Zoom since Zoom is the in house brand for Sam Ash. Neither of them are going to be high end (and I'm not saying that the Zoom is crap by any means) but I would guess that Tascam's will be marginally better although I could be wrong.
Again, Storm's suggestion is a good one but this is an option you might consider too.
ok points taken....
I recommended the ZOOM because it has its own internal recording and editing capabilities versus just being an interface. I think Thad's crew could benefit from just being able to hit record and having the unit record whatever was plugged in. I know the constant frustration for me is having to turn on the computer, then the software, assigning tracks to each input you want, etc. Granted you can have one new template file, but having internal recording would be sweet to get out their ideas to take over to the computer later. For that I have not seen a comparable product price-wise. Roland / Cakewalk has a VStudio100 but costs significantly more. ZOOM's ASIO driver isn't as solid as Echo's drivers (for my G2.1u) and I get some latency delay, but the AD/DA conversion will be acceptable even in Soundblaster cards these days.
For using software Thad, I'd agree with doran. For plug and record possibilities, I'd research the R16 further. I'd get one myself if I didn't already have too much gear!!! And I actually like using SONAR for recording.
Shut up, get Botox and than you can suck dicks like Mick Jagger. Hello, double platinum.
Even better, you might get to bang David Bowie.