Recording Musician: Recording on a Dime -
Strategies for Making Band Albums Fast, Cheap, and on the Money
Abstract (summary)
Tips for sound engineers who are trying to record a
band with limited studio time and on a tight budget are presented. The band
should come to the studio prepared to play only one or two live takes of each song, so band
members need to rehearse several times before the recording session.
Information on various microphones and preamps that are useful in these
situations is overviewed. Scheduling the day, overdubs, mixing, and the advantages of analog are also
discussed.
Full Text
Back in
the days of analog tape and acetate masters, artists typically made records in
hours, not in months or years as is often the case in today's world of plug-ins
and tubemic simulators. John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme (Impulse, 1964), one
of the greatest jazz albums of all time, in a mere four-hour session. Up until
that time, most recordings were cut live,
often with no opportunity to overdub. With that approach, how long could it
possibly take to record an album?
Then came
bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Steely Dan, who found a creative
haven in the studio and spent increasingly more time there perfecting their
recordings. Thanks in part to their example, it can take a ridiculous amount of
time to churn out an album today. Of course, those bands likely also had the
financial wherewithal to spend as much time in the studio as they wanted.
The
luxury of "financial wherewithal" is rare, of course. As a recording
engineer in the Boston area, I typically work with musicians endowed with great
talent but little cash. That means most of my projects are recorded under the
unforgiving glare of the ticking clock. Hence, I've become rather adept at
engineering on a dime - sometimes even on a nickel.
Making a
good record in short order is a challenge, but there are ways to help ensure
success. First and foremost, keep in mind that this is a joint venture - the
best engineer in the world can't make a great record in a hurry if the
musicians aren't up to the task. I'll start by discussing pre-production tips for getting everyone
organized. Then I'll explore the art of recording at warp speed, and finish up
with some tips on mixing in the fast lane.
WORK CUT
OUT
Most
projects I record begin with a conversation that goes something like this:
"We
have $1,500 and we'd like to record and mix and master an entire album. Can we do that?"
"Well,
after tape and mastering expenses, that leaves about eight hours in the studio.
I can handle that. Can you?"
Silence.
After
getting through that fun bit of business, I instruct the musicians on how to
make the most of their studio time: practice like crazy every waking moment
until the session. After all, great records are all about great performances of
great songs (pretty simple, huh?). Of course, great recordings and mixes are important, too. Then
again, I've gotten some great sounds in my career, and they haven't all
translated into great albums.
It is not
unreasonable - or unprecedented - to cut an album in a day, but there's no way
it can happen if the musicians can't lay down the tracks. I've worked on
projects in which the band planned to record live and cut everything in a day, and then proceeded
to spend the entire time unable to play anything worth keeping.
On the
other hand, I once had a band come into the studio with a fistful of dollars
that the musicians had scraped together with the intent of recording and mixing three songs. Once we got
rolling, the group ended up cutting ten songs, which we recorded and mixed in
eight hours. Granted, it was a power trio (guitar, bass, and drums) and we
didn't do any overdubs. But the point is that the musicians were so well
rehearsed that they nailed keepers in one or two takes. That allowed me to keep
rolling tape, and when it came time to mix the songs, there wasn't much to do - we had captured
everything live.
Another
point I counsel bands on is not to rehearse in the studio. If you can't afford
a lot of studio time, it doesn't make sense to spend hours figuring out song
forms and arrangements while the clock is ticking. Bands need to get those
issues worked out before setting foot in the studio.
One other
important pre-production task is finding out exactly what the instrumentation
is - you must know what you're going to be miking. Draft an input list before
going into the studio so you can stay one step ahead of the musicians. In
addition, always have a backup plan in case your first picks sound lousy.
Anticipation is key.
NOT
MEMOREX
When
instructing bands about cheapo recording tactics, I always push for recording
as live as possible. This
has a variety of time-saving benefits. One, everyone plays at once, so you
don't need to waste time overdubbing. Two, recording live often requires having several instruments in
the same room; thanks to mic bleed, it becomes all but impossible to replace
parts (if you do, you will hear "ghost notes" from the original track
bleeding into other instrument mics, which tends to sound like someone playing
wrong notes in the background), so the musicians are married to the take.
Three, mic bleed also means that the group is pretty much locked in to the
sound, which also simplifies the mixing
stage (although setup tends to take a little longer). For example, if the drums
bleed into the guitar mic and you EQ the guitar sound during mixdown, you will
likely alter the drum sound as well. In addition, bringing up the guitar will
raise the drum levels - sometimes a good thing, sometimes not. You therefore
need to commit to as many decisions as possible when setting up and tracking.
That way you limit mix
decisions, making mixing go
much faster.
It's
vital to explain these things to the musicians ahead of time so that they
understand the limitations this approach imposes. Let them know that they can't
replace solos and vocals, and that they will have fewer options in the mix process. In short, they must
play their parts "perfectly" or else be willing to accept an
imperfection here or there - something people did all the time before digital
editing became commonplace.
Naturally,
you must be prepared for plans going south. I recently completed a record that
we had planned to cut 95 percent live
in a couple of days. However, once we got going, it turned out the singer was
under the weather and couldn't nail his takes. Furthermore, the guitarist,
whose amp was in the live
room with the drums, wasn't up on the arrangements, so we had to regroup and
overdub much more than planned.
Musicians
are human, and they can't always accomplish what they hope to. That often puts
more pressure on the engineer to get things done quickly. Be prepared to skip
meals and not go to the bathroom for long periods of time.
STICK TO
YOUR GUNS
When you
need to record in a hurry, use familiar mics and preamps. That will not only
ensure that you get a good sound, but will also eliminate the risk of wasting
time on something that might not work - this is not the time to try out that
new kick mic you've been dying to hear.
For my
part, if I have to get a solid drum sound for a pop-rock recording in 15
minutes, I know what to do. I put a Sennheiser E602 on the kick (just inside
the hole, if possible), a Shure SM57 on the snare top and bottom (remember to
reverse the polarity of the bottom mic; see Fig. 1), Sennheiser MD 421s on the
toms, and a pair of Neumann KM 84s as overheads (I start with an XY-coincident
setup and move them out to a spaced pair if that's not working). That gets me a
solid, close-miked sound, and as long as the drums and drummer sound good, I
know I'm in business. (Equally important is the fact that every studio I work
at has those mics available.)
I also
add a pair of room mics. I have a half-dozen different combos and placements
that I like to use, but I go with what I know will get me a good sound in a
hurry. I arrange a pair of Earthworks omnis (TC30Ks, QTC1s, or the inexpensive
SROs - they all work great) in a spaced pair and give them a moderate squashing
with a stereo compressor such as the Joemeek SC2 or Tube-Tech LCA 2B. I will
also add a Royer R-121 (see Fig. 2) or R-122 about knee-high, two to four feet
in front of the kit. Again, it's not that those particular mics will always
yield the best sound possible, but that I know what I'm going to get, and it's
going to be solid and flexible (by varying the levels of the front and room
mics, I can drastically alter the sound as needed).
If I'm
really in a hurry and dealing with a great-sounding drum kit, I might keep it
simple with a Glyn Johns - type setup (see Fig. 3): one mic two to four feet in
front of the kit and two to four feet above ground level, aimed directly at the
drums (listen to be sure this mic picks up enough kick drum), and two overheads
- one roughly over the hi-hat and aimed at the snare drum, and the other to the
right of the drummer's right shoulder (assuming a right-handed drummer), also
aimed at the snare. This is a time-tested formula that delivers a great natural
sound (though do make sure to check for phase problems). I often use the Royer
R-121 as the front mic, and usually large-diaphragm condensers such as the
Audio-Technica AT4047 (see Fig. 4), Neumann U 47, or AKG C 12A for the
overheads. Or I might use ribbon mics for the overheads - two Coles 4038s or
Royer R-122s do nicely. If I'm recording a jazz session, I'll use the Royer
R-121 in front and a stereo Royer SF12 as the overhead and call it a day.
For bass,
nothing is quicker than using a DI. However, I rarely find the resulting sound
very appealing. That said, a nice-sounding bass through one of the high-end DIs
such as the Avalon Design U5, or the line input of a Peavey VMP2 mic preamp,
can be just the ticket. Otherwise, I have another simple solution: put a mic in
front of the bass cabinet. Pretty radical, huh? Specifically, I put a Royer
R-121 a couple of inches from the cabinet, and bingo - a great sound
(contingent, of course, upon a great sound coming out of the speaker). Other
mics I routinely use on bass amps are the Audio-Technica AT4047, Shure KSM44,
and Lawson L47MP.
On
electric guitars, I generally use a Royer R-121, again a few inches in front of
a good-sounding amp. (Royer makes some of my favorite all-purpose mics. I
always know what I'm going to get out of them. Again, they might not get me the
best of all possible sounds for a given instrument, but I find without fail
that they yield a damn good sound.) For mono acoustic guitar, I typically use a
Neumann KM 140 (my favorite all-purpose small-diaphragm condenser; see Fig. 5)
aimed at the neck-body joint anywhere from 6 to 18 inches from the guitar. For
stereo acoustic, I usually add a second KM 140 aimed either at the bridge or
positioned above the guitarist's right shoulder (assuming a right-handed
guitarist) and aimed down at the guitar body.
As an
engineer, you need to have a solid vocabulary of mics and outboard gear and be
able to set up quickly without having to audition a bunch of equipment. If
someone shows up with an instrument I've never recorded, the first thing I do
is ask how other people have miked the instrument. Assuming the musician was
happy with the previous recording, he or she hopefully will know how the
previous engineer got the sound. Heed the musician's advice, but also use your
ears - what worked in a previous situation might not work the next time around.
IN THE
MOOD
Recording
on a tight timeline means that you, the engineer, might not always get to take
a break between setup and tracking. But that doesn't mean you should expect the
same sacrifice from the musicians - going straight from setting up to playing
can be a difficult transition, and you definitely want the musicians in top
form.
Whenever
possible, I schedule the session so that, once setup is done and everyone is
happy with the sound, the band can take a break before starting to record. That
gives the musicians time to clear their heads and get in the mood to play
(while I'm busy documenting setups, double-checking connections, and calling
home to say, "Don't wait up").
CAN WE
TRY THAT AGAIN?
I know
from unpleasant experience that once a band starts overdubbing, the whole
project can soon grind to a halt. Some musicians can overdub quickly and efficiently,
but they are the exception, not the rule. I've had projects in which I thought
that everything was done, and then the singer decided he needed to fix a verse.
Nine songs and six hours later, I was left with half the mix time we had originally scheduled.
That is one reason I try to structure the recording so that everything, or as
much as possible, is cut live.
Still, it's nearly impossible to capture everything live, so the next step is to overdub as efficiently
as possible.
When
overdubbing in a hurry, stick with one instrument and go through all the songs.
That might seem like common sense, but sometimes bands want to finish each song
one at a time, and that's tremendously inefficient. Rather, set up for, say,
the guitar overdubs and roll each song, and then do all the vocals, and so on.
When it
comes to overdubbing electric guitars, I have a few tricks to help keep things
rolling. Guitar sounds tend to vary from song to song, so I try to cover the
sonic spectrum by setting up three or four different amps at once (see Fig. 6).
I then set up two or three mics - typically the Royer R-121 in front, a Shure
SM57 or Electro-Voice RE20 for the back of the amp (if it's an open-backed
cabinet), and usually a room mic such as a Neumann KM 84. I assign the front
and rear mics to one bus (again, check the polarity of the rear mic) and record
the close signal on one track and the room mic on another. If I'm short on
tracks, I'll blend the room mic in with the close mics; however, I prefer to
pan the room mic away from the close mics to get a wider sound without having
to use artificial reverb. In addition, having the room on its own track gives
me control over the amount of room reverb in the mix.
With that
much gear set up, changing guitar sounds is as easy as moving the close mics to
a different amp and re-adjusting levels. Often I can go from one sound to
another in the same amount of time it takes for the guitarist to change guitars
and tune.
Overdubbing
vocals is the real hornet's nest. Some singers are great and you can run down
one or two passes and get everything you need. Others will nitpick each
syllable and make life beyond painful. I try to get singers to take complete
passes and to avoid excessive punching, simply because punching is
time-consuming and often loses the feel of the track. Unlike guitar overdubs,
vocal sounds generally don't vary much over the course of an album, so you can
usually get the sound and then roll through everything.
Few other
instruments require different sounds from track to track. Pianos, Hammond B-3s,
and horns, for example, will almost always stay the same from the engineer's
standpoint. Get the sounds quickly, based on your past successes (I suggest
dynamic and ribbon mics on brass, beyerdynamic M 201s on B-3 and horns, and
Neumann KM 140s on piano) and roll tape.
HIGH-SPEED
BLENDER
As we've
seen, being able to do good mixes
fast depends largely on the tracks - the more you get things right during the
recording, the less you have to fuss over in the mix. That's true whether you're doing an album in a
day or a month.
I have
mixed a half-dozen or so full-length CDs in a single session each. Of those, I
would say all but one sounded really good, and the one that didn't suffered
because the drummer had a terrible-sounding kit and there simply wasn't time to
make it sound better. In other words, the house was built on a lousy foundation
(and some of the performances weren't so stellar, either). In addition, the
band had a strict budget and self-imposed deadline, so there was no opportunity
to polish the performances before mixing.
As you surely know, not everything can be fixed in the mix.
The other
albums I mixed in short order were cut almost completely live, so again, many of the
decisions had been made already during the tracking phase. In addition, the
performances were solid, and each project demanded a fairly consistent sound
from start to finish, which further simplified the mix. Even so, when mixing under the gun, my approach is to keep it simple
and try to capture the feel without adding anything flashy. You're shooting for
as good as possible, not perfection, so be realistic.
ANALOG
ADVANTAGE
One last
thing I'd like to point out is that every high-speed project I've engineered
has been done in the analog domain - a very intentional choice. Yes, 2-inch
tape eats up a big chunk of the budget, but that very fact helps keep Pandora's
box closed. I have yet to engineer a project in Pro Tools without the artist(s)
wanting to exploit the possibilities of digital editing - very few musicians
can resist the temptation to tweak a vocal here and alter a guitar line there.
For that reason, I feel it's in everyone's best interest to keep the recording
process analog and to get everything on tape pretty much the way you want it to
sound in the final mix.
Of
course, I don't mind doing whatever it takes to make a recording perfect. But
when a band has a tight budget, I have a responsibility to reign them in, just
as they have a responsibility to keep me moving forward. As long as you
anticipate setups and problems, stay one step ahead of the musicians, and stick
to your tried-and-true techniques, you'll deliver your end of the bargain.
Assuming the band does its part, everyone will walk away happy.
Sean D. Carberry
still sneaks into Boston-area studios to record albums (quickly and cheaply)
when he isn't too busy as technical director of The Connection on NPR.
Word
count: 3138
Indexing (details)
Narrow
subject
Sound
Engineers, Recording
Sessions, Time
Management, Budgets, Equipment
Selection, Analog
recording, Microphones, Amplifiers, Live Performance
Broad
subject
Title
Recording
Musician: Recording on a Dime - Strategies for Making Band Albums Fast, Cheap,
and on the Money
Author
Publication
title
Volume
Issue
Pages
70, 72,
74, 76-77
Publication
year
2003
Publication
date
Oct 2003
Year
2003
Publisher
NewBay
Media, LLC
Place of
publication
New York,
N.Y.
Country
of publication
United
States
Journal
subject
ISSN
0884-4720
Source
type
Magazines
Language
of publication
English
Document
type
Instruction/Guidelines
Document
feature
Photographs
ProQuest
document ID
1400022
Document
URL
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1400022?accountid=144516
Last
updated
2012-09-17
Database
International
Index to Music Periodicals Full Text
No comments:
Post a Comment