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Arthur Garros
Tracking live vs. overdubbing - what do these mean?
Being personable is very important - remembering people's names
first step is seeing the artist rehearse before recording, take notes such as song names, people, tempo, write suggestions and thoughts. Details are crucial. (Pre production) Record the rehearsal, listen back, do your homework.
Make choices as far as mic selection, incorporate what you know about polar paterns, dynamic mics for loud sounds, condenser for detail and top end, large diaphram for low end, ribbon mics have figure 8 patterns, maybe use those for room mics.
you want to use the same pre amp for all mics - why
auditioning mics
plot maps - to use or not to use
Line of sight - placing musicians so that they can see each other ex. along the perimeter of the room.
Angle - placing instruments accordingly to eliminate bleed to other mics, or bouncing off of walls.
Room features - hardwood floors vs brick walls.
Volume - placing instruments accordingly based on how loud they are
Comfort - making sure musicians are comfortable to be playing their best ex. temperature of room.
Make sure when connecting ribbon mics to not accidentally connect to phantom power.
Tube mics need 20 - 60 mins before they are ready to go.
Take time to color and label your pro tools session.
Can take up to 3 hours to set up, have band in and make sure drummer is around to test mics.
Have assistant scratch each mic and test the levels.
Drums -have the drummer play, make sure you're getting signal from all the mics and then dial them in one at a time.
First day is for tracking drums, always start with the drums = foundation for the house. Then come bass, vocals are last.
Check for phase alignment by muting everything but kick and then listen as you unmute each one by one.
Make sure drums are tuned. This can make or break a record.
*** Sub frequencies and bass will be between 60-80db sweet spot
Additional low mid frequencies at 150db for the bass.
Bass - 250 - 500db can be present in any bass instrument and you want to subtract that. - BAD.
750 - 1k is the nice crack of the snare drum.
1.2-2k = sweet spot for vocals - 2k is frequency that human ears are most atuned to. Bumping 2k gives the vocal more excitement.
Crunch from guitars 3.5 - 5k db.
Top end, vocals or cymbals, high hats - 8k to 12k db. **
Bass - direct input is easiest and clearest.
Acoustic guitar - depending on the situation es.
When troubleshooting follow the signal flow logically - start at the source, output, input. Make sure you disengage your phantom power.
Electric bass works best going straight to a di box because it doesnt have to go through a bass cab.
guitar cab ?
always use a pop filter when recording on a condenser
whats the point of doing a line check?
pro tools templates are a good way to have the settings for another session - does a studio typically have a default template?
high impedence?
line level
