Recording a cover band Demo with Garagband

[DONZI97]

So, I am taking the responsibility to record my cover band's demo using my Macbook and Garagband. We, right now have been getting local gigs by word of mouth, but we won't to expand our territory a little more, so we need a decent demo that isn't just our rehearsal recordings with my H2.
I know Gband a little bit, and will probably be very good with it at the end of this project, but I do have a few questions with the process. We are a vocal/drums/guitar/bass/keys band, and I have a handful of Shure 57's and one 58, the drummer has some crappy Radioshack drum mics, I also have an Alesis 4 channel usb mixer, and our live board which is a Yamaha MG16 with a usb out also(I hear its not compatible with the new Mac OS though). I am really tapped out on gear money, so I'm not going to buy anything else, unless I really have to.
My questions are:

1) What order do I start with? I was thinking drums, then bass, the other two instruments, then vocals.
2) If I start with drums, do I make the drummer slap on headphones, with the original recording to play along with as I record?
3) How the heck do I mic a drumset? I can run direct with my bass(Tone Hammer), direct with the Keys, and the guitarists has an AC15 I'll just mic, but I don't know how to do the drums.

Any help would be appreciated, I know I will have more questions, and will be starting this project in a couple of weeks.
I plan on doing three songs, and my goal is not to sound like a professional recording, but at least better than the live rehearsal recordings by doing individual tracks and mixing, then put them on Cd format to distribute.

[skiscem]

I personally like to record the guitar as a scratch with a click, then let the drummmer use that to record, then bass, guitar, vocals and overdubs.

how many channels do you have available to record at the same time and how many and which mics do you have available? if you give us more info about your gear we can give you better suggestions

[JamesGoodall]

Always start with drums. they are the very foundation of the song. If you have good enough headphones then it'd be better if he could have some going with a click track. Drums are tricky. If you only have four channels on your mixer/interface I'd say you definitely need to mic the kick and snare, then two overheads (ask a friend if they happen to have two LDC microphones). Then I always go with rhythmic importance to the song. Most types of music that's bass, then keys, then rhythm guitar, then lead. Your bass should be okay going direct if you you have a DirectBox. You might have some trouble getting the levels high enough if it's passive, but it should be okay, just throw on an amp plugin and some good EQ.

Hope I answered your question!

[Floridabwoy]

Originally Posted by JamesGoodall

Always start with drums. they are the very foundation of the song. If you have good enough headphones then it'd be better if he could have some going with a click track. Drums are tricky. If you only have four channels on your mixer/interface I'd say you definitely need to mic the kick and snare, then two overheads (ask a friend if they happen to have two LDC microphones). Then I always go with rhythmic importance to the song. Most types of music that's bass, then keys, then rhythm guitar, then lead. Your bass should be okay going direct if you you have a DirectBox. You might have some trouble getting the levels high enough if it's passive, but it should be okay, just throw on an amp plugin and some good EQ.

Hope I answered your question!

This. But I would add a room mic to drums and guitar. Natural ambience is always better than artificial ambience

[JamesGoodall]

Originally Posted by Floridabwoy

This. But I would add a room mic to drums and guitar. Natural ambience is always better than artificial ambience

true, but if you can only have four channels, stereo overhead is more important than room ambience. In the case of the guitars, absolutely have a room mic running.

[NKBassman]

Damn, I wrote a nice long reply and looks like my work firewall blocked it.

The gist:

Record scratch tracks first so your drummer has something to follow while recording his tracks. RECORD TO A CLICK!

Record drums next. With only 4 channels, Kick, Snare and 2 Overheards are priortiy.

Then Bass, Rythmn Guitar or Keys (whichever is more important to the song should come first), then lead guitar, then vocals. For a demo I wouldn't worry too much about room mics... clubs will be more interested to hear that you know how to play your instruments, rather than that you can make a pro sounding studio recording...

[jbybj]

Originally Posted by Floridabwoy

This. But I would add a room mic to drums and guitar. Natural ambience is always better than artificial ambience

Unless of course, your room sounds like a fart bucket. Some rooms are better left off the recording.

I have always been a fan of recording a band live to 2 track. If you guys are tight, then you can get a lot of songs down in short order, and it will sound like a band. I just love the sound of humans, grooving together. Don't worry about bleed, or isolation too much, just get a good overall mix.

Of course you need a good mixer. You can always choose to isolate the vocalist sonically but not visually from the rest of the band, and record them to a separate track. You can also choose to perform leads as an overdub as well. I sometimes prefer to not use a click track, depending on the band. VARIATION IN TEMPO CAN BE A GOOD THING. (I know, I'm crazy)

The most important thing is that everyone is comfortable with the process, no matter how you proceed. I know a drummer who was with a signed punk band back in the day, and with their first studio album, the producer wanted him to play each drum individually on separate passes, to avoid bleed. (what BS!) It was so awkward for the drummer that his parts sounded like ****. He had to play his whole kit to feel right.

[JamesGoodall]

Originally Posted by jbybj

VARIATION IN TEMPO CAN BE A GOOD THING. (I know, I'm crazy)

Oh I know! My songs change both time signature and tempo, for which garage band (or in my case Logic Pro) can be mapped to. it takes a bit of planning before you start the recording, but unless you're doing CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY modulative empo changes (example being very interpretive classical conductors or choir directors ). It's just better to have a set tempo to keep you on track. I myself know a few drummers who have gotten pretty off without a beat playing in their ears

[devilock76]

How close to the album version do you play? If the answer is very close or better then why not just use the cd version itself first as a scratch track. Did that once for tracking a cover band demo. We put the cd audio in there as a scratch track and each person came in to do their part like they were playing along with the cd. Then muted the cd scratch track and mixed together the actual performance parts.

Ken

[NKBassman]

Originally Posted by devilock76

How close to the album version do you play? If the answer is very close or better then why not just use the cd version itself first as a scratch track. Did that once for tracking a cover band demo. We put the cd audio in there as a scratch track and each person came in to do their part like they were playing along with the cd. Then muted the cd scratch track and mixed together the actual performance parts.

Ken

Yeah I've done this too.

And I agree, nothing wrong with recording live performances either, but OP seemed to be asking specifically about multitrack recording.

As for tempo changes, my experience has been in technical metal recording, where everything must must must be tight and in time. Obviously there are styles of music out there that would benefit from looser playing. However, in multitrack/multi-take recording, trying to record bass lines over sloppy drum tracks is a nightmare.

[tZer]

For getting gigs, I'd go for a live recording. Turning in a 'polished studio' recording doesn't show anyone what you really sound like - it shows them what you sound like if you are given the opportunity to micro-manage your recording. Anyone can sound good - and thus, you probably don't sound that good for real.

But if you get your room sounding good and lay down the band live, then come back and overlay the vocals, you'll get a good representation of what your band really sounds like.

Get a half-way decent condenser mic and put it in the sweet spot of the room. You'll be amazed at how good you can sound.

[maxgrant]

Originally Posted by devilock76

How close to the album version do you play? If the answer is very close or better then why not just use the cd version itself first as a scratch track. Did that once for tracking a cover band demo. We put the cd audio in there as a scratch track and each person came in to do their part like they were playing along with the cd. Then muted the cd scratch track and mixed together the actual performance parts.

Ken

I gotta say this is kind of like tracing over the Mona Lisa and then coloring it in. I mean yeah, you'll get a recording of the song.

But it won't be your performance, really.

[DONZI97]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll answer some of the question later, to hard to reply off the iPhone...... But it's easy to read.

[NKBassman]

Originally Posted by tZer

For getting gigs, I'd go for a live recording. Turning in a 'polished studio' recording doesn't show anyone what you really sound like - it shows them what you sound like if you are given the opportunity to micro-manage your recording.

I actually think this is a really good point. Maybe you could rent a computer interface with more inputs and any extra mics you need for a weekend so that you can do a proper multitrack recording, but of your live performance.

My band records many of our jams and we use a computer interface with 8 inputs. 2 guitars, bass, and 5 drum mics (kick, snare top, snare bottom, and two overheads). We then overdub vocals (or at least, we will), and mix.

[devilock76]

Originally Posted by maxgrant

I gotta say this is kind of like tracing over the Mona Lisa and then coloring it in. I mean yeah, you'll get a recording of the song.

But it won't be your performance, really.

Not really, I mean it is your performance, the song makes a blue print, and technically if you are really that spot on to the original performance then a metronome would be all you need to "trace" it.

The point is that with the limited inputs they need a reliable way to track this to keep everything on point. If they are at least close to the album version then that makes an excellent shared reference.

Personally I dislike the demo CD for booking. Hell most of the time it is barely used. In fact it is listened to enough at the beginning stages to make sure you don't completely stink. Entertaining a crowd has to do with more elements than that CD. If I wanted a top of the line advertising for the band live video would be the best way to do that. IMO of course but it shows all the elements of why a club would want to hire you, provided the video shows a crowd that is actively engaged in your performance.

Ken

[tZer]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

I actually think this is a really good point. Maybe you could rent a computer interface with more inputs and any extra mics you need for a weekend so that you can do a proper multitrack recording, but of your live performance.

My band records many of our jams and we use a computer interface with 8 inputs. 2 guitars, bass, and 5 drum mics (kick, snare top, snare bottom, and two overheads). We then overdub vocals (or at least, we will), and mix.

I spent a good year getting our band room equipped so that we could both jam 'live' and record everything multi-tracked - just like you describe (using a Delta1010 interface). We were able to crank out hours of nicely separated tracks that could be mixed to produce some really great sounding, live recordings.

That said, in the last few years another project I've been a part of has focused heavily on getting the band to sound great in the room and putting a pair of Earthworks mics in the sweet spot to capture our 'reality'. The value is huge in that the recordings to come out sounding really good - and it makes us focus on how we play together and manager our sound. Everyone plays with much more dynamics and the result is a better band - not just a good recording.

[droo46]

Check out this guys channel. Lewin does some great work and he posts very helpful tutorials about using GarageBand. Specifically, he just uploaded on two mic setup he did for drums.

GaragebandandBeyond's Channel - YouTube

[DONZI97]

That's awesome, I'll check it. Still wondering why GarageBand for dummies is $250