Recording Soon - Need Some Tips! Pure Drum N Bass.

[whoatherechunk]

Ok guys, it's been awhile since I've recorded in a "pro" studio and just want some general tips. My band revolves around pure drum'n'bass but with an odd twist of effect pedals. Some bands that may be in a similar realm are bands such as Lightning Bolt, El Ten Eleven, Tera Meros, Russian Circles-is stuff etc.

Things I'm taking: my Mesa Boogie 400+, Mesa 210, Ampeg 410, Ampeg V4, Sunn 215, pedalboard, various picks, cables, extra pedals, gibson dc paul, fender p, and a g&l sb2. all strung with fairly new strings. mesa rig (clean modern hi fi sound) . Ampeg v4 +sunn = dirty sound. gonna try and blend the two in certain parts of songs.

extras: water, honey, tea.

gonna try and stay as relaxed as possible and be as tight as possible going into the session with my drummer.

we are tracking individually. will have drum, bass, synth, crazy effect noise, maracas, shaker, and vocal tracks.

drum and bass tracks first depending on their structure and the rest afterwards. would a di be recommended to always have since it's on drumnbass and the goal is to sound huge w/o any empty space. should vocals always go last?

sorry everything seems so jambled but the main point is: do you guys have any tips to try and get as much out of the recording as possible and make it as productive as possible?

[whoatherechunk]

hit a brother up!

[Charling]

Originally Posted by whoatherechunk

Ok guys, it's been awhile since I've recorded in a "pro" studio and just want some general tips. My band revolves around pure drum'n'bass but with an odd twist of effect pedals. Some bands that may be in a similar realm are bands such as Lightning Bolt, El Ten Eleven, Tera Meros, Russian Circles-is stuff etc.

Things I'm taking: my Mesa Boogie 400+, Mesa 210, Ampeg 410, Ampeg V4, Sunn 215, pedalboard, various picks, cables, extra pedals, gibson dc paul, fender p, and a g&l sb2. all strung with fairly new strings. mesa rig (clean modern hi fi sound) . Ampeg v4 +sunn = dirty sound. gonna try and blend the two in certain parts of songs.

extras: water, honey, tea.

gonna try and stay as relaxed as possible and be as tight as possible going into the session with my drummer.

we are tracking individually. will have drum, bass, synth, crazy effect noise, maracas, shaker, and vocal tracks.

drum and bass tracks first depending on their structure and the rest afterwards. would a di be recommended to always have since it's on drumnbass and the goal is to sound huge w/o any empty space. should vocals always go last?

sorry everything seems so jambled but the main point is: do you guys have any tips to try and get as much out of the recording as possible and make it as productive as possible?

yeah, I would certainly use a di as well, something uncoloured and very good if possible. You're gonna want a 'pure bass' track that you can manipulate in all sorts of ways to get the bass sounding as big as possible and an amp track is likely to sound great but may not have the LOW low end. Be sure to delay the DI (or just move it in the DAW) so that it peak aligns with the amp signal. This is something you can get away with not doing for trashy rock stuff (though its always worth a look).

To get the lows as low as you can, however, you want all the bass sources to line up flawlessly to minimise phase cancellations etc. Try making a few short percussive sounds with the bass (while recording, during setup). Look on the tracks in the DAW and notice how far ahead the DI is compared to the mic tracks. Little percussive sounds make looking for things like this a lot easier than with a big, slow moving bass note! Make a note of how far you need to move the tracks to get the transients to line up and then apply a sample delay plug in to the DI or move it manually, whatever works!

sounds like the bass is going to be a big part of the sound, I'd pay careful attention to the use of your grungy sounds, keep the DI in for the lows and then try and work out where the gaps are going to be in the frequency 'picture' once all the instruments are in and tailor the meat of the grungy amp to suit. Its a lot better to have a nice frequency spread after tracking then make it even better in mixing, rather than trying to mix-in an part of the sound thats not really there!

[whoatherechunk]

Charling, would ya recommend the di off my Mesa Boogie 400+ or maybe something like a MXR M80 DI?

[Charling]

Originally Posted by whoatherechunk

Charling, would ya recommend the di off my Mesa Boogie 400+ or maybe something like a MXR M80 DI?

well, both are ok and will do the job, but their is better out there. The mxr seems to have a lot of attention to being an amp modeller, distortion box etc. And built in amp DI's will generally be ok but nothing special. You need a high quality no frills DI, a decent one tends to cost around the cost of the mxr. Thats why I distrust the mxr, I'm sure its good, they make REALLY killer pedals, but a DI bolted onto the side of an already fully featured pedal is often not that good.

However, the studio should have good DI's, its the studios job after all! Something like a Radial JDI or ProDI or a countryman would be great, if they have a reddi, avalon u5 or ridgefarm etc then all the better! If you want the character the mxr affords with its effects then consider DI'ing twice. Maybe go straight into a clean DI then out of the 'through output' into your fx, then into the mxr at the end, through to your amp, out as a 'effected DI signal'. A bit more lining up to do but then you have even more killer options!

[whoatherechunk]

Thanks so much Charling! Man that info is great! Killer stuff. Just trying to make my sound unique and 'full' since I'm controlling most of the sonic sound.

[Nick Kay]

To make the most of your time in the studio, I would spend some serious time in pre-production figuring out which textures you want in each song. When you've got three different basses, three different amps, three different cabs, and a pedalboard to top it all off, you're probably going to spend a lot more time on deciding what to use where than most folks. Thing is, there's no reason to do that in an expensive studio when you can do it in your rehearsal space for much cheaper.

I would highly suggest taking a DI track on top of the amped tracks, just in case you want to use a really clean tone for some parts, or if you want to reamp later. Stick to something clean and transparent like the Radial line or the Countryman Type 85 - less colouration, more room to play around with later on.

[whoatherechunk]

Nick: Yeah I've definitely spent lots of time with that. There are plenty of variables but I want to use them to get the most out of MY sound. Seems like the DI is going to play a huge role. Just need to restring two basses and I'm golden. Does three layered bass tracks seem excessive? For instance mesa and ampeg blended tone + a DI? I'm just wondering what someone's take would be in my scenario. I guess its just unique scary and complex. Let the recording begin tomorrow!

[Nick Kay]

There's no such thing as overkill when there's only two dudes and a whole lot of sonic space to fill out. You don't see bands with single guitarists skimping on the double-tracking, now do you? It CAN lead to more time spent mixing, just because of the extra options available, though.

[wolf7883]

For a project like that, I would probably try to take 3 signals: One direct, One Dry from amp/Cab and a Wet/effected signal. The more options the better. Also you can variably mix the 3 signals in certain sections for a cool effect. And with 3 different EQ settings you can do a lot!

[Charling]

Originally Posted by whoatherechunk

Nick: Yeah I've definitely spent lots of time with that. There are plenty of variables but I want to use them to get the most out of MY sound. Seems like the DI is going to play a huge role. Just need to restring two basses and I'm golden. Does three layered bass tracks seem excessive? For instance mesa and ampeg blended tone + a DI? I'm just wondering what someone's take would be in my scenario. I guess its just unique scary and complex. Let the recording begin tomorrow!

Guess it's too late now as you are already well into recording (or finished!) how did it go/going?

Just thought I'd answer the question with my opinion, no, 3 is not excessive as far as I am concerned. In fact, its pretty standard for the projects I work on! I have had a lot more, the silliest was a producer who couldn't decide between our vintage SVT with silly big 8x10" and the bass players very new svt with 1x15", so we miked up both, two mics on each, and I think a post and pre fx DI, so thats six tracks for one bass part. Some tracks were just one cab etc, but some tracks ended up using most of the 6 tracks and sounded great!

Its all a matter of being careful. If everything is in phase and well chosen mic's/DI's then you can use as many sources as you like and it will just add elements to the sound. If you have worked out the phase differences between tracks then it takes seconds to prepare any take as a 'in phase, multi source track' and gives you a good amount of options which can be really useful for any super-modern recording, as long as you can be decisive about WHAT to use in the mix!

[whoatherechunk]

Hey guys, on my phone so can't type much! Used a Radial DI, my mic'd boogie 400+, the di from the boogie, and messed with a di going through a joe meek preamp. Might mess with an avalon in the next sesh. Still need to do some tracks with my V4+Sunn 215+G&L! Yeehaw. Sounding great so far! I just need to a bit more spot on- on timing!

[uglymutt]

Good to hear that it's working out, can't wait to hear some of it.

[whoatherechunk]

Hey guys, lil update! Yesterday I tracked with my V4, G&L, and Sunn 215. The V4 with a pair of 15" speakers is a recording dream! Sounds so beefy and I'm loving it! I only added that combination at certain parts to beefen up the sound. The main mic I have used is a Shure bass drum mic. Yesterday we used a Royer ribbon mic for maracas shakers and claves!

[dubist]

great theard i learned allot..


good luck with the recording....!