Advice on recording band

[ClusterFlux]

I’m looking to do some basic budget recordings of our band for promo purposes. We have nothing other than some cell phone recordings so far. I’ve been looking at all the USB recording interfaces and still have no clear idea what I should be looking for.

I’ll be going into a Chrome book ( I know it’s not ideal, but it’s what I’ve got). And I’ll be doing minimal processing.

Any recommendations? Do I need midi, is a single channel ok - should I be looking at 2 or 4 channel interfaces? I’m just looking to buy once and not overlook anything. Thanks in advance.

I second the advice above, namely: If you are trying to get gigs, then go to a studio and make a demo.

While it is much easier to make high-quality home recordings these days, the reality is that you still need a lot of skill and experience to make a decent-sounding demo. You need to know how to set up the mics, how to EQ the instruments, how to handle effects, how to use the proper compression, how to master it.... Not to mention you really should have someone else engineer it during recording.

Rather than spend money on gear and 6 months gaining an average proficiency at recording techniques, I suggest you hone the tunes, wait a few months until COVID calms down and everyone is vaccinated, then book a studio for 2 days.

 

[dangevans]

I have a Zoom R16, and we record 6 vocals direct, and a drum BUS mix and instrumental BUS mix, and I edit it with multitrack (cubase) software.... I have 8 tracks to record with simultaneously, and it works well.

 

[Engle]

Am I correct in assuming you are a weekend warrior band like mine?

Maybe you can find somebody locally who is willing to come to a rehearsal, and record you? You might get lucky and find a kindred spirit to do it for a case of beer or two? I say that because even with appropriate gear, it can be hard to play and run all the gear at the same time - and results can be disappointing. Depending on where you live, some cities have rehearsal studios with the ability to record your sessions.

DIY recording can be a slippery slope. My old band attempted to record live into 4-track Tascam then overdub vocals. I was embarrassed with how bad the results sounded. Then I got an 8-channel digital mixer and produced stuff in GarageBand. It sounded marginally better, but it took forever.

It wasn’t until I started using a more advanced DAW (Reaper), and hundreds of hours of trial and error and obsessive research until I started producing demos that I was proud to share outside the band.

To be honest, I have gotten decent audio & video of my band on my iPhone. If your band has a good live mix and you’re not too loud, you should get usable results. This summer, I’d like to invite a bunch of friends over for a mini gig, have them all shoot video so we get multiple camera angles, then find somebody to edit it down into a 3 minute promo video. The places we target all seem to ask if we have a YouTube channel, so short videos seem like a good solution.

IPhone sound is surprisingly good. I needed to record my daughter’s university entrance audition video. She plays double bass and was accompanied by piano.
At the first rehearsal with the pianist, I set up an iPhone for video and 4 nice condenser mics with an interface/laptop to record the audio - with the intent to replace the audio on the iPhone video.
When I compared the sound, I found the iPhone audio was better for the purpose.

 

[Wood and Wire]

(Ignore the gun, not real, it’s actually a mic stand lol) View attachment 4211719

Fire (at) the drummer!

 

[DirkP]

Esp. for a band, I would highly recommend the Tascam Model 12 or the Zoom Livetraks. You can record independant of a computer to sd-cards. You still can use these multitrack recordings in a DAW. The Model 12 works as a DAW controler, too. You can use them for mixing and recording your live gigs. For what they offer, they are really worth their price. I own much pricier gear, interfaces and even a SSL mixing desk, but I love the Model 12. So convenient.