Here are eight tips that will help you to improve the overall quality of your recordings and get them to a more professional-sounding level.
Hello, and welcome to another Dojo! I want to focus on eight tips to help your recording techniques have more professional-sounding results. Because this subject is so deep, I created a free companion to this article at my website, bryanclarkmusic.com. Tighten up your belts—the dojo is now open.
1. The Right Space. The first and most crucial step is selecting an appropriate space for recording. You want to choose a room with minimal ambient noise, good acoustic properties, and enough space for your equipment and instrument(s). Remember that all rooms can benefit from strategic soundproofing via acoustic panels and diffusers that help control reflections and resonance (standing waves), resulting in a more controlled and balanced sound.
2. Gear. Buy the best gear you can afford because it will make a massive difference (see my September 2020 PG cover story “10 Recording Mistakes Guitarists Make (And How to Avoid Them).”
Microphones: Choose microphones that suit your needs. For vocals, a good condenser microphone is often ideal, while dynamic microphones are better for loud sound sources like 100-watt amps or drums. Also, get a pop filter to reduce plosives in vocal recordings.
Audio Interface: This is the bridge between your microphones and your computer. Invest in a quality audio interface with low-latency and high-resolution capabilities.
Headphones and Monitors: Use studio-quality headphones or monitor speakers to accurately hear the nuances in your recordings. This gear is highly personal yet essential for critical listening.
Cables: Use high-quality cables to connect your equipment. Well-shielded, low-noise cables can reduce interference and maintain signal integrity. (I love Asterope’s XLR to TRS cables, $55–$120 street.)“Sometimes, the most innovative and unique recordings come from pushing the boundaries and questioning ‘rules.’”
3. Optimizing Recording Techniques. Proper recording techniques are the key to professional results. Experiment with microphone placement until you find the sweet spot for your sound source(s).
Recording Levels: Maintain optimal recording levels to prevent clipping and distortion. Aim for an average reading of -18 dB to leave headroom for mixing.
Multi-Microphone Techniques: When using two mics on the same sound source, such as a drum kit or choir, or two mics on your amp, etc., make sure all microphones are in phase. Check by first recording for several seconds, then zoom in on the two mics’ waveforms in your DAW to see. If they’re not in phase, move one of the mics either forward or backwards to get better alignment of arrival times.
4. Software and DAWs. Select a DAW tailored to your needs and preferences and invest the time to learn the software’s features and shortcuts. Popular options include Pro Tools, Logic Pro, LUNA, and Ableton Live.
Take advantage of virtual instruments (Arturia, Native Instruments, Spectrasonics) and effects plugins (Waves, UA, FabFilter, Soundtoys) to enhance your recordings. High-quality virtual instruments can replicate the sound of real instruments, while effects plugins offer various processing options for mixing and even mastering.
5. Recording Environment. Minimize background noise by turning off fans, air conditioners, and other noisy appliances during recording. If your room has persistent noise issues, use noise reduction software (Izotope RX), or record during quieter times of the day. You can also control sound reflections by using acoustic treatment in your room(s) to prevent unwanted reverb and echoes. If recording vocals or acoustic instruments, consider using isolation shields or reflection filters to reduce room noise and improve clarity.
6. Editing and Mixing. Remove unwanted noise, fix timing issues, comp the best parts from multiple takes, use EQ and compression (sparingly), and use reference tracks from professional recordings to compare and gauge the quality of your mix.
7. Monitoring. Listen to your recordings on various playback systems (headphones, monitors, car stereo) to ensure they sound good across different contexts. Don’t be afraid to re-record and remix as needed. Improvement will come from learning from your mistakes.
8. Continuous Learning and Experimentation. Finally, the world of audio recording and production is continually evolving. Keep learning and experiment with unconventional recording techniques and/or effects. Sometimes, the most innovative and unique recordings come from pushing the boundaries and questioning “rules.”
I’m always here to help, and remember that improvement takes time, patience, and practice. Until next month, namaste.
Supported by Focusrite
https://focusrite.com/
Blackbird Studio ace Bryan Clark breaks down the versatile studio technique and provides some advice on how to avoid phasing issues.
How area miking can give your axe new sonic dimension.
Welcome to another Dojo. This month focuses on "area mic" (aka "room mic") techniques. It's a creative way to add reverb to your recordings that's different from using a plug-in, outboard gear, or a reverb pedal. Unlike recording your instrument with close mic techniques (using one or two mics), this time we are going to focus on how to record your guitar sounds in a particular space au naturel, with a mic or mics at a distance from your amp.
Capturing a particular area—like your band room, bathroom, hallway, stairwell, garage, etc.—can play a huge part in making your guitar sound larger, because you are capturing the space's inherent reverberant qualities. It can also give you a chance to add some extra effects to your core sound, as I'll discuss below. There's something really exciting and fun about setting up a mic in a physical space away from your guitar or amp and blending it in with your main guitar tone (or, in some cases, using it solely). Use your imagination and experiment with this. Okay … the dojo is now open. Let's begin.
Start with your head.
Wherever you are in your room, place a mic at ear level and use that as a new opportunity to add space and depth. You'll want to wear headphones for this (and really, for all the following examples), because we only want to capture your guitar and not the other tracks in your session. Any mic will work for this, but if you have a mic with varying polar patterns, like a large diaphragm condenser mic, start by setting the mic to omni first, then try figure 8, and lastly cardioid. Move it around until you like what you hear, then record it!
Hallways and stairwells are wonderful reverberant environments, and they can really add a sense of space while giving you a reasonably good signal-to-noise ratio.
Next, place your amp in the hallway or stairwell, if you're lucky enough to have one, and then work your way outward. Hallways and stairwells are wonderful reverberant environments and they can really add a sense of space while giving you a reasonably good signal-to-noise ratio. Remember, the further you move away from the source of your guitar sound, the more you will have to boost your input gain on your mic pre. At a certain point, you will be so far away that you'll really have to boost the signal to hear your guitar, and at that point, you'll have more noise than signal. A hallway or closely located stairwell is usually a happy medium and provides the best results. I've used "hallway" mics with great effect, and even captured happy accidents that I've left in the mix—like my Australian Shepherd barking during the end of a guitar solo.
Space is the place.
Another thing to try is recording in a reverberant space with your normal setup, and then adding an area mic in the room. This is what I like to do at Blackbird. I'll often take a guitar amp, or an acoustic, and record it in a large room. I will still close mike and then add an area mic to bring even more dimension, and then fade it in as needed. For electric guitar, try this: Place your amp in the largest room you have access to, close mike the amp (for tips on how to do this, watch my PG video "DIY: How to Mic Your Amp for Stellar Tone)," then add your area mic, and blend to taste.
Finally, you can also add processing to the area mic. This is where you can really let your imagination run wild. For example, try using distortion, delay, bit crusher, automated filter sweeps, and/or really squashing it with compression. One other thing to keep in mind is that you can automate the area mic track with all the parameters I mentioned above as well as volume and panning.
For some audio and visual demonstrations, where I do all of these suggestions, I humbly invite you to come by my website, bryanclarkmusic.com. Until next time, namaste.