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Help with recording demo....on a budget?
Me and my bandmate are just trying to make a demo for ourselves for now. We play death metal, I am the drummer and he's guitarist(plays through Ibanez tbx150r combo which has built in distortion). We are on the budget and cannot afford anything extra to buy right now.
So this is what we have for the recording: 4 channel powered mixer 100 watts, 2 regular mics and the laptop which doesn't have "line in" input.
Again, we only need to record demo for ourselves, and want to try something out with the equipment we have right now.
So, I need detailed information how to record demo with the equipment we have.
thanks
As the other answerer said, get a USB audio interface. I actually have the one he linked to (Lexicon Alpha) and its worked out very well for me. For less than 100$, its going to be your best bet in terms of getting *anything* into your laptop. If your laptop has a "mic in" you can try to plug your mics in there, but "mic in" jacks are notoriously noisy and don't give very decent results, especially for recording. If that's the way you go (and your only option at this point without buying the audio interface) make sure you turn off any mic boosts, and make sure you keep your audio level down so it doesn't clip. That means turning your guitar amp down!
The best way for you to record would be to do so in isolation, ie, record the drums to a click track, then record the guitar over that. I've put a link to software that can do this below (generous free trial period).
The benefit to doing this is that you can use two mics for the drums instead of just one - ie you can use them for overhead mics (one left, one right, 1-3 feet above the cymbals, pointed down), or one mic on the kick (or pointed between kick and snare) and one for the cymbals.
Its important in cases like this to learn how to play evenly, ie, don't play some parts super loud and other parts super quiet. If you really get into it and really bang on your toms during a chorus, for instance, it will upset the mix and make it much harder to get a decent end result.
Its not easy recording instruments to get a decent quality mix, especially with so few mics and such a limited setup - to stay in time you will need to practice to a metronome so you keep your tempo consistent (a major prerequisite if you don't want to sound like an amateur).
If you absolutely can't do anything else, then you'll have to guess where to put the mics. What I've done in the past is hang one mic from the ceiling (it was a garage) a few feet above everyone, more or less in the middle of everyone) and use the other three mics (4-track) one for the singer, one for the bass amp, and one for the kick.
For you, put both mics above you guys, and practice playing and adjusting your volumes (and mic distance) until you get a decent level, well-balanced mix. It will have a very "garage" feel to it, but there's nothing wrong with that.
That's all I can do for you at this point - good luck!
Saul
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