Silent Recordings..

[notnews32]

I am a college student and I live in a dorm room. With 5 other people. Surrounded by rooms filled with at least a hundred others. I play guitar (random old guitars through a vox ac30) and my roommate plays drums.. we are a math-rockish/indie type band and we need to play and record. Our college (University of New Haven, CT) does not allow non-music majors to play in the newly built, sound-proof rooms. So, twice a week, we lug our crap 1 mile down campus to a beat-up wooden shack that we arent even allowed to play in.. but we do anyways. My question to the Ants world is:

How can we record silently in the dorm room next year? My drummer is going to buy an electronic drum set, so I am assuming that with an interface we can record him silently? As the guitarist, what should I do? There is no "Line Out" on my vox.. there are only "extension cabinets" outputs.

Can you guys help me?
Thanks!

Alex

[roach187]

car maybe? i dont know bout guitar recording but i know vocals record great in a car, done it before worked like a charm

[notnews32]

Yeah.. I'm talking more specifically about the guitar and drums.

Any help?

thanks for the vocal tip! =)

[DaveHead36]

Just bypass your amp and record direct. Buy a nice effects pedal and take the output of that and run it into your mixer/recording device. You won't get the real tones of a miked up amp, but the way they make effects pedals these days you can come pretty close. You won't get any quieter than that.

If you're using any kind of computer daw to record your sessions then you could look into programs like amplitube which allow you to pick your head/cab combo, also which mic you want to use, whether you want it miked near or far, off center or on et cetera.

[notnews32]

Thats the thing.. the only "effect" I use on my guitar signal is the natural distortion from the amp and a little reverb. Would I be able to achieve this through plugging the guitar directly into a mixer or interface?

[DaveHead36]

If you go direct it would be a very clean sound. You can distort it by overdriving the gain on the channel (it'll come out sounding like the distorted guitars on Helter Skelter and Revolution... ie almost pure fuzz). Oh and you won't get any verb from going direct.

With most effects pedals you can still have a clean guitar sound. It basically just mimics different amp models. You can add as little or as much distortion as you want. Later on you may decide you want a chorus effect on a song, you'll be set.

Note that amp models on most effects pedals aren't that accurate and you'll really have to sit down and tweak to get the right sounds. But if you're wanting to record quietly, this is probably your best alternative.

[SatanZilla]

GUITAR

With the guitar track, if your amp is too loud to record, there are a number of software options. I don't recommend most effects pedals, as they tend to be noisy and they under compensate specific effects. Modeling software such as NI Guitar Rig, Amplitube or Revalver can really do the trick, but it's difficult to tweak. The great thing about software is that you can record the track completely dry, then tweak the tone after the fact with an effects insert on the track.

BASS

Bass is very similar, but it's much more difficult to mix. You can use amp modelling software on bass guitar as well, but a straight clean track to tape isn't necessarily a bad option either. Be careful mixing bass because it usually requires a bit of compression and a lot of compromised between it and the sound of the kick drum.

DRUMS

Everything recorded on an electric drumkit should be done via MIDI, and then tweaked through software VSTs. If you're unfamiliar with VST Instruments and MIDI recording, I'd be happy to help, but it beats the alternative. The great thing about recording a track with no audio data is that it's endlessly flexible. You can change everything from the tempo of the track, to the feel of the musician playing on the track.

Recording in this day and age is a complicated process. It's a world where the bells and whistles of a solid recording can overshadow the substance of a song. Do everything and do it right, and you'll end up miles ahead of the others

[lestat1600]

if your drummer is gonna get a electronic drumset then it would be fairly easy. just record direct in. all you will need is a digital recorder preferably records 8 tracks at same time. if you cant do this then get a 12 channel mixer and plug it into a recorder that records 2 at a time or into your pc with whatever software your using. do to noise in the dorm though vocals will be the challenge

[notnews32]

dave head:
Would i really get that beatles sound if i plugged in direct and turned the gain up?

I haven't purchased any equipment yet because I want to make sure I talk to you guys first.. I am new to all of this. We usually take my four track cassette player and use one mic for his drums and one for my amp. They come out decent.. but with the noise restrictions it is tough.

satanzilla:
I like i said, i dont know anything about midi or vst's. What programs should i buy that would make all of this easy?

[DaveHead36]

dave head:
Would i really get that beatles sound if i plugged in direct and turned the gain up?



It would be similar. Granted they also compressed and limited the sound as well. The only danger in doing that with a 4 track cassette (if I remember correctly) is that the track will bleed over into the neighboring "tracks". So I recommend recording drums on ch 1 and the guitar on 4. That way only track 3 will be in danger of the bleed through. It's been a while since I played with the cassette recorder so I'm not really positive on this.