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i need help recording with audacity

meisdead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 5:17 PM we are currently recording just guitar and bass and when we record we stick a computer microphone next to the amp and record and the band was wondering how we can make it sound better either through audacity and/or positioning of eqipment.
meisdead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 5:39 PM i'll tell you a little bit about our sound so that you can get a good understanding. Metal but not overly distorted like some metal bands. We like Pantera's sound if that helps any.
Grateguy	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 6:14 PM Need help with equalizer/compressing to help give a better, more professional sounding recording..
BedroomSessions	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 7:16 PM get an extra lead and run it from the line-out into the line-in on the computer, and make sure sound levels are low enough to avoid clipping. add several tracks of the same thing together for a fuller sound if using a computer programme such as cubase. same goes for bass.
meisdead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 7:23 PM uh by lead do you mean cord?lol
meisdead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 7:24 PM and would line out be same as speaker on an amp?
woodhead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 8:06 PM well to get that big guitar sound you can layer it, not just copy it but layer it, record it once on a track, then record it again on a diffrent track. This will give your guitar a big sound. Also when recording your guitar it is nice to find the sweet spot on the cab this is done by moving the mic around the cab. For bass I would bring it in through a line in, this is going to give you better freq response, but also remeber that you need to give the guitar , bass and kick room to breath when mixing down, so what I do for better control if record everything flat in the mix and then eq if need be during the mix down. and for drums, if you can get the kick, and snare on thier own tracks, then toms on a track, and cymbals on a track you will better control over them. I like to put drums on 6 to seven tracks if possible. When you get done recording I like to use compressor for each track, some time a little some times more depending on your situation, oh and the most imprtant thing is to not record effects on your track if at all possible, add the effects in at the end. YOu cant remove the effect if it is on the recorded track.
woodhead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 8:09 PM P.S. check in to getting a mic and board, you will have better sounding recordings for sure, you can get a berringer board for around 70, for you computer and buy used mics if need be, a computer mic is not going to give you the full response you may be looking for.
meisdead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 8:11 PM and would line out be same as speaker on an amp?
woodhead	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 9:07 PM no it would not, sorry about that I saw ytou post this earlier, you do not want to use your speaker out for a line out you would probably fry some thing. On your amp you should see a line out jack, or a balanced plug out this is your line out and is a low level out that is used to bring amps in to a mixing console. most amps have these, some do not, what amp are you using? As for bass plug it in directly to the board no amp, just the bass.
ronnie04	Date: June 25, 2004 @ 10:14 PM that could be cool... sending so many wattts of power to your line in on tth computer.. unless you can afford another computer.. i wouldnt do it.. but might be cool for the video..
pog	Date: June 26, 2004 @ 9:49 AM lol@ronnie a few things to add to woodheads post... as far as I know, dimebag from pantera uses transistor amps, with distortion effects, as opposed to tube amps. I am about 85% certain of this because I am a transistor amp player myself, though don't quote me on this, it could be something I read that was incorrect. Also, it's worth knowing that with speakers and microphones, you get an added 3db of bottom end for every adjacent surface... so if you put a microphone on the floor, or against a wall, you will get an extra 3 db... if you put it in a corner of a room, you will get an extra 9db of bass ! (this is handy to know when working with underpowered p.a.'s as well.... if they aren't loud enough when playing live, you can put the speakers in the corner against the wall, and turn the bass down a bit to get more power out of the unit) Like these lads say... it's better to use less effects on a recording and add them in later, and if possible, record the band as a whole unit, then have each member come back and re-record each part along to this with headphones, one at a time... it will give you more control with the mix. Good luck with it, and happy moshin'
woodhead	Date: June 26, 2004 @ 5:31 PM well put pog on the scratch tracks
weeman0o8	Date: June 26, 2004 @ 7:16 PM i also use audacity and heres a way you can make it sound better. i know you said without gettin new equipment, but if you bought a processor for you guitar, even a cheap one, you could run that between your guitar and computer and the sound is so much better than using a mic. in my opinion. just a suggestion...
Grateguy	Date: June 26, 2004 @ 11:24 PM We basically just want to know how to use the compressor, normalizer, and equalizer, stuff like that that will give a better sound.
pog	Date: June 27, 2004 @ 12:12 AM I posted some mixing tips recently here http://www.dmusic.com/forum/vocals/10921
Grateguy	Date: June 27, 2004 @ 8:17 PM
pog	Date: June 27, 2004 @ 9:37 PM Go to www.dbpoweramp.com and get their free music converter... it comes bundled with the lame mp3 codec. It should fix the issue, and if it doesn't, then you still have the option to save the mixdown as a wav, then use the music converter to make that wav file into an mp3.
ronnie04	Date: June 28, 2004 @ 4:36 AM yes poggy Dimebag uses Randall 300 watt solid state(transistors) amps... man i would love to ahve the two 15 inch Jaguar cabinet...
hueseph	Date: July 4, 2004 @ 5:44 PM Bottom line is if you want decent sound you're going to have to invest at the very least in a small mixer and some cheap mics and cables. All of which Behringer makes good ones. You could probably get everything you need to achieve a reasonable sound for about $200.00 cdn so that's about $150.00 us. Short of getting a proper a-d/d-a converter and pci interface card, there is little else you can do to get decent sound out of your standard sound card. Most soundcards even the soundblaster audigy's have very poor headroom, so you will run into unwanted distortion problems unavoidably.
meisdead	Date: July 6, 2004 @ 12:23 AM thx all if there are any more tips anybody has they are,of course, welcome.
thedarkaeons	Date: July 6, 2004 @ 11:28 AM We've found a good combination is a tube preamp and a solid state amp. But it all depends on the sound you want. If you want a smoother, warmer sound, then tubes are the way to go. But no hardware or software is going to save your recording if you don't have experience and an ear for sound. Anyway here's what we did on our latest album "Digress & Descension", if it's any help - we recorded everything ourselves on our computers using Cakewalk Plasma, Cool Edit 2000 and mastered with T-Racks. I have a 1.3 Duron I built myself and a Echo Darla (the old 20 bit version). The guitar was a Epiphany Les Paul recorded through a mic'd (Shure SM57) 1x12 open back cab we built and an old ass Peavy head. The bass was an Aria Pro II 5 string recorded through a mic'd Peavy TKO 75 combo. The vocals were all recorded with a Shure SM58 and dbx Project 1 compressor and into a crappy old Yamaha MC1202 mixer (then into the computer). The drum tracks were assembled manually, sample by sample (no MIDI) in Cakewalk Plasma. Me and my bro produced it ourselves so we didn't have anyone to argue with - well, except each other. Listen to the results here: http://thedarkaeons.dmusic.com

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