Hi, i've been reading the group here for about 6 months and this is my
first post. I'm a student at Mesa Community College in mesa, az where
i'm going to be doing a couple recordings for my recording classes
there. I'm going to be recording my own band and another band. Both
are rock bands and my goal is to put out something better than some of
crap that I think local bands are paying project studios to put out
around here. Maybe its too ambitious, but our studio has the equipment
to pull it off, if I do my job well enough.

So here's my question:
I'm trying to decide what preamps to use on what instruments. I may
not have time to audition different pre's on sources as I only have 6
hours for the session. Our console is an SSL E series broadcast
console so we've got pretty decent pre's in the board. I also have
access to 2 outboard pre's. We have a pair of Daking pre's and eq's
and a pair of Millenia Media pre's. i've read up on all previous posts
on these pre's to get an idea of what to use. So far, I plan to use
the Daking pre's for kick and snare, and possibly electric guitars.
I've read that the Millenia Media is very transparent which would make
it ideal for overheads and any accoustic instruments? not too sure on
that....i dont know what to use on bass guitar or vocals?

some info on the bass and vox:

bass will be a music man bass that will be taken direct and possibly
miced through an amp. i think the best amp that i could get my hands
on is a 100 watt ampeg combo with a single 15 in it. its the basic amp
thats like $500 at GC. cant remember the number. dont know if this
will really help me out more than the direct sound.

vox will be loud aggressive male vocals. mic will most likely be a
TLM103, possibly a U89. consensus around the studio is that the TLM103
sounds much better for vocals but i've not compared them myself. i
plan to before tracking.

so, are my plans good? which pre's would you use on what? there's also
a chance that i could have access to an API 312 pre. i think thats the
right number. it's in our 2nd studio and the patch bay isnt wired up
right yet so i cant use it now but maybe i could at a later date for
vocals. the only problem is that i wont have access to the TLM103 and
will be forced to use the U89 if i go to the other studio. if the API
is a clear winner over the others for vocals this could be an option
that would also give me a little extra time to get the vocals right
since i have to do a second project in that studio anyways.

sorry for the long post. help me out guys, i know you know your ****.


thanks
jake

With the limited time you have for this session, and considering the
high quality of the gear that you have on hand, I would spend less
time worrying too much about which mic pre to use, and more worrying
about mic choice and mic placement. You might try auditioning a dynamc
mic for the vocals, sometimes they can give better results than a
condensor.

Oh yeah, and if at all possible, do some pre-production work with the
performers, especially if they are inexperienced in the studio... this
would probably do more to improve the results than which mic pre you
pick.

Al

On 9 Feb 2005 13:13:51 -0800, "Jake Saliba"
wrote:

Hi, i've been reading the group here for about 6 months and this is my
first post. I'm a student at Mesa Community College in mesa, az where
i'm going to be doing a couple recordings for my recording classes
there. I'm going to be recording my own band and another band. Both
are rock bands and my goal is to put out something better than some of
crap that I think local bands are paying project studios to put out
around here. Maybe its too ambitious, but our studio has the equipment
to pull it off, if I do my job well enough.

So here's my question:
I'm trying to decide what preamps to use on what instruments. I may
not have time to audition different pre's on sources as I only have 6
hours for the session. Our console is an SSL E series broadcast
console so we've got pretty decent pre's in the board. I also have
access to 2 outboard pre's. We have a pair of Daking pre's and eq's
and a pair of Millenia Media pre's. i've read up on all previous posts
on these pre's to get an idea of what to use. So far, I plan to use
the Daking pre's for kick and snare, and possibly electric guitars.
I've read that the Millenia Media is very transparent which would make
it ideal for overheads and any accoustic instruments? not too sure on
that....i dont know what to use on bass guitar or vocals?

some info on the bass and vox:

bass will be a music man bass that will be taken direct and possibly
miced through an amp. i think the best amp that i could get my hands
on is a 100 watt ampeg combo with a single 15 in it. its the basic amp
thats like $500 at GC. cant remember the number. dont know if this
will really help me out more than the direct sound.

vox will be loud aggressive male vocals. mic will most likely be a
TLM103, possibly a U89. consensus around the studio is that the TLM103
sounds much better for vocals but i've not compared them myself. i
plan to before tracking.

so, are my plans good? which pre's would you use on what? there's also
a chance that i could have access to an API 312 pre. i think thats the
right number. it's in our 2nd studio and the patch bay isnt wired up
right yet so i cant use it now but maybe i could at a later date for
vocals. the only problem is that i wont have access to the TLM103 and
will be forced to use the U89 if i go to the other studio. if the API
is a clear winner over the others for vocals this could be an option
that would also give me a little extra time to get the vocals right
since i have to do a second project in that studio anyways.

sorry for the long post. help me out guys, i know you know your ****.


thanks
jake

Use the SSL preamps. Don't touch any of the outboard stuff. Get a sense
of what the console preamps sound like before you even worry about the rest
of it. You're going to have enough of a time selecting microphones and getting
mike placement right, so don't worry about anything beyond that. Just stick
with the console preamps and save yourself some time in the process. They
might not be the best, but they'll be serviceable on everything.

And stop worrying so much. Have a cup of tea and listen to the band play.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

yeah i was planning on taking most of my time dealing with mic choice
and placement. actually probably most of it will just be making sure
that the performance is up to par. thats why i was asking you guys
about the pres. i wasnt going to have time to compare them to
eachother during the session. too much time doing all the other stuff.
i should clarify, i cant use the API for anything but vocals because
its in a separate studio. that studio has API pres but it doesnt have
the beautiful sounding enormous room that i'll be using for the drums,
guitars, etc. yes, i know i'm spoiled. i'm probably obsessing a bit
but hey i only get one chance to record my project all semester. as
for the suggestion to use the SM7 or a dynamic, even considering the
style, i love the detail of the condenser on vocals. also, i used an
RE20 on my vocals last time (i'm the singer) and it just didnt seem to
fit in the mix the way i wanted to. too tubby on my low notes, and for
some reason i dont understand, that particular mic picks up every
single ess i put out even with a pop filter.

"Jake Saliba" wrote in message
oups.com...
yeah i was planning on taking most of my time dealing with mic choice
and placement. actually probably most of it will just be making sure
that the performance is up to par. thats why i was asking you guys
about the pres. i wasnt going to have time to compare them to
eachother during the session. too much time doing all the other stuff.
i should clarify, i cant use the API for anything but vocals because
its in a separate studio. that studio has API pres but it doesnt have
the beautiful sounding enormous room that i'll be using for the drums,
guitars, etc. yes, i know i'm spoiled. i'm probably obsessing a bit
but hey i only get one chance to record my project all semester. as
for the suggestion to use the SM7 or a dynamic, even considering the
style, i love the detail of the condenser on vocals. also, i used an
RE20 on my vocals last time (i'm the singer) and it just didnt seem to
fit in the mix the way i wanted to. too tubby on my low notes, and for
some reason i dont understand, that particular mic picks up every
single ess i put out even with a pop filter.

A good pop filter won't affect esses. The reason the RE20 picks them up so
well is that it has a peak up top that's right in some people's sibilant
range. If you're one of them, I'd give first look at the U-89 for your
voice. Also try singing a few degrees off-axis.

Peace,
Paul