Electric Guitar
Electric Guitar: When recording a guitar you want to mic the amplifier use a Sure SM57, because this has the best frequency response for recording guitar. The position of the microphones is important to the sound that you are trying to achieve. The closer to the centre of the speaker you put the microphone the more bass your sound is going to get. You can also DI the Guitar and then use effects in the program you are using to record to get your desired sound, but the best way to get the sound you want is to use a microphone and use your effects pedals to get the right sound for you guitar. some guitar amplifiers have open back and some of the sound may also come out of the back to the amplifier so you can also use another microphones to capture that sound as well, but you must be careful to get them in phase.
Bass Guitar
Recording bass guitar is a lot like recording electric guitar. You can use a range of microphones to record the bass guitar, like the SM 57 (Shown in pictures).The positioning of the microphone is much like that of the electric guitar, so the closer to the centre of the speaker you place the microphone the more bass it will pick up. You can experiment with the types of microphones that you use to try get a very unique sound, you could try using different types of kick drum microphones for example to get a very original sound. Just like with the electric guitar you can DI the bass guitar, and later when mastering you can use effects to get your desired sound.
When recording a snare drum again you want to use an SM 57 as it has the best frequency response for the snare drum. you can mic the snare drum from both above and below, doing this will give the snare drum a more full sound by recording the source of the snare sound ( the snare drum has strips of wires under the drum to give it its unique sound, when removed it sounds just like another tom). The position of the microphone is key to getting the best possible sound from the drum, you want to position the microphone so its head faces the centre of drum, this is the main zone where the drummer will hit the drum .
Positioning of the microphone when recording a kick drum is important to getting the sound you want. The closer to the beater the mic is placed the less bass will be picked up by the microphone. You want angle the microphone away from the beater (unlike in photo) this will help to not pick up the initial higher pitched hit of the beater, and get the bass sound you are looking for. When mastering the track you do not want to EQ the kick drum track too much this can make it overpower the rest of the drum track.
To get the best stereo spread you want your microphones to be equally separated from each other and be raised to the same hight, you need to point the microphones down at the drum kit. You want to place the left overhead the ride cymbal and floor tom and the right overhead above the crash cymbal. This should make it so that they pick up the entire drum kit when being recorded.
Recording Tom drums is just like recording a snare drum, you want to position the microphone to face the centre of drum that way it picks up the impact zone of the drum when its hit by the drummer.
The microphones should be equally placed over the piano facing down towards the strings. The positioning of the microphones is key to picking up the whole range of the piano, the left microphone picks up the low and mid rage notes and the right microphone picks up the mid and high range notes.
When recording you want to be able to hear exactly what is being recording into the computer, and be able to hear a metronome to keep yourself in time with the track. You should have a headphone amp which is connected to a multi core via an aux connection in to the mixing desk.
You need to set the microphone up to the right hight for your vocalist to get the best sound quality from their vocals. You should always use a pop shield this reduces the over pronunciation of the letters 'P' and 'S'. You need to have a reflection filter to stop the sound of your vocals bouncing off the walls and back into the microphone.
Snare Drum
Kick Drum
Positioning of the microphone when recording a kick drum is important to getting the sound you want. The closer to the beater the mic is placed the less bass will be picked up by the microphone. You want angle the microphone away from the beater (unlike in photo) this will help to not pick up the initial higher pitched hit of the beater, and get the bass sound you are looking for. When mastering the track you do not want to EQ the kick drum track too much this can make it overpower the rest of the drum track.
Overhead Microphones
Tom Drum(s)
Piano Overheads
Monitoring
Vocal Recording
