NationStates Jolt Archive

Heres a studio near where i live:

www.churchroad.net (http://www.churchroad.net)

Any good? Is it worth the money for a small band like us to record?

Anyone?

I guess not....








ANYONE?

Heres a studio near where i live:

www.churchroad.net (http://www.churchroad.net)

Any good? Is it worth the money for a small band like us to record?

Insufficient data.

The key question here is how good the engineer is, not what equipment they have, and whether they are sympathetic to the sound you are trying to create.

What level is your band operating at? - is £25 an hour a vast investment for you or not?

depends also on what kind of output you want from it. if you're just looking for a few tracks for a demo cd or similar, then i'd say you could probably do it yourself for cheaper (don't underestimate how long it takes to record!) as long as you have a decent pc and someone tech-savvy at hand (also means you can spend as long as you like tuning and tweaking your sound, rather than relying on an engineer)
if you want higher quality then maybe you could call the studio and ask for some samples or to come in and have a look around before you part with your cash?

if the DIY method appeals, then i recomend Magix Music Maker Deluxe 2005. costs only about 50 quid (much cheaper than, say, cubase) but does pretty much everything you'll need. get soundforge too and you'll be set. just depends on your soundcard, but these days for a demo it'll probably be good enough :)
some tracks of my mates' band i recorded for them using that software: track 1 (http://www.hlj.me.uk/Audio/Erebus%20song%2024%2707%2705.mp3), track 2 (http://www.hlj.me.uk/Audio/let%20the%20lies%2024%2707%2705.mp3) (they're unfinished btw - no vocals or base, and kinda raw sound)

Maybe things are very different where you are, but £25 sounds so cheap I'm actually a bit suspicious. That comes to about $50 canadian which is in the mid ranges of what one technician makes, here.

Maybe things are very different where you are, but £25 sounds so cheap I'm actually a bit suspicious.

£25/hour is pretty much the going rate for this kind of small studio in the UK.

some tracks of my mates' band i recorded for them using that software: track 1 (http://www.hlj.me.uk/Audio/Erebus%20song%2024%2707%2705.mp3), track 2 (http://www.hlj.me.uk/Audio/let%20the%20lies%2024%2707%2705.mp3) (they're unfinished btw - no vocals or base, and kinda raw sound)

Ouch. You're not kidding when you say they sound kinda raw.*

Are the guitars going through a pod?
What way did you mic the kit?


* the sloppy drumming doesn't help either.

Ouch. You're not kidding when you say they sound kinda raw.*

Are the guitars going through a pod?
What way did you mic the kit?


* the sloppy drumming doesn't help either.
hey, i didn't say it was good, but good enough to pass on as a demo.

the guitars were recorded with some mic. spending some cash could have improved that sound, but also it is literally the 'raw' sound as in they haven't been cleaned up at all - its all just the tracks as laid down... ran out of time to finish or polish it up (only had about 2 days)

and the drums were done by the lead guitarist cos the drummer didn't turn up :rolleyes:
(plus we were high the whole time, so its quite impressive we got anything done at all :p)

If this is your bands first outing with serious recording, dont waste your money.
25 clams doesnt sound like a lot of money, but keep in mind you may not finish everything in that hour.
Often, especially if you have multiple songs, you'll need several hours.

Your best bet would be to invest the money on a digital 8, or 16 track, some condenser mics, and a place to record.

You can record all the stuff you want, over and over again.
There a plenty of package deals you can get that come with mics, and cd-burners built into the recorder, all for about 350 dollars (american).

However, if your considering having a top-notch professional demo, then you'll need an engineer who knows what hes doing, and some good equipment.

Pricey......usually you end up spending about 600-1000 dollars after recording time, mixing, production fees, and buying any copies you may want to distribute.

Again, if this is your first recording experience, just buy a recording machine yourself, and you'll get far more use of it.

DIY can do some great things.

http://www.theblackkeys.com/ (media player on their site)

Most of their stuff is recorded in a basement on an 8 track.

I'm only just starting to get into that game myself, but that's probably what i'll end up doing before I even consider spending money on a professional place.

Thanks but I assure you we have tried countless times doing our own recordings, but they are just so bad that they can't be shown to the public.

Im actually making a studio with my freind in his room, weve got some amps, a digital mixer, condenser mic's, cubase and reason, guitar's etc... but theres a few problems, you can't fit a drum kit in there (or his mum wont allow one in there) so it wont benifit our band. Also there is a lot of backround noise coming from the output of the computer, there is a creative soundcard inside and we are basicly going straight from the line out on that to the amp. I heard a DI box can solve this but it's probably too expensive. Do you no any ways of removing background noise?

Anyways, weve tried so many times to do diy recordings but they are so bad and many of our rival bands have top notch recordings from some cheap studio.

Also there is a lot of backround noise coming from the output of the computer, there is a creative soundcard inside and we are basicly going straight from the line out on that to the amp. I heard a DI box can solve this but it's probably too expensive. Do you no any ways of removing background noise?

A DI box won't help you to solve that problem: they are devices which don't reduce noise as such, but instead convert a signal into a kind which will reject interference. As you already have extraneous nosie at the source that ain't what you need.

I assume you have muted all the sound sources inside the computer that you aren't using for playback (mic in, line in, midi, CD, etc.) - they could be the source of some of your noise.