- Microphone positioning
The positioning of microphones have a huge impact on recording. If they’re not positioned right they can make the instrument thats being recorded sound horrendous.Different instruments require different types of microphones and different positions. The microphones on the drum should be aiming for the middle of the piece of the drum. The guitar amp microphones is set on the right or left side of the amp because they are meant to be facing the speakers of the amp. The hardest instrument to mic up are the drums because you have to worry about spills and be very precise with the positioning.
- Microphone choice
Different instruments require different microphones because they have different frequencies to catch and each mic is designed to catch different frequencies. For example vocalists usually use condenser mics because they give a very clear sound and very high quality audio.
- Using a mixing desk or soundcard
Learning how to use the mixing desk is fairly easy once you know where everything is then it all comes down to what you like to do. It can be a bit complicated if you don’t have experience with a mixing desk. It’s like the brain it controls everything.
- Using software (DAWs) – what are they?
DAWs are production softwares that play a major role in producing. They are used to edit and mix the final product thats recorded in the studio. I like to think that there are no limits once you get familiar with the software. They have so many different sounds which can be further edited and turned into a new sound. There are a lot of production softwares out there for example logicproX, ableton etc. Ive personally have only used logic which suites me because im a beginner and it has a very user friendly interface which means its not hard to get used to.
- The difference between live recordings and multi-track recordings
LIVE RECORDING:
While recording instruments live you have to worry about mic’ing the instruments up properly and it can be very time consuming. You also have to worry bout the spills and other unwanted noises which are usually caused by the mics not being set up properly.
Multi-track Recording:
Multi track recording is more efficient because you don’t have to worry about mics etc, You just plug the instrument in and play. You don’t have to worry about spills or other noises and it’s more clearer than Live recording.
I personally prefer Multi track recording because it saves time and is comparatively easier, It gives you a clearer/sharper sound and the spills don’t annoy, because there aren’t any.