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Author: Analog on August 06 2008 Viewed 745 times. 15 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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I posted on the forum recently to ask for help in repairing a Casette 4-track I'd borrowed off a mate to do some recordings. Unfortunately it looks like a send-back-to-manufacturer job, so that's that.
But I'd got myself really enthused by rediscovering the joy of 4-track recording. So last night i bought this beastie link on ebay, and now i can't wait to get it cranked up.
Here's some of my ideas to make some interesting analogue recordings for Blood Moon:
1. Side chain compression.
I own a Behringer Composer Pro 2 channel compressor which has side chain inputs that I've never used to its full potential. I'm planning on compressing the rest of the drumkit (recorded on a couple of overhead mics) with the bassdrum. I also have a nasty Tandy stereo 10 band EQ so am going to add Jack sockets to that to use.
2. Mixing down.
All mixing down is going to be done live. Again the compressor can be used for mastering (and the EQ) and i'm excited about adding effects in the mixdown too. I might even record, for example, the bass guitar in direct, then play it back through the amp (LOUD) during mixdown and use the zoom h4's mics to pick it up.; mix the amp-room-reverb as an efrect, mix it in with the clean signal. Or put some stuff through delays, phasers, tube distortion,. whatever to mix in.
3. Mic-ing techniques
I read somewhere recently that you can use a sub speaker as a mic in the bass drum. I really want to try this out. Also I have an acoustic guitar with a mic inside; i might try jamming that up against the guitar stack and recording that as an input. I also really like the mics on the zoom H4 so they will get used quite a lot.
Above all i want to get a thick, interesting, lo-fi sound from our loud drums, LOUD bass, and nasty cutting guitars. I'm so freaking excitied about analogue recording!
So what are your top tips for analogue 4-track recording?
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08/07/08
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Analog
Saturation is the order of the day i think.
I'm a bit confused though as to how to get the tape to saturate without distorting the mixer on the input?
The distortion i've been getting would sound good for some things but too crispy and harsh for others... The 4track i just bought is a different one though so might sound different.
I've just mastered some tracks for a new split ep between Blood Moon and a noise artist from California called Sunken Landscapes. I'm really pleased with the sound we got (just live recordings from the H4 through eq and comp onto tape) and particularly liked changing the levels slightly during the mixdown to emphasise the quet bits. I'll put a link up when it's all ready...
Cheers chaps!
GGGG
08/07/08
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monty
YAY 4-TRACKS
stuff i like to do:
use old tapes from charity shops to record on to: i like the degraded sound, plus you get loads of happy accidents by including chunks of old pop hits. its cheaper as well.
fun with reverse: write tune, work out to play it backwards and overdub a reverse part on top of a normal part. cheesy but v-effective (sometimes)
octave pedals+saturation: very useful for beefing up shitty keyboard demo beats.
I used a fostex X-14 for years. v-basic, but hands on and quick to use. i loved it. but it broke.
(i painted a scottish flag on it, and the paint chipped off eventually and clogged it up)
i picked up a Korg CR-4 link
bout a year ago. very nice. nice built in fx and speakers. its ideal for impromptu jam sessions.
08/08/08
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Analog
might have a dig round some chazzers then for some tapes, sounds like a plan.
Also, i've just bought an octave pedal, nice!
Should get the new 4track today so can't wait to rock it tonight at the studio. I've made the woofer-mic now too so it'll be interesting to see how that sounds. I've got a feeling that it might be a bit too sensitive, but we shall see...
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