Snares Kicks What is the best hardware/equipment/software for recording Death Metal?
I am in a deathcore group and I'm interested in pursuing a career in audio recording. Needless to say, we scream for vocals and use low-tuned 7 string guitars, and have crazy fast double-kick and snare on drums.
I'm curious as to what professional studios use to record metal professionally.
So I would like to hear from some pros out there, what would you recommend to buy, both equipment-wise and software-wise?
For me, the ideal setup would be an audio interface with at 16 mic ins, a couple of SM57's and SM58's, at least one pair of "shotgun" condenser mics for drum overheads, a kick mic, and a couple of condenser mics for vocals and doubling some of the dynamic mics for guitar and possibly bass, if the bass isn't going DI. It's preferable to have a nice DAW with some onboard compression, parametric EQ, and routing capabilities instead of just a mixer, and its best to have this all be digital so it can go straight into the computer.
The best software I've used is Samplicity, it's so much better than Pro Tools that it makes me cry to think of how much people are stuck on Pro Tools.
Beyond that, a nice pair of studio monitors, a studio reference power amp for them, a DAC rack effect to interface between the computer and the power amp, a half-dozen studio headphones... some DI boxes, a few power supplies (preferably the nice ones that actually reconstruct the power coming in so it's absolutely 100% clean), a few mixers to manage the headphones, and whatever acoustic treatments are necessary to make the room as flat as possible.
And of course cables and junk. I don't do Monster, they're overpriced POS's. Livewires or whatever - as long as its relatively low capacitance it doesn't matter too much.
I'm not a fan of mic'ing every part of the drums... I like two overheads, a mic on the kick and a mic on the hi-hat, and a stereo xy ambient mic set up at the rice place in the room for some subtle room sound isn't a bad idea.
I've copped this sound with a 2-in relatively cheap audio interface and cheap/free software. As long as the mic's are halfway decent in terms of frequency response and low-noise (must be low noise!) you can still get pretty good results.... but you *have* to record in complete isolation for the best results, period! This is really tough for some people, but learning how to play to a recording makes you a better musician. I've gotten very decent results from doing this in a home recording environment, with a two condensers only for a drum kit (overheads, and using drum trigger software to layer kick and snare samples to fill out the sound), and usually a combination of a dynamic mic and condenser mic for everything else, and blending the results as needed.
For vocals, a quality mic is the most important aspect of capturing a good performance, from the technical perspective. There is simply no substitute for a good take with good equipment in general, but x10 for vocals.
Personally, I use Reaper for my software needs, and download VSTs and vst bundles as needed.
There is a plethora of different techniques, plugins, and whatnot to properly mix and master a band, and many are specific to different genres... metal has its own roster of tips and tricks and experiences that help inform the recording engineer of how to get the best results.
If you're going to go into the studio, find a studio that knows how to record hard rock/metal. It may cost you a bit more, but the results are completely worth it - someone who is used to recording bluegrass or something like that won't have a flippin' clue how to properly capture the sound of a detuned 7-string guitar! (I speak from tragic personal experience, sadly to say)
What are some easy songs to play on a 5-piece drum set?
I have a 5-piece drum set and I try to find songs that are easy to play with it, but most of the time i find songs that require quite a bit of extra equipment. If you could help me out that would be great. I would like to know where I can find great tabs and some easy songs to play. My set includes: snare; two toms; kick/bass; and a crash. Thanks for helping.
I'm not sure what type of songs you want to play, but I began playing in the 90's. Grunge music is fairly easy to play, and the arrangements are pretty much strictly verse chorus verse. Try Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains. Vic Firth's official site has play-along drum tracks you can download that have the drums removed. Pretty cool. Drum tabs are becoming more popular. There are a couple good sites, I've found. Most notably ttabs and mxtabs. Sources below.
