Conference napalm::heavy_metal

    Here's a few...
               Work in combo with another studio that has different
    gear (ie. 24 track, etc) to interface with the digital 32...both
    could make some bucks that way since you can do some wonderful dubbing
    with the two...for example: LYX Music & Studio, Foster St, Worcester
                                (508) 752-6010
                                Producer Andy Celley (his dad was Duke
                                                      Ellington's mgr)
                                Paul & Bob run the office (Paul's a
                                sax player - big favorite with the
                                Worcester crowds - often plays with
                                Fly Amero band at the Firehouse Cafe
           

    How much would it cost to rent a studio for 3 hours to make 6 songs and
    make 100 duplicates of the 6 songs... Would $600 be enough.. $300 for
    the recording and $300 for the duplicates?
    

    3 hours for 6 songs?!?!?  Good luck! :').  
    
    (PS, why are we in the FNM note....)
    
    Also, most studios don't do dubbing themselves, they usually send the
    tapes out to another company.  Prices vary.  Haven't recorded anything
    in a while, someone else can tell you better, but no way will you EVER
    get 6 songs done in 3 hours.
    
    

    I gotta agree with Rob...  It'll take you 3-6 hours to get the drums set
    up...Unless your not fussy and like your drum tracks to sound like
    trash cans full of broken glass...
    
    Your lookin' at a lot of money.
    
    jc

    
    
    	When we went into an 8 track studio.. it took us roughly 
    	22 hours.. (including mix-down) to do 2 songs. Granted it 
    	was our first time in the studio.. but we did'nt have alot
    	of mistakes..
    
    
    	JW-

    Trashcans in the drums... thats exactly how it sounds like now when I
    record drums on my multitrack.. I lay my only microphone next to the
    bassdrum and record the drums.. Do people normally put effects on the
    drums when the record in a studio? I like the drums sound on Black
    Sabbath's paranoid. I dont like the drums sound in bands like slaughter
    and Poison... Sounds like explosions as snare drums
    

    
    You could always use a drum machine!!!
    
    1) You can program it at home, walk into the studio and plug it in.
       Always right one the first take, perfect time......;^)
    
    2) and you won't have to settle for glass crash sound..
    
                                                         Marko

    
    I'd *only* use a drum machine if all the sounds in it were sampled
    from a *real* drum set.
    
    /prc

    Most of the drum machines available these days have sampled sounds. 
    Some are better then others.  You can easily get one with good samples
    that sounds great for $500 (many times for much less).  The only thing
    that I generally don't like about the drum machine sample sounds is the
    cymbals, they don't have the sustain and dynamics that the real ones
    do.  
    
    What I'd probably do is have the drummer program the drum parts he
    actually  plays into the thing for everything except cymbals and then
    add them later for a more realisic sound.  Best of both worlds.
    
    Greg

	For home studio recording on 4 track (maybe even 8 track)
A drum machine is the *only* way to go. It's nearly impossible to
get a good live drum sound without:

	a. lots of mics

	b. a good room to record in

	In a small studio environment a high quality drum machine
will work much better. Check out the Roland R5. Very realistic 
drums and cymbals.

	The biggest problem with drum machines is that they're not
spontaneous. Great drumming, IMHO is a combination of good solid
timing *and* getting that great roll/fill or whatever. Hard to get
with a drum machine..

I think that for me, the perfect solution would be to have a live drummer,
but to have his drums trigger samples, so you don't have to worry about miking 
the drums, getting the right sounds, sounds bleeding from one mike to the next 
(although mike bleed might be part of the appeal of live drums), etc.

Another advantage is that the drummer's playing can be recorded onto a 
sequencer, and then you can change single notes or cymbal crashes or whatever,
without having to re-do the whole piece! 

Its amazing what technology can do today, and it seems silly not to take 
advantage of some of it! I'm more a believer in straight-ahead, bash-it-out, 
rock and roll than most people in here, but that doesn't mean that I'm tied 
to the past, nor unwilling to use today's technology. It's just a matter of 
using it wisely....

alan

    Ive used drum machines in thet past.. It doesnt have as much energy as
    a real drummer and try doing WAR PIGS on a drum machine..Or a RUSH
    song.. then again the onyl drum machine I have is a BOSS dr. rythem
    

    GOOD STUDIO RECORDINGS!!!
    
    
                 pete,
              Long time no see.
              I dont know if you talked with kirk lately,
              but we (namesake) cut a demo a couple of 
              months ago. It came out beautiful. Well
              the studio is in allston, its called the
              lanes. Its right near bunrattys.
              ******brand new 16 track*********
    
    
                                 your old bassist
                                      gregg
                                 

    This may be a dumb question but...
    
    What's the biggest difference in achieving sound quality between these
    portastudio multitrackers and a full blown studio?  Is it just the
    quality of equipment and number of tracks?
    
    Mike (who's curious)

Both.

More tracks on a bigger/faster tape transport etc...etc...

    More tracks is superfluous!!  A lot of great sounding albums have been
    done on 4, 8, and 16tk equipment!!  The key to a better sound is the
    qualities of the tape:
    
    o bandwidth of tape 
    o quality of tape
    o size of track space
    o equipment used in the A-D-A conversion.
    
    Quite oftem, less-is-more in recording...aka, 16tks will sound better
    than 24, etc.  Just judge the quality of the equipment, basically.

    so what kind of equipment is reasonable/good?  Wall to wall Roland
    processors?  Bryston or Boulder amps?  Yamaha mixers?  Tascam
    recorders?  AKG mics? etc.

Besides the obvious advantage of a larger number of tracks (which means you
don't have to bounce tracks, hence saving additional hiss and allowing more
freedom in the final mixdown), there are several other (probably more 
important advantages of studio vs. home:

  - Outboard equipment - high-quality processors like EQs, reverbs, etc.
  - Professional mikes - Neumman and AKGs for vocals 
  - Room acoustics (if recording anything live)
  - The experience of the engineer/producer - this is what is most valuable, 
    imo, over doing it in your basement. 

And, personal opinion here - I dunno if its documented - I've had a real bitch 
of a time getting any decent bass sounds onto a 4-track. I really think that 
the small area allowed to capture the sound is the reason for this. Especially 
when you start splitting the cassettes into 8 tracks.

alan

    The first Black Sabbath album was done in 10 hours on a 8 track
    

    
    And was recorded fifteen miles away from where I live.
    
    FYI 8*)

    And needless to say is probably better than the last album they did
    which probably took a couple of months and many thousands of dollars.
    
    Joe Strummer - (Who can relate to the potential horrors and
    embarrassment of doing a dodgy demo).
    
    

    
    Everywhere I've seen, you have to have a minimum of 500 made. Costs
    big $$$$. I'ld like to get just 100 made of ours.

    The more copies you have made ,the less the overall $$$ of the copies
    are.

    
    when i was in LA i recall looking at ads for such a thing.  if i
    recall, 500 CD's started at around $3000 or so...
    
    

    I'm pretty sure you can do better then that.  Check the ads in the back
    of Mix for a lot of prices.
    
    gh

>    when i was in LA i recall looking at ads for such a thing.  if i
>    recall, 500 CD's started at around $3000 or so...

That's *wicked* high! You should be able to get 1000 CDs for about $2000-$2500. 
Up to $3000-$3500 if you want nice packaging and all that stuff.

alan

    
    We're going to do CD's definitely, when we get another 5 songs down.

    
    You ended up going to West after all eh Alan?  I always liked the sound
    that came out of there.  I haven't been there in a LONG while but I
    guess it's gotten MUCH better.  I was there with Formicide in midsumm
    a few years ago, 90 out, no fan, no A.  Talk about heat exhaustion. 
    Are all the brothers still there?  I only saw you mention Mike.  How
    are the rooms set up now?  They used to have to the right of the booth,
    one room, with the drum room off of that one and two room behind you. 
    If you were all in one room (except the drummer) they must have changed
    things around since no way you could all squeeze in one of those tiny
    rooms before.
    
    

Hey Rob,

> You ended up going to West after all eh Alan?  

Yeah! I thought I had mentioned it to you (and thanked you for the reference)
in Mutterings, but maybe you don't get to read all of that stuff....

> I haven't been there in a LONG while but I guess it's gotten MUCH better.  
> I was there with Formicide in midsumm a few years ago, 90 out, no fan, no A.  

It was great for us! And yes, they have AC now. (Although we didn't need it,
except towards the end. I can imagine what it must be like in the summer!)

>    Are all the brothers still there?  I only saw you mention Mike.  

They're all involved, but only Mike is there full-time. He was the only one
that was there that day with us.

> How are the rooms set up now?  They used to have to the right of the booth,
> one room, with the drum room off of that one and two room behind you. 

Its still pretty much the same. The drummer was in the far back room. The
room right before that one (the one you have to go through) is now the 
keyboard room, and we were all in there. A little tight, but not too bad.
The guitar amps were in the hallway and in the small closet.

BTW, something I forgot to mention in the last article - the vocals were
recorded with the Nuemman U87A mike. I stood about a foot or so away from
the mike, except on the softer songs, where I stood about 8" from it. 

alan

    
    Ah, I was probably on vacation when you mentioned it.  I came back and
    set seen 2000 notes or so :').  Glad to hear they are still reasonably
    priced and do a good job.  Now I know I can still safely recommend them
    :').
    
    

    NewBury Comics has opened their own Record_Label called"Wicked Disc".
    The first release is"This is Boston,not LA",A reIssue of the Classic
    HardCore Compilation.First time on CD.
    
    The First Band to sign is"MilkMoney"and The CD is Called"Wheelie".
    
    Wicked Disc 
    38 Everett St.
    Allston,MA  02134
    
    
        Crazy_Record_It_Al