Band room recording

G-Man

Hi guys

Ok, so I'm practicing in a band now, it's really heavily distorted metal and punk type stuff, and the band has some originals that I'm trying to learn. Instead of wasting too much of their time during practice having to teach me the songs, is there any way that I can use my cellphone to record the songs so that I can take them home and try work out the rythym parts in my spare time? It will also help with my timings for the other songs that they do as the drumming is way faster than the originals that we cover.

The problem is that there are 3 140w amps blasting at nearly full volume in a relatively small space, the recordings that I have tried previously seem to nail the compression of the recording device, resulting in "noise". How best can I acheive an audiable recording? It just needs to be able to capture the drums really, I think?

Any help would be appreciated!!

vic

Hope you're wearing earplugs ? ?

Try putting the cellphone just outside the room (with closed door)

G-Man

Thanks Vic, it also just occured to me that I could maybe wrap it up in a towel or something as well, the setup of the practice area doesn't really allow me to leave my phone outside, it might get nicked while we're busy. But if someone is around I'll give that a bash.

Thanks!

G-Man

Vic wrote: Hope you're wearing earplugs ? ?

I might have to invest in a set, I was a little deaf in my left ear after last weeks practice, I'm right next to the drummer. ?

vic

True....drums and cymbals are very bad for the ears

Averatu

And have you mentioned who the band is yet?

+1 ear plugs. A friend just informed me he has substantial hearing loss due to 'forgetting' his ear plugs.

Averatu

Old tape deck, the big brick, digg one out of your dads store room.

symbolofmylife

Get Guitar Pro.

Then, get the writer to tab the song in guitar pro. He can add drums, bass, guitars....whatever....

I dont want to plug the software but from my experience Guitar Pro is the easiest way to write your music and give it to other to open up and play off the bat, as it shows tabs and standard notation, but you can also play the file to hear what it sounds like.

G-Man

Yeah that totally didn't work, lol, it was waaay too loud for my phone to handle. (I even stuck prestik in the mics, it was too much.)

symbolofmylife wrote: Get Guitar Pro.

As for the tabbing, that's not a bad idea, however everyone else seems to have learned "on the trot" as it were, so me asking them to tab everything out might come across as me being lazy (worth a try though ?)

Averatu wrote: Old tape deck, the big brick, digg one out of your dads store room.

.

The only thing I still own with a tape deck that looks like it still works is my old Akai turntable / tape deck combo, it's bigger than a big brick though!

I'll think of something...

symbolofmylife

G-Man wrote: Yeah that totally didn't work, lol, it was waaay too loud for my phone to handle. (I even stuck prestik in the mics, it was too much.)

symbolofmylife wrote: Get Guitar Pro.
As for the tabbing, that's not a bad idea, however everyone else seems to have learned "on the trot" as it were, so me asking them to tab everything out might come across as me being lazy (worth a try though ?)

Well in my previous band that's how we worked. New material will be tabbed and laid out in guitar pro and sent off to all. Then everyone can learn it independently, and we'd fine tune when we get together. Worked like a charm.

It was also a good platform to use when either of us got stuck on a song...send it off to the other guitarist to add things...nice

It's also made recording a bit easier as most DAW's nowadays can work with midi....so once the guitar pro file's good and done you export it as midi and import it into your DAW of choice. Then everything is in there, including possible tempo changes and the like. All that's required is to record the parts.

ezietsman

Here's an idea: Turn the amps WAY down. No need to always play that loudly, esp at practise/rehearsals. Cellphones will never record stuff properly, you may need to get something else that can handle the sound pressure better (even if you turn down).

exsanguinator

nah,sure it'll work,just be creative,use a shoe box,fill it up with cotton wool,sweaty tshirts etc etc
and youll need to check it after every song,to make sure the location is right and what instrument you want to copy and learn.
It will take awhile
once you have the location sorted,record all the stuff at will

SnapcaseZA

I had the EXACT problem. My band needed to record the instrumental track so that vocals could be put over. It didn't need to be great, just be able to listen to the song and have enough tone to recognise the different parts.

We tried a few cellphones....in a pillow....outside...in a car outside the practice room. And it still was horrible!

I then just took along my laptop (has a mic onboard), and used the built in sound recorder. I could turn the gain down on the mic and it actually works like a charm. Its not great, but you can hear everything, guitars, bass and drums. Unbelievable for what it is. You could also use your line-in on your laptop/PC, and an output from a mixer.

Thats 3 amps blasting, and a drummer who doesn't play softly.

Averatu

Tab is ghey. Most younger musos have no ears, they rely on tab. As Guthrie explained at the workshop, developing your ear is the best way to learn to translate the song in your head onto your axe.

charleshaupt

Memorize the melody and harmony parts of the song,and build your own platform from there..