Recording

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns address some of the most frequently-asked questions about home studio recording and production. 

What I’m wrestling with here is whether the finished recording should be a document of what it was (via the stereo mic with the narrow stereo image), or the enhanced larger experience with the spaced mics.

Would there be a noticeable difference in recording directly and committing (printing) to a Unison plug‑in, versus recording the vocal dry and afterwards adding the preamp plug‑in as an insert?

When I record guitar in my little ‘studio’ at home, it always sounds kinda noisy. What’s the best way to tackle noise?

I have to record some whispering. The room is not great so I will put the whisperer close to the mic, are there any risks with recording a vocalist very close to a mic?

What is the approximate sound pressure level of a concert grand piano, about 12 inches above the hammers during a triple forte passage — or, in other words, as loud as it could get?

Can I somehow record individual tracks into my DAW using the UA Volt 1, or should I mix on the Tascam?

I want to install permanent ceiling mics that capture the reverb of the room so I can add natural reverb to my mix. Is there any microphone that rejects direct sound?

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the basics of a good home studio setup, including choosing the right equipment and setting up your space correctly to achieve the best recording and mixing results.  

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the best practices for avoiding and eliminating electrical noise interference in your home studio.

I’ll soon record a sludge‑metal band and I need some advice. Any techniques for making the guitars sound sufficiently wide in the mix?

In the first of this two-part series, David Mellor gives us an introduction to mic polar patterns.

A valuable test for recording engineers, David Mellor gives examples of different mic types to emphasise the importance of knowing your mic collection in detail.

I want to record some vinyl into my DAW, could a turntable simply be plugged into any audio interface and the EQ applied after amplification?

In the final part of this series, Rob Toulson focuses on mic techniques for recording drums and talks us through the issue of frequency cancellation in a multiple mic setup, details how to choose the recording sweet spot in a room and explains the various stereo mic options that are available including the famous Glyn Johns technique.

Rob Toulson explains how to optimise the drum sound for recording by experimenting with drum head, damping system, tuning and drum shell combinations.

In Part 1, we look at the key principles of drum acoustics and discuss some scientific aspects of drums with respect to making music and creative recording projects.

Recently I had to record a Japanese taiko drum ensemble, but I got a fair bit of distortion even though my recording levels never reached 0dBFS. Why was I getting this distortion/compression?

These gadgets might not be the most glamorous devices, but at some point in your recording adventures you’ll probably find you need each and every one.

Mix engineers used to prefer hardware to software because it sounded better. Is that still true? And if not, is there still a reason to use it?

I’m seeing a lot of conflicting advice about using compression while recording. Some swear by it while others say it’s completely unnecessary with 24‑bit recording and modern converters. Where do you stand on this?