Audio Info & Education

There was a time not so long ago that a band or solo artist would have to hire a real-live studio to record anything. Those days are gone, but it doesn’t mean studios are gone and it doesn’t mean recording doesn’t cost anything now. Since many projects might require a combination of home and studio recording, there are still studio fees to think about, and home recording gear isn’t free.

So, here are five ways to save on recording costs, no matter how you go about things.

Personal in-ear monitoring will bring your performance to the next level by giving you a new level of confidence with your monitor system. When you hear what you need to hear with new found clarity, your confidence increases as does your energy and performance level. The audience knows when you're on top. Give them the best night after night, with the help of the EM900 system.

It would be awesome if every show was exactly the same, with the exact same crowd, the exact same backline, the exact same setlist, the exact same…

Actually, no it wouldn’t. Live music would be pretty boring if it were always exactly the same. Luckily it turns out it’s not, and unless you’ve got a weekly gig at the same venue every week, you’ll find yourself in a variety of different venues with a wildly different set up, room, and audience from night to night.

If you don’t already know what re-amping is, it’s simply the act of taking a signal out of your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and running it through a guitar amp and a cabinet, miking the cabinet up and recording the result. Carvin Audio’s V112E Guitar Extension Cab is a good choice for this. This technique is versatile, and you could include any number of processing units in the chain.

That covers the basic what of re-amping. Now let’s talk just a little bit about how and why you would do such a thing.

When it comes to picking your ideal vocal mic, you can read for days about various recommendations, polar patterns, frequency response, mic styles, SPL, response curves, proximity effect, and so on. But since the human voice is so variable, specific recommendations can easily lead you astray.

Instead, we’ll go over the major considerations which will narrow your choices down significantly – and then it’s just a matter of listening.

By now it’s an age-old question: should we track the band together as if we were playing live or should we try to get the cleanest signals and performances possible by tracking separately?

On stage and in the studio, a clean vocal signal is often the determining factor in deciding if things sound great, just ok, or downright bad.