K.I.S.S. - Keep It Stupid Simple

Heeeeeyyyyyyy, it’s my first blog post! Cool, thanks for being here.

This first post is specifically for home recording artists and people just starting out at the home recording game. I guess more experienced folks can hang out, too. I hope it’ll have something for everyone, but I make no promises.

Anywho, most of the artists and musicians I work with these days record themselves; that’s just the way it’s been for many, many years now. They want to write a song, record it, and put it out into the world without a studio draining their bank accounts and racking up credit card debt. With decent gear being affordable and very capable software being free/cheap, it’s hard to convince an artist with an ounce of DIY work ethic to spend money. 

Believe me, I know. I am also that person.

So for all you DIYers out there, here’s my advice: Keep It Stupid Simple.

2 mics on a guitar cab is usually 1 mic too many

I guess I can take the time to explain that a little more. You see, professional audio engineers - professional any occupation - do their job 40+ hours a week for 52 weeks a year for many years. That experience, that know-how, that problem solving they have simply cannot be matched by the time you spend recording your own songs by yourself in a bedroom once a month. 

Since you’re unlikely to have the developed skillset of someone a decade or more into the job, save yourself a headache by not complicating things.

The simplest thing you can do when recording is using one microphone for one sound source.  

Recording an acoustic guitar? One mic positioned appropriately.

Recording electric guitar? One mic positioned appropriately.

I’m guilty of using too many mics when recording, too. The mute and delete buttons are my friends.

Drums? One mic per drum, stereo mic to capture the cymbals.

Bass? DI. Who even mics up a bass? COME ON!

I do want to make it clear that I actually really love complicated mic setups when the engineer has a clear vision for what they’re doing. That’s not usually the work I get in to mix,

though. 90% of the time when I get a double mic’d guitar there’s no rhyme or reason for it AND there is usually a phase issue. I just pick my favorite and delete the other. No one’s been mad about it yet.

This also applies to layers!!

You probably don’t need to record every guitar part twice. You probably don’t need to triple up every background vocal. You don’t need to test the claim that your DAW has unlimited tracks just because you have the time.

Last thing: listen to your sounds after you record them. If the sound isn’t working for you then change something and record again. Most of the time it’s something to do with mic placement and moving it an inch can do the trick.

Don’t record and then immediately slap on an EQ or other plugin. Get the sound as close to right at the mic and into your DAW. When it comes time to mixing, that is going to save you or me or whoever a lot of frustration. 

Your job as an artist is to be the artist. Keep the engineering part stupid simple.

-Alex