The song above is one of my latest compositions that I started on whim one night in October and the ended up adding and almost finishing it last month with my dear friend, Andrew. This is a near finished product. I would love to add drums or more percussion, but that is one of my weaknesses as a musician and something I plan to pursue in the next few years. The process was actually quite comedic in the moments of trying to compile the parts and remember what I was even playing when I wrote the chorus. I couldn’t remember what tuning I had my guitar in and every time we would make a transition it felt like we were changing the key of the song. We finally decided to just go with it.
Andrew ran through the song a few times to experiment with bass lines and when he finally wrote the bass riff for the chorus, I remember being so ecstatic with how it felt to hear it for the first time and then the 50th time. No matter how much I hear that bass line, I love it to death. That is why I love to write music with my friends without some monetizing mission. We love to have fun and celebrate our talents and that is why we enjoy it so much and will never give up on it, which brings me to my next point.
If you play an instrument, your voice included, learn how to record it. Our lives become a snowball as they roll faster and faster with responsibility and life on our shoulders. As we get older life just seems to move so fast and if we have nothing from moments in our life captured its hard to go back and replicate it. Photographs, videos, and even music that we write are fine representation of who we were and how we felt at that time and it is really quite beautiful. There are many many ways to record yourself whether its with a video camera or with a an interface and computer, find a way to record what you write. There are even simpler devices such as field recorders that you can place in the room for a simplistic way of capturing your music.
My Favorite Things That I Use to Record Music
1. Zoom H4n Field Recorder
I love the zoom H4n because not only is it a fantastic universal too for recording many different situations, but the onboard microphones sound fantastic. They just have a clarity that is much desired to me. I love that you can twist the caps on the mics to broaden or restrict the radius at which it pics up sound from. When its set at 120 degrees rather than 90, you can pretty much pick up everything that is in front of it with ease. Its great for capturing a jam session with friends or demoing a song you have been writing quickly either on one stereo track or even record four separate tracks with its multi track recording mode. It’s quite the versatile little device. I even use it as my main audio source for video production as because of the high quality sound, XLR inputs and phantom power to provide me a fix for just about any situation. It’s small, battery powered, and dynamic. The perfect audiophile tool. I have even done many many voices overs with it using a windscreen or popfilter to get extreme clarity without any room noise at a low mic input setting with my mouth about 8 inches from the mic. Just a quick and easy way of getting things done. I love that it uses SD cards and provides easy folder organization when opening the files on the computer. Buttons and interface are very user friendly in my opinion. A must buy for musicians and DSLR video nerds. You can purchase them brand new for less than $250.
Zoom H4n Handy Portable Digital Recorder
2. Kel Song Sparrow Microphone
I was on a hunt for a nice vocal mic that would provide clarity, warmth, and dynamic control for a long time. I was also on a budget, so that is definitely hard to come by. I was able to snag the Kel Song Sparrow for about $350 last year from a seller online. I remember seeing a review of this microphone about a year ago and when I ran across it again, I kept doing my research. I found out that not only is it a superb vocal microphone, but it is also great for drum overhead as well as acoustic guitar. Just a solid microphone that I wanted in my arsenal. All of the tracks in the recording above, except for the bass and electric guitar were recorded using this microphone through the Presonus TubePre V2 and the Presonus 22vsl interface into Logic Pro 9. High quality build with a fantastic case as well. The Kel Audio website is full of demos and reviews of their microphones and really stand behind high quality products. I can’t wait to get a few more Kel microphones in the future. Warm Clarity without worrying about an internal tube. Just a solid deal.
3. Presonus Audiobox 22vsl
One of the main reasons I got this interface was the price. You can grab it for just under $200 and probably cheaper if you buy it used. It is a great little box that gives me everything I need without sacrificing quality. It even comes with some great recording software if you don’t have any already. It’s a basic setup that gets the job done with very low to now latency. Everything you need to record basic songs that don’t require more than a 2 simultaneous mic set ups. Honestly, you could easily do two overhead mics on a drum set with this little guy and I have done it before. Sure you can’t tweak everything to the exact mix that you want, but this is not the optimal interface for recording a full drum set. For the price, can’t beat it and its a great place to start to get into recording music.
PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL (Advanced 2 x 2 USB 2.0 Recording Interface)
4. Presonus TubePre V2
Once I heard the difference for myself, especially with quieter dynamic microphones, I had to get one of these for myself. It’s price is attractive and it makes just about every mic you have a hot one. By hot I mean it will boost the signal such as your vocals or guitar, warm them up a little bit and create a solid sound for you to work with. Its even got a -20db pad, a high pass filter, and a polarity reverse switch for dual microphone situations, which works wonders. You can even direct line any instruments with the 1/4″ input. It also has the cool needle meter to check your levels with for that old school vibe that I love. For under $100 its a tube preamp that you cannot pass up. You could even experiment with using different tubes, which I have not done yet. I have heard mixed reactions about doing that though, but its worth the try some day. I have had great experience in getting thicker, warmer and more excited vocal, guitar, and bass tracks from this preamp. It is worth the small investment to get a nice solid track from the get go.
PreSonus Tubepre Single-Channel Vacuum Tube Mic Pre
5. Stedman Proscreen XL
One of the last things that I find to be a most valuable tool in my arsenal is simple yet effective. The Stedman Proscreen XL has made my recording sessions way easier to deal with. I have used a few different types of pop filters and have even made my own using old stockings and coat hangers from my friend’s mom.(asking his mother was quite the fun conversation haha). No matter what I used, I always managed to get pops in my recordings. I didn’t feel like spending $40 on a pop filter. I thought to myself, “how much better could it possibly be?” To my surprise, it was way better. The Stedman exceeds my expectations and does a great job. If you want to get rid of those nasty pops in your recordings, this is the pop filter for you.
