To all you recording experts, any advice to record youngsters?
who's_pearljam?
Posts: 2,104
So I finally decided to get into the digital world! 
I have a little house I bought a block and a half down the street from my house in the city, and it was so disgusting inside that I had it gutted, and a lot of bad things happened there, so it’s a blank slate to work with and I want to give it and the block a new life.
I live in an edgy but very cool area, and a lot of kids around here have no dads, rough upbringings and nowhere to go or nothing to do but get involved in the drug trade, but I hear some great talent, so I decided to make my house into a safe and comfy place to get kids in and record them and give them a space to create and be themselves.
I think it would be a good way to give back, as guitars and music were my living for a long time, and I’d like to help out here in my city.
I think I need two things:
Something that I can use to record on the spot, because I AM working with 6 to 12 year old kids, and you never know when something will happen. This would be either on the street, or in the a park where kids are doing mostly hip hop.
1) I’m thinking a little digital mp3 recorder like people use to bootleg concerts, so if you recording engineers and tapers know of anything easy and quick to use, I’d appreciate it! Preferably small and no major effects or menus or options that I can never find!
The other thing is the fixed studio in the house.
It ain’t the greatest of neighborhoods, so I don’t want to go too expensive, but I probably need a reasonable mixer and some mikes for recording voices, as that’s what most of the music is.
Little kids’ voices! Not baritone like Eddie V or me!
I think I’m going with an Apple Laptop and Protools to hold the music, as that’s the industry standard these days, and I have friends that can work that stuff, although they’re always on tour with someone.
So if you have any ideas on good mikes for this, mixer, etc, and I guess a way to get into the computer.
There might be anywhere from 1 to 10 kids. If there’re 10 kids in the room, I’ll have to mike the room. I’ll get some drums and instruments in there to play with, too.
Of course, I guess I have to put some walls and electricity and plumbing and heat and a/c in there, too!
Thanks to all you recording experts!!
I know my guitars and amps, but I never did fool around with recording too much in my life.
Thanks,
Bob
I have a little house I bought a block and a half down the street from my house in the city, and it was so disgusting inside that I had it gutted, and a lot of bad things happened there, so it’s a blank slate to work with and I want to give it and the block a new life.
I live in an edgy but very cool area, and a lot of kids around here have no dads, rough upbringings and nowhere to go or nothing to do but get involved in the drug trade, but I hear some great talent, so I decided to make my house into a safe and comfy place to get kids in and record them and give them a space to create and be themselves.
I think it would be a good way to give back, as guitars and music were my living for a long time, and I’d like to help out here in my city.
I think I need two things:
Something that I can use to record on the spot, because I AM working with 6 to 12 year old kids, and you never know when something will happen. This would be either on the street, or in the a park where kids are doing mostly hip hop.
1) I’m thinking a little digital mp3 recorder like people use to bootleg concerts, so if you recording engineers and tapers know of anything easy and quick to use, I’d appreciate it! Preferably small and no major effects or menus or options that I can never find!
The other thing is the fixed studio in the house.
It ain’t the greatest of neighborhoods, so I don’t want to go too expensive, but I probably need a reasonable mixer and some mikes for recording voices, as that’s what most of the music is.
Little kids’ voices! Not baritone like Eddie V or me!
I think I’m going with an Apple Laptop and Protools to hold the music, as that’s the industry standard these days, and I have friends that can work that stuff, although they’re always on tour with someone.
So if you have any ideas on good mikes for this, mixer, etc, and I guess a way to get into the computer.
There might be anywhere from 1 to 10 kids. If there’re 10 kids in the room, I’ll have to mike the room. I’ll get some drums and instruments in there to play with, too.
Of course, I guess I have to put some walls and electricity and plumbing and heat and a/c in there, too!
Thanks to all you recording experts!!
I know my guitars and amps, but I never did fool around with recording too much in my life.
Thanks,
Bob
Be kind, man
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
It's happening!!!
I can ask around for you brother.
I am soo excited....I have tears of joy!!!!
I am going to ask the "experts."
I had goosebumps the first time i heard of this idea.....and now, its actually happening. this calls for celebration!!!....lets figure out the digi stuff first.
Love you
-R
All of these youngsters....their lives being changed by music....too precious. too precious indeed.
I am going to see if i can post on myspace if thats ok with you. other than that, i will ask a few friends. I should be getting back to you sometime this week, if thats ok.
God bless.
MUAH!
edit: sorry, can't help you on the recording stuff. Somebody get mig on the bat-phone!!
What a wonderful thing you are doing! That is a great use of that house!!!! I am so excitied about this!
I'm no pro, but only an amateur recorder, well, ok, not even an amateur, a beginner! I use ProTools, and love it. I have a Digidesign M-Box that goes into the computer. It has two inputs....I don't know if that is enough for you or if you need more. The one I have you can plug two mics or instruments in at one time. The mixer is in ProTools and you can create a master fader, and as many tracks as your computer can handle! The M-Box I got was about $300 off of E-bay. I think you can up grade to a better version of the M-Box if you need more inputs.
For my amateur recording, it has worked well. I have a Shure 57 mic.....It is a dynamic mic, and if I had to do it over again, I'd spend the extra dough on a condensor mic because it is more sensitive. The M-Box has phantom power to power the mics though, so you don't need a pre-amp or anything.
That is so cool. There must be a special place in heaven for you.
I'm thinking a bit more than the Mbox, because if there are a few people singing, I'll need to have separate inputs for them, up to a point.
Working with kids, you have to be quick, and a lot of those things happen spontaneously, so they can be a "one take" thing, and the Mbox only has a couple of inputs.
I have a bunch of Shure 57's and 58's around, but for vocals farther away, I'll need different mikes, I believe.
I'm thinking a mixer with 8 + inputs? By the time I do that, I might as well go with more. Ha,,, well, the way I go, I'll have something like this:
http://www.mikebeck.us/images/mbcdsessions/020815/DSC00527-pp.jpg
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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http://digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=35&itemid=4901
http://digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=28&itemid=4779&action=news_details
an m-box is great for a single person studio but not for anything more since it's only capable of inputing two tracks at a time.
however, protools LE is more than enough for the actual recording. i love it.
just need a good computer, a good interface and the software.
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=9651226c4dacf85d4d6a5377d29c4eb5
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.protools_compatible
Yeah, it sounds like you will need at least 8 inputs.....I'll ask a friend of mine who is a pro sound guy what he thinks. He has a MOTU with about 8 inputs. He does not use ProTools though....he uses something else.
I agree with you on the mics....it sounds like you will need a good condesnor mic is what you need. You could always splurge on a Neumann!
This is just the greatest thing I've ever read! I wish you well and thank you for being you!
You never stop giving back to the world....we are the lucky ones!
oxc
*May the Peace of the Wilderness be with YOU*
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
— Unknown
this is great bob!!
It's all happening
Ha!! I think I found it. Thanks Ex, for putting the time in for that, and happy fathers day to you :cool:!
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProjectMixIO-main.html
I may actually be able figure out how to work this one! I'm a more dials and slider type than working a computer screen. It's small enough to carry out of the place every night. I think that and an Apple laptop and that's pretty good portable system that can walk out with ME, rather than someone else!
(It ain't the best of neighborhoods but it's getting there.)
That and the right mikes looks like a nice package.
I was also looking into an Edirol 09 portable mp3 recorder for on the street, but they're not out yet. Something like that is the first thing I need, as the weather's nice and the kids are outside.
Thanks all!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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thank ju!
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
And his tears fall and burn the garden green
An 8 year old girl sang a song she wrote to me about her mom,,, it went like:
"My mom was there for me when when I was scared in a thunderstorm, there for me when she was sad, and now my mom's going to die."
Her mom's on crack and I was like,,, whoa! That's when I made this decision.
I see so much talent and hopefully they can recognize that. I figure, giving them a space to be themselves and hear what they sound like would be good. Just knowing the fact that there is something else out there than the couple of square block area that they know is a help.
Then instead of selling drugs, they can get into the lucrative field of being a musician!..
Ok, well, maybe that's not so lucrative!!, but it's what I know!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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xo xo xo
PEacE.
Good luck with your recordings. It's one of the best things you can do for yourself as a musician.
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
Recording yourself IS one of the best things! That I've done a lot, but this is to get kids in the neighborhood recorded.
I think for recording them on the street I'm going with this:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/R09/
And thanks to Exhausted, I'm going with this:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProjectMixIO-main.html
But I still need some mikes for recording kids' voices. I have some Shure 57's and 58's, but I'm looking for something that records from farther away when they're singing and doing their dancing at the same time.
Neumans are great and will be my first choice for my new band, but I'm dealing with little kids, too, on this project, and I'll be using my body to shield the computer and mixer from flying frisbees and orange soda and boogers!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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Mikes to record kids' high voices from like 3 to 8 feet away, or while they're doing a hip hop dance at the same time?
I've ordered everything else!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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