Br 600

[chamberk]

I'm using a BR 600 for recording. I'm new to recording and was wanting to know what should i do first in recording. Where should i position my mic in front of the amp? How should my levels be? Basically i need to know the basic process of recording.

Fyi I'm trying to record grunge/alternative music like breaking benjamin and sevendust.

Just wanted an overview for starting recording. If anyone could help me i'd appreciate it!

[dlh]

I'll try to answer some of your questions.
First, I'm not familar with your recorder, though it looks simular to the ones I have, Korg and Tascam. They basiclly work the same.

What you do first?
I'd say that's up to you. I guess there are as many ways to begin recording as there are guy/gals recording.
I'll tell you how I start out:
I'm not a drummer, so I use a drum machine, Boss 770. Once I develope a drum pattern I like, I record it. I know basiclly when to stop because before I recorded it I timed the song with a stop watch (software) as I played the song the way I wanted to recorded.
If you don't have a drummer or a drum machine, your recorder should have a click track to record by. Use it.
Next, I record an acoustic and vocal track. This is temporary.
Next, I record the acoustic or electric guitar track.
Next, I do the vocals.
Usually I do five or more tracks of each, in the virtual tracks.
After I figure out which tracks I like the best, I delete that temporary track of the acoustic and vocals.
Then I add bass, Keys, spoons, shakers whatever.
That's basiclly how I do it. Recording format may vary from song to song.
After you get a few started songs going, you should have an idea of what works best for you.

Mic placement:
I'll assume your using a Shure57. I usually begin by placing the mic about an inch from the grill cloth as close to center of the speaker cone as I can.
I record that.
Then I begin backing off about six inches and compare the sounds later as I as I track each individually.
If you ever hear of, or find a manual that is floating around on the web, by Harvey Gerst, download it. The guy lived his whole life doing mic tricks.
Anyway, experiement with the placement, but I"ve found that dead center is about the norm for me.

Your recording levels:
Where your input cables come in, or somplace near there, there should be a nob or nobs with either, Peak, Gain, Trim, ect. and a LED light near the nob. After your guitar is plugged in, and your set to record, begin playing and slowly turn the nob, for the channel your using, up. Watch the LED. When it begins to blink or stay solid, that means your overloading the circut, so begin turning the nob down until the light stops blinking.
Then you have a nob or sliders for the channel your recording into. Adjust that to about -3db to -5db. This will give you some head room you may need later. If you set nob or slider at 0 and later you want to add some effects, you could be clipping your stuff (distortion).
I'm sure your machine has a screen showing your your input level. Keep the nob or slider level low enough to just stop the level on the screen from peaking out, or clipping.

The manual from some companies are really lax in explaining the very basics. Others are pretty good. I've never messed with a machine like yours so I can't get specific.
Read the manual, most companies have help or support online services.

Don't matter the kind of music you play, the levels of the channel your recording to and the input gain is the same for all, even if you record squaredance music.

If you don't understand anything I posted, tell me and I'll try to explain it better.
Good luck and don't forget to push the record button.

[C. Hanson]

Hi, I'm a dedicated stand-alone recorder user (Yamaha AW1600).
I believe your machine uses compact flash/SD cards--is that right?
If so, get yourself some spares (you'll fill 'em up pretty quickly) or, better still, work out how to get your songs via flash/SD to your computer.
One thing I'm learning is to experiment--I stuff around with everything: mic placements, panning, tones, effects, volume in, volume out, master levels--and I save the lot and burn 'em onto CD and then play them in my car stereo, the clock radio CD player, the AW1600 itself through phones, the DVD player in the lounge room.
I think the best thing a new recordist can do is to hear how his product sounds in "normal" gear (i.e. not the $1000-a-side studio monitors; as beautiful as that can be, most people don't have that kind of gear in their lounge rooms).

Good luck with it. I visit the stand-alone forum regularly, although there are comparatively few of us here!

Chris