Home Recording Tips And Tricks (Analogue )

Including Tapes, Mics, Pops, Effects Loop Setup, Effects Loop Mixing, Hum, Panning, EQ, Delay, Vocal Effects, Mixing Down, Making Space, Keeping Notes

Tapes
Use good tapes ie the recommended ones for your tape machine and if using a cassette for mixing down/mastering then use 'type II's eg TDK SA 90.

Mics

Use a good microphone with a high output impedance. Eg a C1000S. (The high output is especially useful for home recording mixers and tape machines.) Experiment with different microphones. For instance a good blues harmonica sound can be had from playing into a cheap (£10-£15) crystal mic as available from Tandy or Maplins, and then put this through a small practise amp and then mic that up, using say a Shure S58 mic.

Pops

To avoid the 'pops' in vocals (as when singing 'puh' sounds) take an old pair of tights and stretch them over a wire circle made from a coat hanger, then fix this in position (say, to a microphone stand) such that the tights are about 4" from the microphone.

Effects Loop Setup

Use an effects loop with your tape machine or mixer. This is how to do it: put the mic into an input channel, and adjust the level so that it's just below peaking. Send that signal out onto the auxiliary bus. If using a mixer, then turn the AUX 1 knob for that input channel up -this puts the signal on the AUX bus- and then send the signal out of the AUX MASTER SEND jack by turning up the AUX MASTER SEND control knob. The effects unit will have a jack into it's input from the AUX MASTER SEND on the mixer or tape machine, and the effect unit's output will be connected to ANOTHER input channel on the mixer or tape machine. If using a tape deck like the Fostex 380S in the case above there will be just one knob to twiddle- that is the AUX 1 knob for the input channel. Adjust the AUX out knob(s) and the effects unit input control knob to get a just-below-peaking signal in the effects machine. With