I've never enjoyed going into the Recording Studio

maxwhineberg

Junior Member
I generally have great timing


BUT anytime I've ever gone into the studio, I have the hardest time hearing and getting that perfect mix so I can go in and just nail the track. I don't go in often, maybe once every two years, I'm more of a live sub guy player and don't record that often.

I'm always having to either blast the music in the headphones and get the click up really loud but still leave enough so I can hear myself and I end up with terrible ringing in my ears after every session. I tend to play pretty hard and loud and it just drowns out my headphone mix.

Maybe I need super isolating headphones? I want to nip this problem so I can be more productive in the studio. Rather than hearing "Your off the click again" and yelling back "Well, I can't hear the click" LOL
 
Better headphones is definitely a good way to start. You need to protect your hearing. The other thing I would suggest is to really focus on practicing with a metronome if you don't already. It makes a difference for me if I can practice the music beforehand with a click. That way once I'm in the studio I'm already used to hearing that pulse.
 
Change the sound of the click.
Use a tambourine, cowbell or clave sound instead. Depending on the type of song.
I have found it easier to get into the groove with a cowbell sounding click than with a simple click sounding click.

Or you can also lay down a track with just the cowbell following a click or a BPM meter. Then later play to your own cowbell track for the click.


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Or you can also lay down a track with just the cowbell following a click or a BPM meter. Then later play to your own cowbell track for the click.

Pro-tip: Make sure to wear a shirt that's slightly too small for you when recording cowbell tracks.
 
It really boils down to not being able to hear very well.

A wash of cymbals and hard playing, overpowers the headphones and I remember once, I had the volume up so loud in the headphones so I could hear the click and music that I blew them out and had to pay the studio for the damaged Headphones. This was 15 years ago lol.

Since I don't record a whole lot, I never invested in good Headphones or in-ear monitors or anything like that.
 
I had the volume up so loud in the headphones so I could hear the click and music that I blew them out and had to pay the studio for the damaged Headphones.

That should never happen bud. What kind of phones do you use now? You should never turn your ears up that high. That kind of noise level will cause permanent damage.
 
It really boils down to not being able to hear very well.

What I was thinking was, you might be able to hear a cowbell better than a click because of the sonic range. And your brain might be able to distinguish it better from your loud drums. A click, because of it's sonic range, might be getting buried in the sound of your drums.

You might even try a low tone click. My hearing is very bad and I hear low tones better than high tones.
(I wear a hearing aide all the time and I also wear it when I play in the band.)


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Record with IEM's!!!

It covers all of your issues:

Protects your hearing.
Keeps the click from bleeding through overheads.
Noise level is down because they isolate (the click won't have to be as loud).
See if you can get the kick put in your head mix.

This should help out A LOT!
 
I use a rimclick on the quarters and shaker filling in the 8ths or 16ths or whatever the subdivision of the song is.

Do you play much with a click when not in the studio? Live?. If you want to feel more comfortable and have a consistent experience in the studio try using a click as much as you can in every playing situation.

I started playing with a click live in January, it's made a massive difference.
Before that I was doing 30 studio and 70 live,.. Only the studio with a click. Now I'm almost 100% to a click except for teaching..

I use the Shure E250 earbud things in both settings to try and make it as consistent as possible.
 
I did some recording last summer. The room was VERY live, and I suppose I would consider myself a firm hitter. Not hard or stiff, but certainly firm. I just couldn't hear the click or the song in that room without blasting my ears through the IEMs. Didn't matter what tones I used, or how I mixed the rest of the instrumentation. Just the combination of the room and me was too much. That's how I got tinnitus.

Not playing live with monitors three feet from my head, or in a small practice space with two guitar players blasting half stacks and a bass player going through a fridge, but tiny IEMs hitting really hard.

I've done two sessions since in different rooms. Mostly the same gear, and certainly the same player and technique. Both of those times I used headphones (EX-25 or EX-29s) and didn't have a problem. Although I didn't like the sound of the room so much, being able to hear everything well and at a comfortable level is certainly a more enjoyable experience.

Sometimes now I even put in earplugs before throwing on a headset, or use a disconnected headset over IEMs for even more ambient reduction. I find both of those to be pretty good solutions, although I prefer the latter. It sounds more present, go figure. Can still feel the low end of the kit just by being there, so it's not like there's some huge disconnect.
 
Thanks for the advice, guys.


I'm going to try the In-Ear monitor thing. I actually wouldn't mind playing to
a click live either so having IEMs would be an investment, say with a Tama Rhythym Watch or something like that. I always wear molded ear plugs or foam ear plugs when I play, I try and protect my hearing as much as I can, always have.

I always dread going into the studio though because unless it's a low volume Folk kind of thing, I've going to have trouble with my ears lol.
 
In the studio in particular, being able to hear and not hear certain things is crucial to a successful session. You need to be able to isolate yourself from the kit so you can bring it, other instruments, and that click into your mix to your preference.

I recommend good isolation phones, my preference for many years are the GK Music UltraPhones. But if you have thick hair, phones will not seal around your ears, and you won't get the benefit. And I think in-ears are an expensive way to go if you're not in the studio more often. FYI, I've never seen in-ears used in the studio.

The click sound is also important, and I recommend having a drum or percussion pattern to play with, rather than a 1/4 or 1/8 note pulse. It's a lot easier to play to 'another drummer' than to a straight click. that may not necessarily work if you have time or tempo changes in the song, unless you program those changes into your click track.

Good luck!

Bermuda
 
For live I'm using an old netbook with Ableton Live and a DJ controller to control it switching between custom clicks per song. An app for android or Iphone/Ipad like "Tempo" from frozen ape is great if you don't need a custom click. Try something like the Shure e215's they are a cheap psuedo in ear that is like an ear bud with an ear wrap around thing. but they have the option of foam buds instead of rubber. I find they have around the same rejection as foam plugs. They change the sound of the drums like foam does but work well for protecting your ears.
 
If you cant get enough isolation with in ears, which would be unusual, try using some ear muffs over the top for even more isolation. Gavin Harrison commonly does this when he is in the studio.
 
You definitely need some sound isolation earbuds.
I've got the Shure SE215's and they kill a lot of the outside noise, when I record with them I can keep the volume levels low so there's no distortion and still hear everything clearly.

I use a cheap 5 channel mixer which I run into a Behringer P1 headphone amp then into my SE215s, it's a simple yet effective setup that's fairly cheap.
 
There is something about studios. Once the recorder goes on I forget how to play drums.
 
Have the engineer use a sample, instead of the standard 'cowbell' blip. The attack of that blip is sometimes hard to associate with a beat. An actual cowbell sample, or some claves or a hi-hat chick will cut through at a volume that won't make you go deaf. An engineer can line that up on the grid for the whole song in 30 seconds. IIRC, Bobby Jarzombek requests a hi-hat, I think on the 2 and 4. A shaker on top can also help to accentuate the downbeat.

There's also no reason why it has to be a click or metronome at all. A loop can be just as helpful, and is more musical. You could use a clave pattern, or anything else that you want to play around. Make a few loops of your own. Anything that doesn't sound stupid if you get some headphone bleed will work. Hell, everyone else is using you as the click track. You might as well get something better, too.
 
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unless you are recording rap, why are you using a click? whats up with all this click crap? bonham, levon, clyde, they didnt use clicks???!!! its pitiful
 
unless you are recording rap, why are you using a click? whats up with all this click crap? bonham, levon, clyde, they didnt use clicks???!!! its pitiful

Right on !

I say the only reason for a click would be if you have to coordinate the music with some sort of backing track.

If it's just the band playing a song, watch a BPM meter while you play.


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