Wherez my snare? Wherez my micz?

August 24, 2009 4:50 AM

What are the best music recording resources? (Web sites, discussion boards, books, etc)

I'm looking for something like strobist.com for music recording. I don't think there is such a thing, but what can I piece together to get a better idea of things like mic placement, acoustics, etc? I don't know much. I see a lot of discussion boards on various sites but not sure which the best ones to follow are.

For what it's worth mostly what I'm doing is acoustic music, voice and guitar, and also a lot of fiddle stuff. But I'm also interested in things like midi/beats/rock.

I have no idea what I'm talking about, that's why I'm asking the question. Also, I did see the recent post on musicians recording thought process, but I'm not at the point to take advantage of that yet, or at least, I need some super basics too.

Thanks!

posted by sully75 to media & arts (9 comments total)

Every musician should subsribe to Sound on Sound and TapeOp. TapeOp is a free magazine, and Sound on Sound's archives are freely available online after about six months.
posted by bigmusic at 5:31 AM on August 24, 2009

For details of guitar rigs, guitargeek is definitive.
For more general details of recording, I am unaware of an equivalent to strobist.

There are a *lot* of available books on acoustics and sound engineering: have you had a look a what your local library has to offer?

The Master Handbook of Acoustics is good, and covers basic theory and details of designing rooms well.
posted by James Scott-Brown at 5:33 AM on August 24, 2009

GearSlutz and SoundOnSound are 2 boards that I frequently check out.

The support forum for whatever software you might be using probably has a lot of tips and tricks for that particular software, but it will also probably have basic recording techniques as well.
posted by chillmost at 5:34 AM on August 24, 2009

I second GearSlutz, but would also recommend searching the Archives of Sound On SounD (SOS) Magazine for tech articles on Recording techniqes etc..

Older articles are free on SOS and they have covered a lot of stuff over the years.
posted by mary8nne at 5:47 AM on August 24, 2009

Oh and I wouldn't bother Subscribing to Sound on Sound. The current magazine is mostly reviews of new software, synthesizers or Mics etc.. They are good reviews but its not really that useful to learning recording/mixing techniques.
posted by mary8nne at 5:49 AM on August 24, 2009

An old friend got a fair amount of information through HomeRecording.com, though that's more your standard forum type layout.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 5:57 AM on August 24, 2009

Just adding the taperssection forums to the list of useful resources, although more geared towards live recording. TapeOp magazine mentioned above also has "online messageboards", as does Reaper. Their Tech & Techniques forum will probably be most useful if you don't use their software, which you should probably also check out. ;)
posted by dirm at 7:25 AM on August 24, 2009

TapeOp Message Board
posted by ludwig_van at 9:07 AM on August 24, 2009

Thanks all! I'd seen a lot of these in the past but wasn't sure where to turn my attention.

This Tape Op Best of Looks great.
posted by sully75 at 10:03 AM on August 24, 2009