Redneck Recording Process

How do you record a song? Hmm, well that’s easy. It’s easy if you follow the three steps, of the Redneck Recording Process. First we jam or play what we feel like playing. Jamming is a very unstructured thing. Jamming usually consists of playing the old “guit-fiddle” or (guitar by its normal name), having a good time, and talking shop. Second we take the song we wrote and set up the Rednek Recording Studio (, Misspelled on purpose. ) And finally we’ll put it on to tape. Mix it, master it, and finally burn it to CD. This makes it easier to sell.

So now lets record “Brew Drinkin-Hell Raisers” to tape. The first step in the Redneck Recording Process is to jam out. My friend comes over and we just start playing. After about thirty minutes to an hour of playing and shop talk we usually have a riff (Musical Melody for the guitar) to work off of for the song. Most of the time this will end up being the bridge or the chorus. After the riff is placed in the song. Well start working out the other parts of the song. Because were both guitarists we’ll figure out the other parts of the song later.

After another fifteen to forty minutes we basically have the song’s guitar parts and vocal melodies worked out. When hitting out the vocals, I usually like to Shoot from the hip. So Chris plays the riff while I start singing words. This part is usually pretty funny cause like Ozzy Osbourne; I usually just sing random words. Sometimes it takes three hours other times it takes three days. After we’ve got the Melody, I’ve usually got a basic idea were the lyrics are going. It usually takes me some time to get down some lyrics that work for the song.

Ok now that the guitars and vocals are worked out, well take the song to the bass player. He listens awhile to the song gives us some ideas, Then he makes the bass lines for “Brew Drinkin-Hell Raisers”. Then the drummer does the same. After all the parts are finished. We will re-hearse “BDHR” until we have it down right. “Brew Drinkin-Hell Raisers” is now ready to be taken to Rednek Rekording Studio, or RRS for short to record it. Rednek Recording Studio is also known as a house. Just to let you know, this paragraph is filled with products and descriptions of them to futher your knowledge of recording.

Ok, the song is firing on all cylinders, so lets set up the studio. First we will get the gear we need, so we’ll go to a rental company such as Rock & Roll Rentals. First off the mixing board, for this well use the Behringer MX2642A Euro rack to a Tascam DA-P1 DAT recorder. (DAT is short for Digital Audio Tape). Ok we now have the base of RRS, for the rest of the Studio Equipment, I’ll just explain the instrument, amp, and microphone used to capture their sound. The rhythm guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Custom running through a Lee Jackson XLA-1000 Amplifier dry.

Dry is a term meaning no effects are added to the signal (sound) till after the recording. To record it we are going to “close mic” or put the mic right next to the speaker cabinet so we get as little atmosphere as possible. The mic I chose is a Shure SM-57 to give it a nice flat sound which is easier to mix. We’ll get to the mixing later. For the Lead guitar were using another Gibson Les Paul Custom. The Paul is going dry into a Marshall JCM 800 to a close mic’d SM-57. So they can hear what’s going on with the rest of the band Ill hook up some monitors (speakers).

Now we have the guitars done, so lets move to the “thump and the bump” of the ensemble. The drum set is Tama Star Classic Trap Set similar to the one used by Lars Ulrich of Metallica. To mic this were going to use four mics. First one is for the snare, once again were using a SM-57, Boy those really seem to be popular. The second is for the Kick drum we’ll try the AKG D112 microphone. The final two mics are the overheads, for these well employ the AKG C-418’s. The Drums are now set up in a separate room with some head phones to hear the other band members.

Lets move onto the bass; He’s going to use an Ernie Ball Stingray bass to a Galien Krueger 2001RB mic’d by a once again a SM-57. Since the bass is in the same room as the guitars, he can hear whats going on. Last we just have to get the vocals. For this well set up in the shower with headphones and an AKG tube (a vacuum Tube) mic for that tube warmth. Whew finally RRS is set up and ready to Rock. Well, we are cocked, locked and ready to rock! Lets get started on recording. With all our mics, monitors, and headphones are hooked up, were going to get a few practice takes in.

After we’re all in the same groove, we’re going to lay it down for real. After about seven takes we’ve probably got the best were going to get. So we start mixing. First the producer and the artists, who in this case are the same people, start listening to the takes. So I don’t get bogged down in techno mumble-jumbo again, let’s say we all nailed it on the same take. Now were going to mix it. Basically sound is a 3D ball that has to be assembled. Mixing assembles this ball by cutting and boosting frequencies, volume and adding effects. So “BD-HR” is now mixed perfectly, so were going to burn this onto a cd.

So the song is now on tape and cd which will make it much more accessible for fans. We have been through the three very tedious yet enjoyable steps of the Redneck Recording Process. First I, told you about the jam session, which can only be described not explained. Secondly I gave you the set up of the RRS used to record the song. The third step recording the song. Sorry for the over technical second paragraph, but all of the tools are instrumental to making the record sound right. So hopefully the process and point of this paper got through. If It did, you know what the RRS is, and how to apply it to your own situation.