Harsh noise with no amps.

Started by Stipsi, September 20, 2017, 03:10:14 PM

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Stipsi

It s possible for you recording loud harsh noise with pedals/junk metal/synth straight on mixer/d.i/audio cards and don't use amps?
Often I find a lot of troubles doing this (I Don t have possibilities to play loud at my "studio")
Examples of no amps projects but loud are welcome.
North Central
Mademoiselle Bistouri
Daddy's Entertainment.
PERVERT AND PROUD.

Andrew McIntosh

Quote from: Stipsi on September 20, 2017, 03:10:14 PM
(I Don t have possibilities to play loud at my "studio")

Well, there's your problem. There's no substitute for real volume. If you want to record acoustic materials loud, you're going to have to get a recording device and go to the places where you can record loud. Find your nearest abandoned building or sewer. If you're going to record at home (or wherever your "studio" is), stick with keeping it down. But a tape recorder or cheap digital recorder and a bit of knowledge of your local area might serve you better.

Conversely - take advantage of microphones. One simple and effective thing to do is set up a microphone into your recording gear, turn the input up cunt loud, and crunch some plastic right against it. It's a different sound, very upfront, distorted and with no real depth or air going through it, but it sounds pretty good if you get it right. Contact mics can help. 
Shikata ga nai.

Stipsi

Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on September 20, 2017, 03:45:17 PM
Quote from: Stipsi on September 20, 2017, 03:10:14 PM
(I Don t have possibilities to play loud at my "studio")

Well, there's your problem. There's no substitute for real volume. If you want to record acoustic materials loud, you're going to have to get a recording device and go to the places where you can record loud. Find your nearest abandoned building or sewer. If you're going to record at home (or wherever your "studio" is), stick with keeping it down. But a tape recorder or cheap digital recorder and a bit of knowledge of your local area might serve you better.

Conversely - take advantage of microphones. One simple and effective thing to do is set up a microphone into your recording gear, turn the input up cunt loud, and crunch some plastic right against it. It's a different sound, very upfront, distorted and with no real depth or air going through it, but it sounds pretty good if you get it right. Contact mics can help. 
I can play loud only with the earphones and it 's not always safe
North Central
Mademoiselle Bistouri
Daddy's Entertainment.
PERVERT AND PROUD.

AXNAAR

#3
Quote from: Stipsi on September 20, 2017, 05:08:23 PM
Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on September 20, 2017, 03:45:17 PM
Quote from: Stipsi on September 20, 2017, 03:10:14 PM
(I Don t have possibilities to play loud at my "studio")

Well, there's your problem. There's no substitute for real volume. If you want to record acoustic materials loud, you're going to have to get a recording device and go to the places where you can record loud. Find your nearest abandoned building or sewer. If you're going to record at home (or wherever your "studio" is), stick with keeping it down. But a tape recorder or cheap digital recorder and a bit of knowledge of your local area might serve you better.

Conversely - take advantage of microphones. One simple and effective thing to do is set up a microphone into your recording gear, turn the input up cunt loud, and crunch some plastic right against it. It's a different sound, very upfront, distorted and with no real depth or air going through it, but it sounds pretty good if you get it right. Contact mics can help.  
I can play loud only with the earphones and it 's not always safe

Not always 'safe' - where are you, Anne Frank's house?
You can buy a small practice amp and record at low volumes with high gain for okay results, I've recorded stuff with a baby sleeping in the next room undisturbed this way. There's no substitute for a proper practice space with loud amps though, most towns have a place you can rent by the hour with amps etc included in the price, have a look around.

Duncan

All of this depends on what methods you're keen on using and whether or not that method is sacred with regards to the end result.

If you're set on just recording takes of jams with the pedals/synth/scrap metals then yeah, you'll struggle getting the best out of things with no amp. Especially where the contact mic'd stuff is concerned. 

If your concern, however, is just to make good sounding work then you have a lot of options.  You could take initial recordings that may sound a bit weak and lacking and process them through your pedals again.  You could record to tape initially - which will be much kinder to you when pushed into the red than if you did so digitally - and then further process that tape or simply line it in and transfer it to your computer.

Don't forget as well that even if you did have the option of a loud amp, there is a huge difference between what you'll hear performing vs what you'll get just by shoving some shitty mic in front of the speaker.  Getting good recordings from this kind of setup is something that takes its own kind of practice and trial/error too.

The ideal way to make and record sound is to have a range of options so, in my opinion, the answer is really somewhere in the middle of all this.  As ever, the key should be to experiment and practice within what you have rather than worry too much about what you don't have.

Soloman Tump

I currently record straight into my mixer and monitor it through headphones.  I have a small radio (and with really crap built in speaker) for getting a vague idea of what's going on.  I would obviously prefer to play loud but currently its not possible (baby and toddler in the house!)

As already mentioned, find a local recording studio with rehearsal rooms.  That's my plan, i've got a Friday night 3 hour session booked in for the end of the month.

pentd

theres so many shitty earbuds/headphones in trash cans everywhere... those go well into outputs of mixers and then a contact mic to that. always a little bit of noise, so not total "mute sound" but enough to get some layers of crazy shit into a piece... and doesnt matter if you blow them up. electronic diarrhea!!

collapsedhole

anne franks house, lol....

anyway, a tape recorder like this:



putting objects directly on the speaker will record loudly and/or "distorted".

putting the recorder itself in a trashcan (thanks pentti) and moving it around / hitting it, etc.....

personally i find it impossible to enjoy noise unless it is as loud as possible, and don't listen to it if i can't play at loud volumes. headphones can scratch the itch if i'm too inebriated to move, but i can't rock out with em on, ya know..

F_c_O

How much that kind of tape recorder costs? The only thing I have is proper deck and lugging that round is pain in the arse.

Peterson

#9
Those portable things are usually pretty cheap at any secondhand store, like $8 or less in my experience. They have a unique, thin, distorted sound unlike a cassette deck, though, and I would definitely not recommend them for anything but certain source sounds....unless you use a microphone with one that's in really good condition.

That type is still being manufactured, too (try Amazon etc), but price usually determines quality/fidelity. It's worth it to be picky and spend extra.

F_c_O

You clearly expect me to be able to afford to be picky, hehe.