On Friday, May 8, the Arts Council of Indianapolis premiered our new song, "How To Lose,” along with an accompanying video that documents our remote-recording process.
Recording remotely, using only the resources available to us in our homes, is a process that’s new to us, so we wanted to share how things came together.
Here are six tools we used to help us through the process:
DIY Vocal Booth
I made a makeshift vocal booth out of bed comforters and pillows to help isolate the sound for the recordings.
– Nicole
Metronome
While a metronome may seem like an obvious tool for recording, we don’t always use one, preferring instead to record our rhythm tracks (bass, rhythm guitar, drums) all together in one room, live, with no click. Then we’ll overdub vocals, guitar, keys, ukulele, sax, aux percussion, etc. What we like about this approach is how it results in a feel that mimics our live shows, with the energy and the natural locking in we do together as a band.
For this recording, however, a metronome was a vital tool that kept us together as we recorded each individual track from afar.
– Natasha
Spire Studio Mobile App
I have zero studio gear in my home so when this project came along, I started thinking about what I could use at my disposal and/or upgrade. I'd heard of a portable recording device called the Spire Studio, but it was not budget-friendly. However, I realized it had a free mobile app that could be used without the device to record on your phone. It had features that allowed me to set mic levels, record multi-track, and even a few mixing options so it seemed perfect for me. I used the Spire app to record my vocals and bass on my phone, then sent the files to Greg for final mixing.
– Nicole
“Modern Recording Techniques, 7th Edition” by David Miles Huber and Robert E. Runstein
Purchased at good old Half-Price Books about a year ago. Most of it goes WAY over my head and refers to gear none of us will ever own (A $10,000 microphone? Does it come with Celine Dion? Get real!), but what little of this manual DOES make sense definitely came in handy.
– Greg
Cell Phone As Room Mic
Also coming in handy is a good trick we learned last year while recording with David Hazel (Bullet Points, Beta Male, Extra Blue Kind) for our upcoming album, i.e., putting a mic in the unfinished half of our basement while recording drums in the other half. That's where the scuzzy drum sound came from (using a cell phone to record since we were out of mic inputs).
– Greg
HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder
When I went to edit together all of our video clips, I noticed that some of the footage was drifting out of sync from the audio track. Upon further research, I realized this was happening because of the way mobile devices capture video – with variable, rather than constant, framerates.
The fix was quick and simple. Using the free, open-source tool HandBrake, I pulled in the footage that was giving me trouble, selected the “Constant Framerate” option, and then exported the new clips, ready to be cut together in Premiere Pro.
– Natasha