producing bands

anyone here produce bands or hip-hop acts on the side as a way to make your techno studio pay for itself?

i don't know jack about mic'ing drum kits, but i'm thinking this might be something worth learning in the future...

anyone have thoughts?

Music Tech gets much more complicated once microphones and "real" sounds get involved.

You'll probably need a good mic (most likely a few), some mic stands, a good mic preamp, a channel strip, and a decent sized room to record in - preferably a treated room so there's minimal echo etc.

i do a bit of post-recording work for bands in my area. basically i'll get them to record b4 hand then bring me the files. just demo work really though. brings in a couple of quid, not much. most of the time they're only young lads and cant afford to pay that much.

Get some time in a recording studio, do it for nothing. If you really want some experience you need to get into miking bands.

There are no right or wrong ways of using mics, just differences.

Try this site for a few basic tips

http://www.shure.com/booklets/default.asp

scroll down, top marks for shure on this... decent well laid out tips.

It's a craft, basically.

The more you do of it the better "feel" you have for what is the right way to go about things.

nice one guys. very useful tips so far.

Here's a little tip for setting up mics..

set up your mic with headphones on, listening to the positioning of it. Dont set it up, wander into the control room and then find out what it sounds like.... foldback the mic channel into the live room and have someone in the control room altering the gain settings for you as you adjust the mic position to hear what the sounds are like.

Also - if you cant do this, position your ear in the same place as the mic and LISTEN dont stand there and assume you can hear what the mic will sound like without putting your ear in the same space....