live band recording ... help please!

60ndown

New member
I have been recording our band (2 guitars, bass, drums + 2 vocals) rehearsals via 1 microphone (akg c1000s) for a few months, with correct placement I have got some good results, we can hear everything, no distortion, and with some eq in my computer software ok tone, but few details.

i thought id try and get better results and got myself a little mixer,

behringer 802

straight into my recorder,

tascam dr-05


I ran headphone/outs from the back of the guitar amps/pa into the mixer etc, everything was plugged straight in *tried* to get a mix, and recorded the signal from the 'tape out'

my results were, much better detail (instead of just having some bass in the mix, i can hear notes and bass lines clearly, subtle details in the guitars, vocals are clean. pretty good really, but the balance between them is horrible, any adjustment in the record level resulted in huge differences in output, very hard to control :(

i have no way to adjust levels as its all recorded onto 2 channels.

i had to have the gains/volume dials on the guitar/bass channels almost all the way down (less then 5%) im guessing the signal/s coming in were just too hot?

is there any way to reduce their heat? (is it better to record from a microphone hanging in front of the amp speaker??)

my question is this,

Is it possible to get a nice balanced recording like this in a rehearsal studio?

(or should i just stop being such a cheapass and get a multitrack digital recorder?)

part of me believes many great albums were recorded in the 60s and 70s on similar equipment as i have now, and that analoge will sound better then digital,

but i might still be crazy?

any advice / ideas appreciated,

i dont have a lot of money any equipment suggestions should be cheaper (id like to try 4 cheap mics to hang in front of the amps next week)
 
Well, my opinion only...

Either just put a pair of mics (I'd rather do stereo than a single mono) out in front of the band and record it, or...

...go all the way and mic or DI everything and use up lots of channels to mix it later.

The first way is cheap and cheerful and gives a reasonable (but not perfect) representation of how you actually sound. The second method gives you (hopefully) a good recording of each individual element for mixing later.

If it was me (and I had the money to spend) I'd probably invest in a mixer big enough to do everything for a live performance and a multitrack recorder (or interface and computer) that would let me take direct outs (or insert outs in a pinch) from the mixer when I wanted to record a rehearsal.
 
What Bobbsy said. It's extremely difficult to get a proper balance live to 2-track when you're in the room with all the noise and you have to play or sing. You would need to be in a separate isolated space, Using isolating headphones or IEMs would help somewhat, but if you sing you'll probably overmix your vocal.

I'm not sure why your controls were so sensitive. More info on how things were connected and adjusted would be necessary. Part of it may be the cheap mixer (which isn't even close to what they used in the 60s and 70s in terms of sound quality).

Multitracking would be the ultimate solution but mixing down to 2-track can be time consuming.
 
so many digital multi track recorders for sale on the www, $200- $500. seems easy enough to me, record everyone without distortion, playback and adjust levels to sound 'about right', eq a bit, and burn cd :)
 
That's how I do it. I've recorded practice with to omnis and a Jecklin disc and it was OK but multitracking and mixing later gives SO much better results.
 
What is your budget if you decide to buy more gear? If it's not very big, then it might be better to save for a little while to get something that's really going to make a difference.

And using a mic on the guitar amps would be better (in my opinion) than using the headphone outs from the amp.

If you decide to stick with your current mixer I would suggest finding yourself two condenser mics (can find some for $50 or so) and set them up to get a good balance and record one to the left output and the other to the right output. This would give you a little more control over your mix. And you could always come back and add vocals later.
 
If you can't monitor it yourself as you record it's pretty hard to get good levels. Also digital is way less forgiving of sudden jumps in volume than analog. Whatever way you go about it, before you press record, get each instrument you're micing up to play loud. Get a strong signal without going into the red on your recorder and you should be ok. If you do that, you shouldn't need to worry about the quiet parts so much.
 
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