Recording a piano bass digital synth trio

[Plural Bells]

Im going to be doing some playing with a bassist and producer. The aim is to record a session with piano bass and speaker system. My concern is that balancing the frequencies within the large resonant space (lecture theatre) is going to be problematic. Im used to working with separate tracks. The idea of the bass amp bleeding into the piano mics is not appealing because I love a transparent rarefied piano tone. How would you recommend recording the setup to ensure that the bass digital percussion and piano are captured fully. I'll be routing 2 condenser shotguns from the piano to an audio interface. The bass is mic'd with an SM7 and the microbeats will be played through a stereo speaker system mounted high in the corners of the room. Will there be a problem with the stereo width in the kick?

 

[rob aylestone]

What is the aim? to record what it really sounded like, or a proper studio recording? If you have an acoustic piano, and you MUST have it clean, then you are going to have to do IEM, and DI the bass, and speaker system. Practical things will align against you trying to do a real acoustic set. First thing is that loudspeakers on a synth record pretty badly - thin weedy and nasty. The piano is always loud, so bass in the room will have to be turned up for the pianist to hear - adding in a stereo pair of speakers is going to be messy. If the musicians want a good result, then they will have to get used to playing with headphones, and perhaps lose the bass amp contribution - nothing stops you reamping it if you must have the amp sound, in a separate session, using the DI'd bass as the amp source, then usuing your mic. The synth contribution will sound so much better DI'd too. This allows you to mic the piano as you would normally do - it becomes the key instrument. Spill will really mess up any attempt to record stereo from the synth - and It will be very messy. One live and two DI'd plus decent headphone mixes - one per person will be fine. They will hate it, of course, but sometimes there has to be compromise - no headphones or IEMS and messy sound, or vice versa. Give them the choice if they are paying!

 

[Btyre2013]

surely you'll need a sub for the bass drum? it's going to sound very weird, it sounds like a kind of electro/acoustic thing the bassist/producer wants? I wouldn't even do it myself, too many problems.