8 mic setup suggestions

Q

qleak

New member
I'm looking at tracking a small band with only 8 mics. Eventually I will add an adat expansion to my presonus 1818vsl (currently in the mail) so I can close mic everything, but at the moment I'm interested in making the best of what I have.

The Band:

*Vocalist Female Contralto type voice loves to handle the mic and somewhat blues sound
*Guitar (Twin + smaller amp) some effects / delay plays with different sounds out of the two amps.
*Bass, the player has one hell of a bass amp, it'd be nice to mic it instead on line in.
*Drums:
1 x Kick
1 x Floor Bass
1 x Tom
1 x Snare
1 x High Hat
3 x cymbals

Mics / Assests:
*dynamic mics:
3 x sm57
1 x sm58
1 x beta52A
*condensors:
2 x octava mk219 Large Diaphram
2 x AT 2021 Small Diaphram
* Stands / clips / cables
3 x drum mic mounts
Plenty of mic clips
Stereo mic bar
plenty of mic stands (full and pint size)

Mainly 6/8 tempo rock with strong female vocals. How would you go about setting up these mics for the situation? I wouldn't mind hearing suggestions for mics to add to my list, I'm looking at beta87c for the vocalist.
 
CrowsofFritz said:
Are you saying you want to track everything at once? If so, what's wrong with tracking separately?
Click to expand...

Yes i would like to try to track everything at once. The main reason is the vocalist gives considerably better performances with the group. I think the guitarist and bass player would probably be willing to tweak some tracks after the fact, but it would be a shame to give up on recording it since there is considerable improvisation in the group as well.
 
Given what you have, here's what I'd do:

Vocals: SM58 since she likes to handle the mic
Guitar: SM57s on each amp
Bass: SM57 would probably be the best option since I want the Beta 52 on the kick. Otherwise I'd use the 52 on the bass cab
Overheads: Either condenser pair, take your pick
Snare: SM57
Kick: Beta 52A

That's just my quick automatic "no-brainer" opinion, of course it all depends on the instruments, the room, blah blah blah…

:D
 
guitarplayr82 said:
Given what you have, here's what I'd do:

Vocals: SM58 since she likes to handle the mic
Guitar: SM57s on each amp
Bass: SM57 would probably be the best option since I want the Beta 52 on the kick. Otherwise I'd use the 52 on the bass cab
Overheads: Either condenser pair, take your pick
Snare: SM57
Kick: Beta 52A

That's just my quick automatic "no-brainer" opinion, of course it all depends on the instruments, the room, blah blah blah…

:D
Click to expand...

Thanks guitarplayr! I think you gave me an extra sm57, probably not out of the question I'm sure somebody has one of those we could use, or I could put one of the octavas on the twin.

Best,

-Q
 
As guitarplayer said, but i'd swap the SM57 from the bass amp to the twin and use the Oktava on the bass amp, but that's just my taste (i'm a big fan of LDC's on bass amps :D). this would then mean having to use the SDC's as overheads, but i'd probably say do that anyway.

that's my 2 pence
 
Okay everyone thanks for the input here's what I'm thinking. I suspect the Octava will sound better on the bass amp than the SM57 but I'll probably try both out just to be sure.

Vocals: SM58
Guitar: Octava LDC on the twin SM57 on the smaller amp
Bass: I'll have to test the other Octava vs the SM57 whichever sounds "best"
Overheads: AT2021 SDC pair
Snare: SM57
Kick: Beta 52A
 
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