Recording a band with one mic

A

abebrade

New member
Our band wants to record our jam sessions (nothing too professional sounding) just so we can remember and think about material afterwards. I have a pod line 6 ux 2 and use mixcraft as the software. We had one mic hanging from the ceiling plugged into mic 1 in the pod line 6 ux 2.

All in all the recording sucked a big one. The sound kept on getting maxed out and between the three of us (a bass, guitar, and drums) The bass and drums meshed together could barely hear the fuzzed out bass. the guitar would come in and out but really all one horrid meshed together blob noise.:facepalm: If one instrument played at a time the sound was alright but when we all played you could barely distinguish in the noise. Do I need a separate mic for each instrument (probably besides the drums)? or is the problem the recording volume on mix craft (it was a medium recording volume).
 
If you set the levels so it doesn't distort, and turn off any compression/ 'safety 'auto gain control it might have by default-- and find a best compromise spot for the mic.. It will give a fairly real view of what's going on in the room.
Not as flexible' and 'fixable for making a better 'tape, but possibly rather useful in showing where or how your live' balances are working out. (..That can be a fairly scarey thing :D
 
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I used a single large diaphragm condenser microphone in our rehearsal room as reference material for later rehearsals and home practice. If you place it well enough, everything can be heard decent enough, without too much bass as your personal reviewing material, but in the wrong room you might hear a lot of reflections.
 
abebrade said:
All in all the recording sucked a big one. The sound kept on getting maxed out and between the three of us (a bass, guitar, and drums) The bass and drums meshed together could barely hear the fuzzed out bass. the guitar would come in and out but really all one horrid meshed together blob noise.:facepalm: If one instrument played at a time the sound was alright but when we all played you could barely distinguish in the noise. Do I need a separate mic for each instrument (probably besides the drums)? or is the problem the recording volume on mix craft (it was a medium recording volume).
Click to expand...

It's an eyeopener, huh? The worst bit is, if you're playing gigs without a soundguy/PA that's what you sound like.

Mixit's advice is good about levels and placement, but as he said "It will give a fairly real view of what's going on in the room."

The real key is to work at the sound of the band, checking your recording as you go.
Tuning the drums and eqing the bass and guitar can go a heeeelll of a long way, but it's something bands don't always think about.

I mean, in the context of a mix you don't get the guitar to sound great on its own - You get it to sound great in the mix.
If the guitarist gets his amp to sound great at home it might just be a mess with the band.
 
A couple of things...

First, instead of hanging the mic, place it on a floor stand somewhere close to where your audience would be at a normal gig. It might not make your recordings sound much better--but it'll help you judge what you sound like to your audience.

Second, I notice you say you set your recording level to "medium" this doesn't really mean anything. Take time during the first song or two to set the levels going into your interface low enough that you have plenty of headroom. I'd be looking for no peaks above about -10dBVU when you're setting levels because, if you're like any band I've ever worked with, you'll get louder as you get into it.

Finally...and this is the hard bit...work on controlling your onstage dynamics. If you don't have a sound guy mixing for you, you have to control things by playing/singing louder and softer as required.
 
We recorded our rehearsals with a little Tascam hand-held recorder with its built-in mics, so it can be done. As already stated, you need find a good spot for the mic and get everything balanced out first.
 
Good question, I also have such problems. I checked some web pages recently and saw this ZYLIA solution - ZYLIA ZM-1 - ZYLIA. From what they tell it looks pretty cool. Multi track recording and highlighting of single instruments... it looks ideally for band recording just with a one mic. They also have some demos on web page with two and more band members, looks promising. Maybe this could help.
 
Hmmm...reincarnating a 3 year old topic to post a link to a fairly dodgy sounding bit of gear.

Is that spam fritters I smell cooking?
 
Sorry, if you found this as a spam. But I was just looking for some hints to record with one mic. I also checked their demos on web page and they sound just right for my needs... only wanted to share.
 
I love how paranoid we are that every new poster is spam. No, seriously, I love it. So funny. :D

Not that we don't have reason to be suspicious. Most new posters that jump in with links to products are spammers.
 
It's worth a read of that web site. It seems a single "spherical" microphone allows you to record each instrument in your band on separate tracks.
 
Bobbsy said:
It's worth a read of that web site. It seems a single "spherical" microphone allows you to record each instrument in your band on separate tracks.
Click to expand...

What? I glanced- didn't see that.
O..kee. Good trick if it pulls that off
 
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