Live rehearsal recording..

C

ceremonialdagge

New member
Looking for some tips on recording a live rehearsal of my band (metal).

I'm using an Alesis 8 channel mixer and Cubase LE (I'm on a Mac)... I have some nice Shure studio guitar mics and a 7 piece drum mic set...

Considering it's an 8 channel mixer, I'm assuming I should use all 8 channels, right? What's the best setup to get a decent mix of all instruments and vocals? I'm going to mix it all down with Cubase at the end, obviously but I want to make sure everything is heard adequately...

I was thinking of micing the drums w/ 3 mics: kick drum, snare and then one mic hanging above them to pick up toms and cymals (crashes, hats and ride)...
Then I'd mic both guitar rigs with one mic each, and the bass rig...that's 6 mics thus far. Should I have the singer sing directly into his own mic or let the hanging mic pick him up? Where should I put my other mics? Is my set-up idea completely wrong? Any suggestions are appreciated..
 
A key question first is what do you have between the Alesis and Cubase; i.e. how are you getting from the mixer into the computer? If you're just coming in through a standard soundcard line-in then you'll have two choices as to how to record: a live mix of everything directly down to stereo out from the mixer, or, a full multitrack mix in Cubase that's accomplished piecemeal by recording only two tracks at a time.

For the first live mix option, you are pretty close to what you want in your original description. You'll definitely want the vocal with it's own microphone on it's own track.

For the second multitrack assembly option, the choices are thrown wide-open You could use all 8 tracks for drums if you wanted, but I wouldn't recommend that personally...but that's just my personal style. Then go back and add the guitars, then vocals, etc. But to do that, you'd need enough headphones and a headphone distribution amp to allow the band members to monitor the already-recorded tracks as they're laying down the new ones.

G.
 
I have nothing between the Mixer and my Computer. The Mixer goes into Cubase via USB hookup...

I dont want to do drums first; that wouldnt be live now would it? ;)

I want to do it all at the same time but I want each individual mic to be coming onto its own track. Thats how this USB mixer/Cubase combo works right?
 
Yep. I had no way of knowing you had a USB mixer by the description "Alesis 8-channel." More often than not on this board that means either an 8-bus analog or an 8x2 analog. That's why I had to ask. Things are ofen not what they seem here...

OK, in that case I'd say you're on the right track. Use the 7th strip for lead vocal. The 8th can be used for backup vocal, or if you have none of those, you can use stereo OHs on the drums instead of just the single OH.

G.
 
So, here's a dumb question...I've always been confused by mixer imputs..

The mixer has 4 main imputs (the ones with XLRs) but 5/6 and 7/8 are different. Are they four individual imputs but they are stuck on the same tracks or will they go in on individual tracks? What about volume levels? Are 5/6 both stuck with the same volume settings? They have an L and R next to them so I assume that means left and right...are they mono channels?

Which instrument mics would you suggest I run into channels 1-4 and which mics should use 5/6 and 7/8?

Thanks..
 
One other question:

I have some live tracks from a show that was recorded with a video camera. I'm going to extract the audio and assuming it sounds half way decent, what else can I do if I want to include them on an upcoming demo? Should I have them mastered?
 
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