4 track band recording

B

briggsy

New member
My band are about to attempt to record our first demo.
We have 1 drummer,1 bass,2 guitars,1 singer

We plan to mike up the drum kit to 3 channels
of the 4 track and bounce down to 1.
The 2 guitars will use PODS on 2 tracks and bounce down to 1. Leaving 1 track for bass &
1 track for lead vocals & backing vocals.
I understand that when you bounce tracks the track is in mono.
Our 4 track has a bus recording ability what is this used for and will this help us.
Any comments on my proposed set up would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Steve
 
If you have enough mics, you could also try doing a live basic track to two tracks, and then you would get a stereo sound! The live feel will make the music have energy and dynamics!

Bass, Drums and 1 or 2 guitars through a mixer into your multitrack. That would leave two tracks for vocals and an additional guitar etc....

(This is the way the big guys do it, only they have separate tracks for each instrument).
You can achieve amazing results in stereo if you experiment with balance and mike placement!

Have Fun!

Dom Franco
 
That wa our original intention but getting hold of a mixer has become a problem.
However if it means that it will impove the demo we might have to rethink that one.

Thanks

Steve
 
Howdy
If you are going to do any serious recording you need to hook up your 4 track to a mixer. Then and only then will you have the control you need..
 
DiD you ever hear "Jamie" by weezer. It was live to two track and sounds just as good as other stuff they did. I have a 16 track studio and would, given the choice of 4 track
and two track live, record live to two tracks. I am doing that tonight when i gig, with my minidisk recorder.....
 
I highly recommend the live to stereo method, followed by the live to stereo with an aid. I usually do two mics in B-ear position to two track.

1) does not your 4 track have a built in mixer? what kind is it?
You only really need two mics for the entire band, but if you want more (much harder to monitor though) you can plug them all into the 4 track mixer inputs, set the pans for each channel, and put a BUSSL and BUSSR record on two of your four tracks.

The most important thing to do is to concentrate ona great live sound.
- Set the "pans" by moving amps and musicians around the room.
- Set the "fader levels" by controlling sound source volumes and their distance to the mics
- Set the "EQ" by adusting source tones on the guitars, bass, and by adjusting your playing on drums and vocals etc

What I usually do is:

2 mics (and two tracks) for the drum kit, bass, guitar and keyboards, 1 mic (and 1 track) for the vocals and another (mic /track) for either bass or backup vocals.

I still have not taken this kind of set up to its limit with the equipment we already have. So far the sounds are impressive.

The best thing about this simple set up, is that if something sounds bad, you will hear it with your own two ears ( you only have two ears, do we really need more that two mics to record?) BEFORE recording.
 
hanks to everyone who has mailed me so far.
We have managed to get hold of a 16 track Behringer mixer :) The guy in my local shop forgot he had one.
We can now record in full stereo :)
Our full setup is as follows. 2 guitars using POD's, 1 drum kit miked using 2 m201 and a Bass drum mic. Still to work out mic placements. Whats the m201 like ?
Mic up Peavey Bass Stack maybe a sm58.
Then a sm58 for vocals.
So all mic's into the desk then into 2 channels of the 4 track 1 panned fully left 1 right & leaving 2 for overdubs.
The problem is then how do we hear the POD's
everyone elses has a loud amplifier.
Line outs to PA speakers ?
Any help is greatly appreciated
 
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