880 for live???

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FZfile

FZfile

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Hello.
I was asked to help a freind record his band during one of there practices so that they could each have a "reference demo", for lack of a better term.
They are a 4 piece (singer, guitar, bass, drums).
I know I could just stick two room mics up and record, but I was hoping to do a little better, especially since the room sound sucks.

So....my questions are these:

1) Can I set up 4 mics on the drums (kick, snare, two OH's) and mix them ON the 880 so as to use the stereo compressor unlinked to process the kick and snare separately....AND mix those 4 inputs to 1 TRACK?????

2) then use the other 3 TRACKS to record vox, guitar, and bass separatley?(using the NARRATION eff. patch for vox)???

I know I could submix to one TRACK but I have limited outboard gear and if I can get it onto the 880 I can maybe clean it up a little in sound forge as a 2 TRACK mix before burning.

Any thought would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
-mike
 
Dude-

You've got eight tracks, so why not put the kick and snare on separate tracks, and use two mics for stereo overheads. (tracks 1,2,3&4) The whole band can play, but you only record the drums.

Then you can bounce the drums to a stereo pair (5&6), and you'll still have the original tracks, so you can do it over if you're not satisfied later...

Now you can overdub...
So, switch 1,2,3&4 to different v-tracks.

That means you can put guitar on a separate track (4)
Bass guitar on a separate track (3)
Vocals on separate tracks (1&2)

Then you can bounce the whole thing to a stereo pair (7&8), and send that to Sound Forge.

If you must record the whole deal at once, then by all means record the drums in stereo. Mike it all up (you have eight simultaneous inputs, right?) and put everything on separate tracks. Hook the VS to your soundcard, and play 'em all in to Sound Forge.
____________
wawazzat?
Well, that's how I would do it, your mileage may vary
:cool:
 
Thanks Wawazzat.

That is a good stratagy.

I have two unfortunate limitations working against me on that, though.

1st is the fact that my pc is not portable.......or at least it could be, ONCE!!!, untill my s.o. found out. Then she would freak out and I'd have to get all manly on her.
.....and then apologise and grovel for an undetermined amount of time.

Thats no big deal, really, because I could just take the tracks home and work them and then give them the "finished" product.

The real pain is the fact that the band (including my friend in the band, though not so much as the others) doesnt forsee the need to set up, really.
They want me to record a practice session.

....except the room sound is not good at all.

.....and the drummer wants the amps facing HIM so he can hear.

.....and they all feel that they have to do it LIVE-WITH-THE-VOCALS so that they get the right feel on the breaks.

.....and they all really believe that somehow because I show up and put a "CONDENSER" mic up and record it "DIGITALLY" that it will magically sound grade above the box recordings that they have tried. (although my friend told me that the usuall box technique is to set it right in front of the drums since all of the amps are pointed that way anyway)

Gurilla (how do you spell ger illa) recording at its .....uhm..something.
Dont get me wrong...I love a challenge. But you get the picture.

Sorry for the long-windedness.....but I think what I mean to further ask is.....
with a Composer pro., Nanocomp., Dual 31 band eq, 4 ch. Para and the 2 onboard processors on the VS880......do I have enough to keep levels in check for a hard rock garage gurilla recording??????????????????????????????????????

Thanks - Mike
 
B.T.W
I asked the drummer if he would mind wearing headphones so he could hear and the we could pull the amps out away from the kit and face them the other way.
-mike
 
Since they dont seem to be too picky you should be fine with what you have. You might run out of mics but getting a useable live recording shouldnt be too difficult.
 
How about hanging curtains or blankets?
It's not that old of a solution.
 
I love curtains.

Ears, believe me, if they would hang curtains I would be soo happy but they think this is too much to do and they will some how lose the "vibe" (i.e. "look" imo) of the room.

But Tex, you bring up a good point.
They arent nearly picky enough, its me.
I'm sure they will settle for what they get (the doom of the lost american dream) but I kinda want to ring the snot out of my very modest equipment.

I just got the VS880 and I learned a lot twidlin around.

B.T.W. I now REALLY DO NEED AN EFFECTS PATCH LIST for the expantion card.
PLEASE!!!!! anybody!!!!
I'm to the point where there are just not enough post-9to5 hours in the day (ahhhh, the american dream thing) to continue to stumble through the effects deciphering what the abreviations really stand for(well most are obvious but....)

Anyway, it is hard rock (almost hardcorish) so I want to get a handle on the KICK and the SNARE individually.

I know that mic bleed from the amps is gonna be a pain but I figured that using my Composer dual mono for the KICK/SNARE and the NanoComp (ow!the flames!) for a touch of leveling on the bass will work.
But.....I still plan on having at least one over head mic, vox and guitar (probably direct, but hopefully mic'd).

So....any suggestions on wich 880 patches to use for this??????

-mike
 
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