Classic country recording

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pdpdrummer989

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Hello all!
I have been asked to record a couple songs by a band and they play classic country (im a metal head so this is going to be interesting!) I have no experience recording this style but this is what I have to work with
Gear: 4 SM57's, 1 shure PG kick mic, 1 Behringer LDC, 2 Tascam LDC, 1 Behringer B5, 1 MXL LDC. 1 Behringer tube preamp (2 channel) 1 dbx compressor (2 channel), and my fostex vf160 (don't feel like taking my interface rack apart since I am recording them at their place).

Musicians. 1 bassist with amp, 1 steel guitar player, 1 drummer, 1 lead guitar/vocalist, and 1 rhythm guitar. All guitars are electric acoustic.

Idea: Drummer uses a small kit and I was thinking 1 LDC slightly over the kick drum facing the snare in a cardioid pattern. Direct input the bass and the steel guitar player since he uses an amp (if not large diaphram condensor?) the guitars I will put a SM57 on the amps and they all do vocals and they want to record "live" so I was going to take a feed off the PA mixer. I was then going to do one room mic.

Any suggestions?
 
I think I'd do three on the kit, bass, snare ohms just because if it's classic, it might be a lower level, and bleed will be a problem. DIs will help no end for guitar clarity. The last bit threw me, you are intending on recording direct to stereo? From the PA? Sounds a major problem. Unless the room is huge, you won't have much guitar in the PA mix and perhaps not much drums either. Could you explain a bit more? Not a multitrack then?
 
sorry I wasnt more clear!!! I am just taking vocals from the PA! because I only have 8 inputs to work with and there are 4 vocalists so they will run through the PA so everyone can hear the vocals and then I am taking a vocal mix from the 16 input PA mixer and going stereo to my recorder. What I was thinking was
Track
1-guitar 1/SM57
2-guitar 2/SM57
3-bass DI
4-Vocals
5-Vocals
6-Steel guitar
7-Drum
8Room Or other drum

I was going to do the recording method of placing one LDC about 4 inches over the kick facing the snare..I have seen this method in a few youtube vids and it sounds pretty good! They want an old like johnny cash sound.
 
Lots of pedal steel guys play through some pretty cool amps, dial in some badass tones, and play to what comes back from the speaker. If this is one of them, I'd say put the amp on a chair and stick a 57 in front of it.

The acoustic-electrics run into amps? Are they clean, full-range acoustic amps? Run from the amp's DI or line out. Are they tube amps meant to make them sound more like electrics? Use the 57s.
 
You would have more options if you overdubbed the guitars. That would give you another mic on the drum kit, a separate track for the lead vocal, and two tracks to record a stereo submix of the harmony vocals.
 
see the issue is they are all people in their 60's and do not want to actually go into a studio to do a recording so what they are trying to do is just get a "live recording" in their words. This isn't to sell or anything like that they just want to jam and get something they can listen to at the end of it.
 
Then don't waste too much time. Slap the mics out record it and listen. Then, when they moan, spend more time and do it better. I don't think being in their 60s has much to do with it - all bands want to be 'just recorded', until they hear it. Have a go, and then put the issues right for session 2.
 
rob aylestone said:
Then don't waste too much time. Slap the mics out record it and listen. Then, when they moan, spend more time and do it better. I don't think being in their 60s has much to do with it - all bands want to be 'just recorded', until they hear it. Have a go, and then put the issues right for session 2.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I can't imagine they are going to be very happy with the result, with one mic on the drums and the lead and backing vocals together on a stereo pair. I'd make a pitch for doing it right the first time. If you can isolate the guitar amps, there's no reason why they can't play along as the band records and then overdub their parts afterwards. Oh well, let us know how it goes.
 
I've done quite a bit of classic country recording, some of it has been using live feeds. First, before setting up anything, I'd listen to them in the room. If they sound decent there, I'd use two of the 57's and two closest sounding LDC's as stereo pairs in different widths with the chance that one of those pairs might get you what you want right there. I'd mic the kick and snare with the the other 57 and the kick mic. Take a two track live feed from the board. That's 8 tracks so far if I'm counting right. I'd put your next best LDC on the lead vocal ,If I could get a buss of their harmonies from the board I'd do that, otherwise maybe two more LDCs if you can get them to share. Next, I'd take a direct from the bass, a mic on the steel and directs from the guitars. That's fifteen, maybe another ambient mic high above the kit. Now, true classic country has very little cymbal wash in it. An old producer who listened to one of my early efforts once told me I had "too much iron" in it. LOL. So watch out for that. Also, the steel is very important, it's like a violin section in a Sinatra record. Again, don't neglect listening to each of the 3 stereo pairs (57s, LDCs and direct feeds) , you might only use one pair then add a taste of kick, snare and lead vocal to it. Good luck!
 
I just noticed you said you had only 8 inputs to work with, but the vf160 specs said it has 16 inputs. On re-reading the specs it says 8 of those are accessed with an adat input. I'd still go with a room approach if it sounds good, do a test of two stereo pairs and pick the pair that sounds best. Then an st mix off the pa for vocals if you don't get them with the room, then I'd take lead vocal to add, if you're comfortable with aligning phase in the mix, steel, and two guitars. If a test shows you're getting all vocals with the pa or stereo mix, I would add kick and snare. A quick test run of 2 songs, one loud song and one soft song, should tell you how effective the feed and/or the stereo mix will be You might listen to some live tv shows of Ernest Tubb, Merle Haggard, or Vince Gill to hear how they mix. Hope that helps.
 
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