does this setup look ok?

[c41]

Hi,

I'm recording a band in a few weeks at their house and I want to make sure I know exactly how I'm going to set it up as we'll only have the weekend to do it.

I'll have a bunch of borrowed mics - SM58's, SM57's and a few other better mics - apparently specifically for the bass drum and guitars. I'll be using my Mac 400Mhz laptop and Protools Free to capture sound using the sound-in port direct to a 20Gb external firewire hard drive and burning a cd via an external firewire cd burner. I've got a small "db technologies" mixer that has 8 channels (5/6 & 7/8 are stereo channels) and an old (but still working fine) yamaha 4 channel mixer (all channels have a gain knob).

I thought I'd use the yamaha mixer to get 4 mics on the drums coming into 1 channel on the db mixer (so i have gain control over each drum mic), and use the other channels on the db mixer for guitars.

Below is a diagram of the envisaged setup...<br>
<img src="http://www.c41.com.au/images/recording.gif">

This will just be a live recording and as I'm sure you'll agree - pretty no frills. I'll use the db mixer to do vocals/synth overdubs after we lay down all the bed tracks. I could just sit in the room with them but i thought getting a long stereo cable and sitting the computer/stereo outside the room would enable me to get a good live mix quicker.

If you have any comments or thoughts on how I could use what I have better etc, I'm all ears, thanks in advance,

pete

 

[heinz]

Nice diagram. If it were me I would make the rack/floor tom mics L/R overheads instead, more balanced on cymbals/tom levels and you get a better stereo image in my experience. It's also better if you can separate the live instruments into different rooms if possible, unless there's some killer live reverb you want to cop from the room. I like guitar amps in the bathroom for example.

Separating people assumes the band can deal with it and you have the cords & headphones. Your current setup would have tons of bleed between elect gtr, acoustic gtr, and drums. If separation is not possible at least try and get some baffles between those guys. My two centos.

 

[c41]

thanks Heinz,
yeah - wont be able to get the players into seperate rooms unfortunately - we'll set up some baffles. They are a particularly quiet band though so that can only help with regards to the spill and note taken on the toms mic setup - cheers!

pete

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

I would definately see if those Tom mics would work as L/R overheads. The way you have it set up right now, there is no opportunity for stereo anything. If you can at least get a stereo image on the drums it will go a long way towards creating a space for the whole song.

As such, you may want to arrange the other instruments around the drums the way you want them to appear in the mix- or as close as you can get without too much trouble. That way any bleed into the overheads will be right about where you want it to be anyway.

Also, you'll be much happier if you can move the mixers out to the "control room" with the laptop. Then you can just close the door and have the band play away while you solo and adjust all the levels. If the mixers are in the room you'll have to set levels, go out and listen, set levels, go out and listen, tweak levels, go out and listen.... You just can't mix while in the same room as the band.

Good luck! That looks like fun!
Chris

 

[c41]

thanks Chris,
yeah - i agree, would be good to get the mixers out of the room but all the mic leads wouldnt be long enough.... this way I've just got to get a real long stereo cable.. unless theres another way?

great feedback guys keep em coming!!

pete

 

[ausrock]

c41,

This business specialise in studio/recording gear hire. It may be worth your while to check them out for any bits and pieces (overhead mics, long cables, etc) to help your project.
Have a look at their site.

Studiofx.......www.studiofx.com.au
TEL: 02 9281 0272
FAX: 02 9281 0276
P.O Box 696 Darlinghurst, NSW, 1300.
EMAIL: gear@studiofx.com.au