getting ready for recording

[trdn1]

My questions:
1. which mic(s) to use - from limited Shure selection
2. how should I mix / pan a acoustic guitar / ac. bass / wood conga - vocals will be done later
3. how should I EQ on the mixer? I have heard of recording flat, then EQ'ing the whole mix later, but I think that a little coloring or shaping won't hurt before hand.
3. do you have any other tips that come to mind?

here's the situation. I was commissioned to record an acoustic rock band, they play the instruments that i mentioned above. What I plan to do, since we are on a tight time constraint is to have them set up in a large sound dampened room and play live, snake across into another room, running into a crest mixing console (comparable to the mackie SR VLZ pro) then out into a PC, where I will record at 48kHz. We have a full spectrum of shure mics to choose from. Two condensors, and a load of 58's and 57's. There is also a bass drum mic to play with. I know that Neil Young's album Harvest was recorded in much the same manner. Apart from close micing (how close?) the individual instruments, should i use the condensor mics to pick up the room sound? I have limited experience recording this way, studio cost is $0 so we can play around, but would like to knock this out in as little time as possible. Thank you for your help.

 

[brc5340]

recording

I recently started recording myself. I purchased a Digital recorder, for about $400. The mics that you are referring to : sm 58's are great mics for vocals,
and overhead drum mics... cymbals, toms, ..... the sm 57 are great for instruments, such as snare high hat... accoustic guitar. You can record 4 track simontaniously , with the recorder that i purchased, which is a fostex,
8hd 8 track hard drive. no cd burner you want to burn this on a seperate component, like a pc. using a good program. I prefer Magix Music Maker...

I also run through a mixing board, but the secret is to use Head phones, the vocals should be played though the board. then after you have recorded the
minstrument tracks, then you get your volcal track. Make sure that you have complete silence when do the vocal track... Trust me it works. You will get a excellent manual with the recorder, and can make some awsome cd's.

I hope this will help you in your recording experiences!!!!

 

[grn]

I'd probably use condensers on all of those instruments, maybe try a 57 on the wood conga. I would record 'flat' as you said... there's absolutely no reason to apply EQ unless it's necessary. Record the sound exactly how you want to hear it. Only EQ to make it stand out in the mix.

Mixing and panning and everything else really depends on the song. You might want them to be mono, especially since you're inexperienced. If it's for rhythm, I usually double track acoustic guitar and hard pan left and right, then leave the bass in the center with the vocals. The percussion depends... what really matters is that it's balanced. Maybe you want to pan the acoustic a bit to the left and the conga a bit to the right and have the bass and vocals in the center - I'm not saying do that, but it depends on the song.

If you don't know how to mic these instruments properly... research it on this board (use the search function) and on google. Otherwise it will sound terrible. Use a condenser on the acoustic guitar/bass and aim in at about the 12th fret... it can be a couple inches away or a couple feet. Maybe plug the bass directly in. Capture room sound if the room sounds good.

I really think you need way more experience.