Going Semi-Professional. Yay me!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter elbandito
  • Start date Start date
elbandito

elbandito

potential lunch winner
Tonight, I'll be getting paid to record a live band. Yay! Go me!! I guess I'm getting better and ppl are willing to give me a shot.

BUT! I need some advice.

The band consists of drums, three or four horns (trumpet, 2x sax, trombone), upright piano, upright bass, banjo and several vocalists - A big job for a starter but I've always been of the "Go Big or Go Home" camp.

The mics I own are: 2x Rode M3, AT4040, AT2021 (eww), Apex 435, SM57, AKG D112, Apex Harmonica mic and a few other dynamic mics. I'll be running these into a Tascam US1800 and using Reaper.

Here's what I was thinking:

1) Take the vox straight from the P.A.
2) Rent an MD441 or something similar for the bass
3) Use the 4040 on the Banjo
4) Use the Apex inside the piano and the 2021 on the backside for the soundboard (or vice versa)
5) Put up the pair of M3s as a coincident pair in front of the band to capture all the horns and drums.
6) Use the D112 on the kick so that it comes thru clearly in the mix.

What problems do you guys and gals foresee me running into with this setup? Can you make recommendations for mic rentals, if you think the mics I own won't work well? Any advice would be much appreciated. If this goes well, they'll have me back again to record them next month, so I'm really hoping to make a good, professional first impression.

Thanks in advance!
 
Wow - big band - I can't give much feedback but I hope it goes well!
 
For starters use the 112 on the stand up bass that was what it was mad for in the first place.
By the sounds of the band that your recording the kick may not be that important maybe just an over head on the drums will be enough.
 
Got his work cut out for him.
Hope he comes back to let us know how it went.
 
I'd be interested to see how this worked out - some very difficult instruments there...
 
moresound said:
Did you do the show yet?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had just finished when i posted that. I'm on my mobile atm, so I can't post tracks or anything right now but it turned out pretty well. I was mistaken about the instrument list. Turns out it was clarinet, sax, coronet, trumpet, trombone, piano, upright bass, banjo, drums and one main vocalist with shouts for backups. When i get to my computer, I'll post a raw track so you can hear how it went.
 
Here's the setup of the band I recorded last night. I used the pair of M3s in front, the AT2020 in the rear of the piano, the AT4040 on the bass, the SM57 on the banjo, the Apex 435 over the drums and took the vocals from the board.

miss_debbie.webp

All in all, the recording sounds pretty good, I think. Especially considering the tools I had on hand and the fact that this was my first time recording a group like this. Here's a quick clip - it's raw, unedited, no effects, leveling or anything, save a little panning:



Moresound - I would have tried using the D112 on the upright bass, except that I didn't see your post until after the gig. I kind of wish that I had, because there's a crazy amount of bleed coming in from the backside of the AT4040. If I use an LDC on an instrument like this again, I'll try using one of those stand-mounted reflection filters to subdue the effect somewhat.
 
Last edited:
elbandito said:
Moresound - I would have tried using the D112 on the upright bass, except that I didn't see your post until after the gig. I kind of wish that I had, because there's a crazy amount of bleed coming in from the backside of the AT4040. If I use an LDC on an instrument like this again, I'll try using one of those stand-mounted reflection filters to subdue the effect somewhat.
Click to expand...




Most musicians will not like having that big sail in front of them.
 
Hey!
Bastion Jazz.
My father-in-law's band just retired about a year ago. He's 84.
That's the stuff they played.
Their last gig went every Sunday for 13 years.
Great stuff.
 
You see where the kick doesn't matter much with this type of music - mostly snare and hi hat work. ;)
 
Now that you guys have had a chance to listen... Criticisms?
 
Well, I've begun mixing the performance and it's coming along well... I had to gate the crap out of the banjo and the vocal mics to kind of clear up the soundstage but the 4040 on the bass is really annoying. Talk about a bad choice! Also, the position of the drums (slightly behind and to the left of the banjo) means that the 57 grabbed a lot of the snare and made it sound horribly "middy" when the rest of the band lays back. The biggest problem is that the banjo and the piano are fighting for space in the mix, one swamping the other, depending on how hard the player is hitting their instrument. :S
 
That's going to be a tough one ..... Guess you'll have to go with what you got on this one and chalk it up as a learning curve for future recordings.
 
Last edited:
My advice would have been to record one track the way you did as a scratch track, then track each instrument/singer separately with that person's track disabled during playback. This allows the performer to feel like he or she is performing with the band, but gives you a nice, clean set of tracks at the end without the cross-instrument bleed.
 
dgatwood said:
My advice would have been to record one track the way you did as a scratch track, then track each instrument/singer separately with that person's track disabled during playback. This allows the performer to feel like he or she is performing with the band, but gives you a nice, clean set of tracks at the end without the cross-instrument bleed.
Click to expand...

But this was a live gig? Wasn't it? Why would you re-track a live gig?

Alan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top