Live band recording (few inputs).

[CMolena]

Hey everyone.

I have a live band recording situation with few inputs on my interface. I've done similar stuff before...one mic for the whole band and a channel for the vocals. But in this case I placed the mic at one end of the room while the band grouped along the studio.

Now, this band I'm recording tommorrow picked up a studio where moving the instruments is not a possible deal (the owner of the studio is really not a cool person), so I'm having trouble figuring where to place the mics to capture everything. I dont need the drums to sounds huge, nor the guitars to sound IN YOUR FACE. I just need to capture everything.

I made a drawing in paint (sorry) for you guys to picture my situation. The vocals are not a problem because I'm picking the signal from the output of the mixer, so, thats one input used and 3 left.



I dont have an omni mic...but I have two condensers!

 

[Bill L]

I'm assuming you have a 2 input interface? I'd put 1 mic near the drums (use your ears and experiment for best placement) and the other I'd use on the guitar cabs. Angle the cabs to achieve a balance of volume between the 2. But what about vocals? Are they being done later (or possibly instrumentals?) or is there a speaker for them? If there is, include the vocal speaker in the mic with the guitars in between the 2 cabs so the vocals would be coming out of the middle. Don't worry about the bass as that will flood the room and come through both mics anyway. When you only have a few inputs, it all comes down to experimenting with mic placement to find the best results (true of recording all tracks, I suppose). Hope this helps.


**I should have read your post more carefully, I suppose, but my advice still stands.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

It looks like you've got four inputs. I'd track down one more mic. If the drummer is facing the bass then put a mic between them to get both, and one mic on each guitar cabinet. It would help if the bass amp and bass drum are about the same volume in the room. Try a couple of positions, down low pointed up, up high pointed down etc. to get the best balance of drums and bass. I would specifically try it about three or four feet off the ground, a little to the left of the drum/bass area (per your drawing) aimed horizontally to the right with its back to the guitars.