Live gig recording of a 3-piece....

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McPBrain

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I volunteered to do a live recording of my buddy's 3-piece band. They consist of guitar, bass, and drums.... one lead vocal and one harmony. They aptly describe themselves as "twangy power pop". Oh yeah.... their stage volume is quite loud....

I'm going to track them with an Akai DPS16. I'm probably going to limit it to 8 tracks, but I may use the SPDIF ins for 2 more tracks if necessary. I have a small mixer with 8 mic pres plus an RNP and 6 channels of compression to add to the equation....

My very limited mic assortment consists of an AT4050, an Oktava MK-012, (2) Naiant MSH-2 omnis(on order), a Senn e609, an AT41HE, (2)SM57's, and (3)SM58's. I can probably score a kick mic too. The drummer's kit is comprised of: Kick, snare, rack tom, and floor tom with minimal cymbals. Also, his kick sports a resonant head without a hole.

Vocals will likely be tracked, but there's a strong possibility that they will be scratched and added at a later date in my project studio. Therefore, if I need those 2 channels for instrument mics, that is an option...

I'm looking for ideas on which mics to utilize and where to place them, please. Here's my thinking for what it's worth...

vocals - (2)SM58's
Guitar - e609
Bass - D.I.
Kick - AT4050 in front of resonant head...cardio(?) Will this give enough attack?
Overheads - Naints in recorderman setup
Snare - Oktava or SM57 under snare. What phase issues should I watch for with this and the OH's?

Any input is appreciated!
 
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You're likely going to have problems with the vocal tracks.

Unless you have a huge space with good separation, I can bet you that you're going to get way too much bleed from the drums in the vocal mics that it'd be stupid not to dub. The backup vocalist may prefer not to track vocals at all and just dub it in later.

How big is the recording space?
 
Well.....

It's a pretty wide stage, but not very deep.

I figure if I don't need the tracks, I'll go ahead and record the vocals just for them to have a critiquing reference. Then we'll scrap them and overdub to make the finished product....
 
the omnis are going to pick up everything. If I were you i would use the oktava and the 4050 as overhead positioned above the kit as a spaced pair making sure the snare is in the exact middle, put a 57 on top of the snare, another 57 in front of the kick drum (replace this with samples if you're dumping to computer), e609 on guitar cab and the rest the way you said it.

Even though the overheads are not a matched pair, you can try eqing them so that they sound somewhat similar (no ones going to listen to it and be like, "he used too different overheads, you hear that?") and it will pick up the toms too. Somewhere down the line you will have to cut corners with only 8 channels and limited mics. I think the Naiant's would just pick up too much ambiance and the toms would be lost. I guess the best way would be to experiment a little if you have time for a sound check before the show. I think you are going to have too much leakage of vocals in drum mics just to scratch them.

Tough decisions though, good luck!
 
Thanks....

Appreciate the input folks.

Yeah, I worry about those omnis causing a few problems....

I did have pretty good luck recording a kit in my house last year using the 4050 as a mono overhead, Oktava on hats, 57 on snare and the drummers kick mic. However, I had him play the first pass without his toms setup because the over-ring was terrible. We then set up his floor tom for overdubs....

I just remembered something else. I really CAN'T track the vocals because I won't be able to set up near the house mix and I don't want the vocalists to have to try to negotiate two mics.

Is there any free drum replacement software out there? It would be WAY to tedious to do it manually. I do have an Alesis DM5. Maybe I could use the recorded track to trigger it?
 
I've recorded my band and another band (both similar to what you described) in a live setting. Like you I was concerned about the vocals. I tapped a line out from the PA for the vocals with surprisingly good results. I don't know if this option would work in your situation but it did for me.
 
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