Live recording in a house

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guitarboi89

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Ive got use of my parents house so i can do a recording :cool:

The band:
2 Guitarist that sing
Bass
Drums
www.myspace.com/electricfurs - For sound reference

The rooms:
Theres 3 carpeted bedrooms and one with wooden floors and high vaulted ceiling upstairs. Theres a living room with wooden floors and one with carpet.

Equipment:
Motu 828
Behringer AD ADAT output thing
KRK RP5
(And hopefully a desk for more pres :D)
with the desk it will give us 18 recordable inputs
Macbook Pro - Logic 8
two headphone amps

Microphones:
Ones we own..
Studio Projects B1
AKG 451
Behringer C2's :eek:
4x SM57

Ones were hoping to rent..
D112
RE20
MD421
more 451's
couple more 57's

We want to track live :rolleyes:, so thats means heaphone mixes, bleed and the two singers need to be in eye contact. :)

SO heres my plan:
Drummer and I (bass) in the large bedroom (wooden floors) its quite reverby but if were carefull it should be okay, bass direct. Were given a headphone mix between us
Kick - D112
Snare - 57
Bottom - C2
Toms - 57
Floor - 421 (or 57 depending on whether a singer uses it)

Two guitarists in same room with same headphone mix. Amps in different rooms
Amp 1 -(fender blue junior or ac15) - SM57 or B1
Amp 2 - (fender deville) - SM57

Vocals - RE20 and MD421 (one each :p)


Thoughts?
 
oh, we can only use it for one night (probably setup at 5pm, tear down at 1pm)

detatched house so it shouldnt be a problem :p
and were hoping to do 4-5 songs. Mixing at a later date
 
Sounds ambitious, though possible if you all are 100% prepaired. It's rare though that these things go off without a hitch and stay 100% on schedule, and that everyone nails their parts concurrently. So be prepaired to change game plans, and concentrate your efforts on getting solid keeper rythm section takes. You can always overdub, so don't kill the groove by stopping over and over again because of stuff that's better handled with a punch in.

It's always amazing how fast the clock spins when you're recording with limited time . ;)
 
thank you robert,
im seeing this as more of a learning opportunity and if i get even one decent track out of it i will be happy.
any more?
 
You think you need to start set up at 5 to pull this off? Then start at Noon.

And make sure EVERYONE knows their parts and the game plan in advance - the more details the better - what/when are you gonna eat? How sloppy drunk are you gonna get, etc. Maybe a few levels of goals.
 
I would recommend recording les songs and doing them well personally...
 
whoops, silly mistake! i think we will use the akg 451's, they seem pretty decent.

Andy - I agree whole heartedly, ill prob get there with another person who is helping me earlier and have everything cabled and put on stands ready to be positioned before anyone else gets there (i might get the drummer to drop off his kit early)
We have a practice this sunday and tbh were pretty tight as is. Food i need to organise but drinking im prob gonna say no completely, i want it to be enjoyable but realistically if you treat people like professionals i find they act and perform more like professionals.

Elton - I dont feel 5 songs is overly ambitious, i guess we will see how well things go and take it from there.
 
I have done similar projects to this in a house space with a limited time frame. I would just recommend you have fun and just see what happens. Sometimes you will be surprised what gold can be created in this sort of format.
And yeah you will probably encounter a few issues. I think the last time I did this the whole band went out in the evening had far too many beers so the next mornings recording hurt our heads a little. haha
Hope it goes well.
Cheers
 
Putting a band in a recording situation is like putting them under a microscope, and things you never noticed while being gig ready become hideously obvious under that magnification. Things like squeaks, buzzes, rattles, bad intonation, dead strings, etc. suddenly jump out of the monitors. The other day I had a perfectly good take ruined by the drummer's throne squeeking as the song ended, during the sustain. So have everybody make sure they don't bring such gremlins into the session.
 
I'm assuming you mean 5:00PM to 1:00AM? If you're doing this in a house, is there even remotely a chance your neighbors will be cool with this?
 
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