Recording a 7 piece band demo

[warble]

Hey all,
I'm looking for some input on recording a 7 piece band demo to use as promotion. I've recorded some of my own stuff using my Echo Gina (2 ins) which is just keys, vox and midi drums and other elements, but am not sure how to tackle this new project.

The band is a band I'm in with my Dad, and we're doing 50's-60's music. The guys want to record a demo with maybe 4 songs to use as promotion, and I think the feeling is that they want to do it live rather than overdub. We've got 4 guys doing vox (4 part harmony), guitar, bass, keys, drums and sax. I've got us all running into my Yamaha MX12/4 mixer right now for rehearsals, and am trying to visualize how I'm going to get us all into the computer for recording. I've been thinking about getting a Presonus Firepod to replace my Echo (was thinking about that before this came along), which would give me 8 ins to play with, but I know this isn't my only option.

I'm looking for some input on how everyone would approach this. My goal isn't incredible quality necessarily, just a decent sounding mix that would present well for the demo. I've done some stuff on my own that I'm very happy with, and feel I can get this worked out to everyone's liking (with patience and valuable input from this BBS).

Warren

 

[northsiderap]

Recording LIVE

I'd just make sure you have your mixer and listening location well away from the band...

Then you can mic them with a standard mixer and adjust levels as they go...

I've seen decent demos produced with just an XY pair in front of the band, in a good room of course.

 

[thajeremy]

I know you said you want to record it live, but you might want to consider a few overdubs...maybe knock out the drums and bass at once, then keys, guitar, and sax, over that... and last do the vocals.

 

[AlexW]

I think an interface with more inputs (Presonus or similar) would be a good option. I've been tracking alot of bands lately live. In general, you can do the instrumental tracks together in one pass, then go back and overdub vocals. To limit bleed, run the bass direct and have the players monitor with headphones. With your mixer, you should be able to get decent coverage close mic'ing things then submixing into your 8-channel interface where needed. If you're light on inputs, you could consider overdubbing the sax and/or keys as well.

 

[xstatic]

Personally, you would probably be better off with 16 channels of Maudio than 8 channels of presonus. This will give you more flexibility during mixdown and I am sure that you won't regret it. Bouncing tracks to tape can be very complicated and frustrating when it comes to mix time.

 

[warble]

Thanks for the input everyone. I have a FirePod on the way as I've read plenty of good stuff about it, and it should suit my needs currently and in the future. By what I've seen around here and all over the net, I think I made a good decision.

I think I'm going to take the approach of laying down instrumentation first, then doing vocals. I think I'll get good vocal tracks to work with - which is the empasis of the band - doo wap, 4 part harmony stuff. I'm going to run the bass direct into the FirePod, mic the guitar amp & sax, run keys direct and probably do about 4 mics on the drum kit - snare, kick, and a couple overheads. We're not doing a balls to the wall studio recording here, just trying to produce a decent demo we can use.

Thanks again for the input - it's appreciated everyone.

 

[xstatic]

Based on the way you plan on recording, you can ignore my previous post I am just used to running anywhere between 14 and 24 inputs simultaneously when I start tracking a band and sometimes forget that not everyone has as much gear or even plans on tracking the way I do. It sounds to me like you are ready and have done the proper research for how YOU want to record. Congrats