Recording a band

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DaddySaysSooooo

New member
Hey to all that see this...
I have been here for 5 months or so and havent contributed at all but I have read tons before I start to ask all my dumb azz questions.
A lot of what I have read I have been able to apply or just understand and that's great. I am at a time now where I want to be much more hands on.
I am currently going to try cubase sx. This is a trial version and that's ok until I know if it is the one for me to buy.
My 1st question I will ask is what is the best way to get a decent recording of a live band (during rehearsals)? These guys live far and I dont want to spend much time on recording us (coverband) but do want to hear us.
I just want to be able to record an hour or so at a time and edit later.
I know it isnt the best way to record as there wont be an engineer working the board as we play. I have everything run into a snake (drum mics, vocal mics, guitar mics and bass direct out) that goes to my mixer. I have 8 sub group outs on the mixer that runs into an M Audio delta 1010.
We are made up of 2 guitars, 7 drum mics, 1 bass, and lead vocal mic. In my way of trying to get it to work in my head would be have all the drums as a stereo buss? Lead vocal as a stereo buss? Guitars one buss each? Bass gets one? One backing vocal mic buss? That's 8 buss's (all I have) Would that be a good way to go? Is there a better way or even just an alternative w/o getting more equip right now?
One problem I have encountered is this, I set up a template using "blank" and add audio tracks. I make the track one, buss 1 and make it a stereo buss. I make track 2 buss2 and also make that stereo. I assign all the drums to track 1 through the stereo buss and when I try to do the same for track 2, buss2 (stereo) it wont let me choose it as stereo, only stereo left and stereo right? What am I doing wrong there? I want to use that one for the lead vocals.

Ok I hope I have explained things and look forward to any and all replies.

Thanks
 
I can't wait to read some of the responses you get because basically I've considered the same thing. Although my setup is more-so direct line into the board then out to Delta-66 and since I'm playing all the instruments, I record one at a time but I do have friends that come over and when I record us through Cubase, I attempt to get the setting correct and balanced through the board and simply (and I stress simply) record in Cubase (Stereo L/R) on one Audio Channel.

The results have been pretty good but obviously if I where able to get all seperate instruments on individual tracks, I would have much more power of editing and mixing.

My dilema is mic bleed over ... or being able to isolate the sound(s) from one channel to the next. I hope you get a solution because according to the manual I read somewhere, you should be able to do this.
 
for practices i use 2 overheads and a bass drum mic on the drums and a room mic to get everything else. i record onto a vf16 which is real quick and easy to set up.
 
Bonz said:
My dilema is mic bleed over ... or being able to isolate the sound(s) from one channel to the next. I hope you get a solution because according to the manual I read somewhere, you should be able to do this.
Click to expand...
Use cardoid pattern mics instead of Omni-directional. With careful placement, and the use of a couple barrier (Isolation) panels (i.e. in front of your amps to minimize forward sound projection), You can achieve pretty good results. A little bleed through from track to track isn't always a bad thing either, as long as it is fairly minimal.
 
last time i recorded, i put non essential sound in another room, sometimes in 2 other rooms... ie/ if everyone follows the rhythem guitarist.. put him in the main room with the drums, and put non essentials (lead guitar, bass) in another room... maybe with a little bit of monitors if they need to be heard for changes... this will cut down on track bleed.....
as for the multi channel bussing... you could try to buss unsimiliar things together, ie bass and overheads, or snare and kick.. that way you can kinda seperate by copying the track and eq'ing each one out....
or if you have $200 .. drop it on an 8-channel a/d --> adat converter and plug that into the digital in of your 1010 (if it has one) therefor expanding it to 16 inputs..
?
 
seismetr0n said:
non essentials (lead guitar, bass)
Click to expand...
Since when are these considered non-essential???

That's not a bad suggestion though if you can't get it into the computer track-for-track. Unfortunately the 1010's digital I/O is via S/PDIF (2 In/2 Out) only.
 
I think recording to a PC for up to an hour might be pushing your luck. It's been my experience that the longer your recording session is, the more likely some hiccup will occur on the PC and halt the recording process.

If your goal is performance review, you might consider cassette tape for the initial recording, then dump those tracks to your PC, each song to it's own project or file.
 
EddieRay said:
I think recording to a PC for up to an hour might be pushing your luck. It's been my experience that the longer your recording session is, the more likely some hiccup will occur on the PC and halt the recording process.
Click to expand...


my record is two tracks (we took a little break) first track was 74 minutes long,
second was 46 minutes. both recorded with 8 ins thru a layla 24.. both on the same window, .. error did occur at the 119 minute mark.. hey 2 hours isnt so bad... i think the prog slows things up by trying to pan that massive file.
 
sorry about the bass/rhythem guitar non-essential thing, but in a lot of bands i've been in we usually follow 1 person (usu a guitarist) and the drummer...
i use this to record multitrack sessions too sometimes... the guitarist plays with his/her amp in different room, and the drummer has headphones with only guitar in them... the guitarist knows what they're playing and it usually produces a tight 'base' track...
this doesnt work with all bands though... some people are just no good at multitracking
 
seismetr0n said:
or if you have $200 .. drop it on an 8-channel a/d --> adat converter and plug that into the digital in of your 1010 (if it has one) therefor expanding it to 16 inputs..
?
Click to expand...

Ok what I learned today was I can add MORE then 8 ins!!!!!
I like that!!!!! I looked at some of the adat converters and I dont want to spend a ton. I have seen them start at 150 and go wayyyyyyyyyyy up!!!!!
My main question is that I would need a pre-amp for the mics that went into the converters (I am sure the $$$$ ones have pre amps)??????????

I could sub mix the drums into an 8 channel board and go direct out to the converter but I dont want to involve another board in the whole thing.
\Anyone use an inexpensive converter that has a pre-amp built in?
 
does your mixer have direct outputs for each channel, or insert points on the channels? If so you'd be better just adding another 1010 to your system giving you 16 inputs
 
Ok I did a lot of research on it and have a much better understanding of what a unit like that does.
I have seen the Behringer ADA8000 FOR 230 or so and that has phantom power along with the pre amps. I know most dont like behringer but this seems like a good deal and I have some of their equip already and (knock wood) havent had problems yet.
What do ya think?
 
I don't think I'd ever trust Behringer to do something as crucial as my A/D conversion :eek:
You asked :D
Personally I liked the suggestion of adding another 1010, or better yet, a firewire based unit, which would facilitate mobil recording via laptop as an option for you, and you could always add it on with the 1010 for the big jobs.
 
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