Recording a jazz quintet

L

l1nk333

New member
Hi !

As the title says, I want to record my jazz quintet ( grand piano, doublebass, alto sax, drums and a vocalist).

I dont have a lot of gear, but I've managed to borrow some mics so here is what I got :
Shure sm57, shure sm58, shure bg 4.1, akg c391 b, focusrite cm25 scarlett.

I might be able to get an akg pencil mic ( I cant remember the name, but it is black and has a golden akg logo on it). I'll be running them through a yamaha mg12 (non-xu version, doesnt have usb) to a scarlett 2i2. I know this is not optimal, but its what i've got.

Which mics should mic which instruments ? Where should I place them ? Sorry If I'm asking a complicated question, but I could really use some help.
 
I don't think you have enough mics, and extra mic would be good but here goes for my suggestion.

Drums: BG4.1 as an overhead but you will have to position the mic so it picks up some kick, if you had an extra mix I would have used the SM57 on kick with the BG as overhead.
Piano: C391B
Sax: SM58
Vocals: C25
Double Bass: SM57 (not ideal but best you have, does it have a pickup? if so blend the SM57 with the pickup).

The whole setup is not ideal but you should get reasonable results as long as the room sounds good and you work on the separation of instruments by placement of the performers.

Sometimes we can only work with what we have.
Alan.
 
Thanks ! One more thing, where should I place the mic to record the piano ? Its an imperial bosedorfer, if it makes any difference
 
Where! Are you going to do this recording?
If in a nice theatre/hall then I strongly suggest you hire/beg/borrow a pair of mics and record in co-incident stereo. Other mics might be need to "spot" certain things. Bass and possibly the vocalist (is he/she used to going through a PA? )

If however this is a scratch recording in a domestic (aka B awful) acoustic you will need to close mic everything and get the best mix/pan you can.

I have a BBC video of MJQ on "Jazz 625" and it is delish but in mono and they used a LOT of 4038 ribbons!
THOSE were the days!

Dave.
 
I'm going to record in a big living room. It has lots of curtains and tapestry so I guess it help with the sound a bit ? Sorry I if I'm saying bs, I just dont really know that much about recording/acoustics and such.
 
l1nk333 said:
Thanks ! One more thing, where should I place the mic to record the piano ? Its an imperial bosedorfer, if it makes any difference
Click to expand...

The Imperial is a grand piano, right?

Open the lid, and position the mike so that it's roughly at the place where the support meets the lid, facing down into the body of the piano.
 
Looks like you guys have given some good answers while I was in a session and then asleep (well a bit of sleep), you all liked my mic selection?

Piano advice from gecko zzed is exactly what I would do.

Alan.
 
I'd probably put the piano on half stick, and witzendos's selection would do me. No need for a kick mic, the overhead does fine, and most jazz drummers have light kick drum feet anyway. With careful EQ, I think this will do the trick. Bosendorfers can be unpleasant with a captive mic inside, so if it sounds boxy, then open the lid up, but the damn thing will spill. If the Imperial is the one I think it is, the bass strings can be quite overpowering if you close mic, and you'll be forced to choose a very right hand biased mic position with one mic. It's also quite old so watch for increased noise from the dampers - especially if the pianist has a very fast pedal foot.

I might swap the sax and drum mic around, the 58 having a bit more top, and the BG with it's more limited top end cutoff not being too much of a problem on the alto - unless he's a screamer.

I've had a few sessions where you end up with odd mic choices, and very rarely does it cause serious issues eq can't control.

If the double bass player doesn't mind, wrap the 57 in a bit of foam and jam it between the bridge feet, pointing towards the neck. Most DBs respond to this, and with a bit of eq, can sound rather nice.
 
Since I have the adx 51, what should I use it for ? And sorry to ask this, but where should I place the overhead ? Over the hi hat or the ride, or over the snare ?
 
Since you have the ADX51, try swapping around the mics a bit,


Drums: ADX51 as an overhead SM58 inside the kick.
Piano: C391B
Sax: BG4.1
Vocals: C25
Double Bass: SM57

But if the BG4.1 does not sound good on the sax try swapping the BG and the ADX,

the other option is to,

Drums: BG4.1 and ADX51 as overheads, positioned so that they pick up the kit as a whole, try one above the snare and the other to the side or front of the kit, experiment.
Piano: C391B
Sax: SM58
Vocals: C25
Double Bass: SM57

Alan.
 
I gotta ask...

How do you get to record a piano that costs up to a quarter of a million dollars, but you only get a couple of hundred bucks of recording gear with which to do it?
 
witzendoz said:
Since you have the ADX51, try swapping around the mics a bit,


Drums: ADX51 as an overhead SM58 inside the kick.
Piano: C391B
Sax: BG4.1
Vocals: C25
Double Bass: SM57

But if the BG4.1 does not sound good on the sax try swapping the BG and the ADX,

the other option is to,

Drums: BG4.1 and ADX51 as overheads, positioned so that they pick up the kit as a whole, try one above the snare and the other to the side or front of the kit, experiment.
Piano: C391B
Sax: SM58
Vocals: C25
Double Bass: SM57

Alan.
Click to expand...

One of these scenarios should work. Please don't put the bass mic in foam in the tailpiece like someone said. That's ok for live gigs if you can't control isolation at all, but it's VERY dependent on the bass. Some basses will sound horrible if you do that. A mic on a stand out front pointed at the bridge will be better. Since you have no stereo pairs, the spacial image of the group will come from panning. Set everyone up the way you will pan it, and let the instruments bleed into all the mics. It's ok. It will add spaciousness to the sound and sound like jazz.
 
leddy said:
I gotta ask...

How do you get to record a piano that costs up to a quarter of a million dollars, but you only get a couple of hundred bucks of recording gear with which to do it?
Click to expand...

The piano is my great uncle's. He's a bussinessman from brazil and he loves playing piano. But I do think he went a bit overboard with this one XD.
I'm still a minor, I dont have an income and I don't want to ask for money, so I'll use what I have.
 
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