recording my band live.

[ollie99]

If I were to record my band live can people suggest ways I should set it up? we have an electric guitarist (me), keyboard, bass, drums and a female vocalist. And the keyboard player will be singing as well (male).

I have a xenyx x1222usb with 6 xlr inputs and the mics I have are:
the 2 toms, kick and snare mics from the CAD stage 4 four-piece drum mic pack
2 behringer c-2 condensers
2 shure sm58's - maybe only 1 works, Im not sure

I cant really see a use for the 58's so what should I do in terms of choice and positioning?

bear in mind that the keyboard is coming through an amp usually placed towards the back and I think both the vocals come through two speakers at the front (left and right)

My original thought would be to place just the condensers at the front, but I thought maybe I could mic the snare and kick drum or perhaps mic the guitar.

the keyboard player's mum is good with music and so is the female vocalist's and they always help with sound checks, so they would be able to do some tweaking.

forgive me if there is a better place for this, but I couldnt see an obvious forum and I usually get good replies here.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Goldilox]

Do you mean 'live in the room' or live in front of an audience?

Assuming you mean live in the room rather than a gig environment, I'd close mic kick & snare and use your two condensers as drum overheads. DI the Bass and keys and put one SM58 in front of your guitar amp and use the other for vocals.

Using a 'live' mixer to record can be a bit hit and miss - you can't adjust levels later, and some of them are quite noisy. You'll find the levels even more of an issue being in the band. You're more likely to get something usable if you've got a sound guy mixing as you go along rather being stuck with the levels you started with. But hey - have a go and see what you come up with - some of my favourite records were made using one microphone and mixed by telling people how to stand in relation to it....

 

[ollie99]

I suppose I meant in front of an audience but thinking about it there's no reason why not in a room, would be a lot easier. Okay thanks for the input. when I record drums I usually use the kick, snare and 2 condenser setup so I know that gets good results. My only concern is the sm58 on the guitar but ill experiment at home.
Ill probably do a proper recording actually, get a lot better results, although it would take time.

 

[Goldilox]

I've never had great results live in front of an audience, so other people here may be of more use, but I'd probably mix sound for the room as I would usually and then use my laptop & interface to put a board mix on one track and then stick the two condensers out front and put them on their own tracks, and blend to taste.