Recording my jazz combo in a few weeks. Need suggestions.

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Re-tox_stl

Re-tox_stl

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Howdy guys. In a few weeks I am going to attempt to record a few songs for the jazz combo I am in. The line up is drums, bass, guitar, piano, trumpet, tenor sax, and trombone. I have a plan for the rhythm section, but the horns is where I have a problem. I have no idea what mics to use. Yes I have done some research, and have a few ideas, but I just want some advice from some more experienced doods :D. Heres what I have so far:

Available equipment:
Interface- Focusrite sapphire pro 40 (8 ins)
Mics- sm57 x2, sm7b, Audio technica atm25 x2, senheiser e604 x2, shure super 55, Audio technica at4041 sdc, m-audio solaris ldc, behringer c2 sdc x2, studio peojects b1 ldc, akg c3000 x2, 2 other sdc mics that the school owns (cant recall the brand),

Setup idea:
Bass- Upright through a really nice Genz Benz STL6012T bass amp, direct in to interface
Guitar- 72 tele through a vox amp with a sm57
Drums- 2 of the condensers (not sure which ones) in a recorder man setup
Piano- Either upright piano with the m-audio solaris on the low end and the at4041 on the high strings, or use the schools Kurzweil keyboard and direct in to the interface.
Trumpet- Sm7b, not sure about position
Sax- sm57, not sure about position
Trombone- atm25, not sure about position

Everything will be tracked live in schools band room (the acoustics are pretty darn good). I am either going to track everything live at once with the setup above (or something similar), or track the rhythm section separately from the horns. Separately would give me much more microphone options being that I only have 8 available inputs. These are just my thoughts so far though. What do you guys think?

Thanks, Drew

p.s. No... sadly I don't have any ribbons :(
 
The first decision is really whether your brass section will be able to track well to the rhythm and will that alter how either group play. If you're all playing from charted parts that might work. Aside from better separation the advantages (if you can) will be:
* e604 on the brass might be nice
* you can spot mic the drums more - overheads plus kick snare and perhaps e604 on the toms - will depend on you drum parts how much this adds

Assuming you go the brass overdub then you can have 3 tracks for bass, guitar & piano giving you 5 for the drums (or 4 if you want stereo piano)
Mic'ing piano is just hard and a good room and good mics are important. Without that, in the mix the Kurzweil might sound better. You'll also get heaps of drums in the piano mic and vice versa particularly if the drum parts get loud. So unless you have good isolation go Kurzweil.

That should just leave the bass and guitar in the room with the drums. You can track with headphones and get drums only.
Take the Behringer sdc mics hide them where you won't use them! Use the AKG for the overheads
Again depending on your sound, you might want to mic the bass cabinet too - e604 (if it's not on the toms) would work. You can then get a blend of direct and amp sound for your bass.



Hope that gives you some extra ideas.

Ian
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
The first decision is really whether your brass section will be able to track well to the rhythm and will that alter how either group play. If you're all playing from charted parts that might work.
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Thats what I am worried about. No one besides myself, the bass and the guitar have ever recorded before, so 1 live take is probably my best bet. Yes we are playing charts, but there is mostly just solos.
you can spot mic the drums more
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Since we are only recording a couple of swing tunes, I don't really need to spot mic the drums at all. Bass drum and snare are minimal, toms are even more minimal.
Mic'ing piano is just hard and a good room and good mics are important
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Just the other week I recorded a song for a girl with the same piano in the same room. The results were surprisingly good!
Take the Behringer sdc mics hide them where you won't use them
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I know many people on this forum that can attest for the c2's. Yes, they are behringer, but they are actually not bad mics at all.
You'll also get heaps of drums in the piano mic and vice versa particularly if the drum parts get loud
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I am actually trying for this in a sense. I mean yes, I will try and isolate them to a degree via polar patterns and what not, but many great jazz recordings have a very live sound to them. In some cases, bleed can be awesome. if you get it right that it ;)

Kit: kick, snare and overheads x 2
Bass: straight into interface
guitar: SM58 on cabinet
piano: straight into interface
sax: behringer c2
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What about..
Drums: C2's or akg c3000 as OH
Bass: DI
Piano: DI
Guitar: 57
Sax: AT4041
Trombone: M-Audio Solaris
Trumpet: sm7b
 
ruthers1959 said:
Take the Behringer sdc mics hide them where you won't use them!
Click to expand...

Absolutely not!

Behri gets a bad reputation . . . but there is some gear that is really very fine, and that includes the C2 SDCs. They pick up the detail of brass really well, and they are extremely good on upright bass.
 
They pick up the detail of brass really well, and they are extremely good on upright bass.
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I will for sure give those a try on brass and bass then :D
 
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