I'm gonna build a studio on the road. Thoughts?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:24 am

Hey guys, so I do a lot of music stuff in my area .. booking, web design, management, etc.

I just bought a Mackie ONYX 1220 mixer (for sale: http://www.recording.org/ftopicp-267521.html#267521 ). So i'm going to upgrade to a 1620 because I need the additional XLR inputs.

What I want to do is put together a "recording studio on the road". Have bands hire me out to do a live recording of their show independantly of the sound guy (because I dont know anything about live sound yet).

I can bring my mixer, mics, and computer to a show and record it. Then master tracks and give (sell) them to the band. Neat huh?

So I'll need some mics... 4+ for drums (kick, snare, 2x overhead), vocals, guitar, bass, and keyboard. Any suggestions for mics? The only mic I already have is an AKG C1000 condensor mic. It's freakin sweet so I'd probably use it as an overhead (which means I'd probably want to get another one for the other overhead, right??).

Suggestions would be awesome, thanks guys!

-Dave

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:09 am

I wouldnt spent on mics if you already have people with the PA set up, what I would do is if they have a mixing board with the capabilities of some Buss, specialy 8 if possible, just get you premix from the main board and routed to you gear and get ready to rock, you just need to make sure that you have a good premix so it sound good when recording it to your DAW.

Just a thougth, good luck.

Zoro. Smile

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:38 am

Hey thanks for the quick response.

The guys I know with a PA have a very limited one (my 1620 itself it worth as much as their entire setup!). Their mixer definitely does not have a bus, and if I'm going from band to band, I need to have my own gear anyways to make sure I dont run into problems with bands not having enough gear. know what i mean?

Any more thoughs?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:31 pm

Then if you are buying the gear for miking get a couple of 57's, c1000's, and a beta 52A for the KIK, these are great for live miccing and recording drums, plus you don't want to have 1000"s of $$ on just mics on a stage with strange people, you know.
Additionally regarding the bass and keyboards is always good if you run them with a Direct Box instead of miking, for guitar the 57, vocals the Beta 58A or the 87 C.

Best regards Zoro.

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:06 pm

Any reason you say a Beta 52a over an AKG d112? Any experience with the AKG? The numbers are a little bit better, but I'm pretty unfamiliar with all of this. I love my C1000, so I'm a little biased. Razz

I've only got the 8 xlr inputs (4 drum mics, 3 vocals, guitar = all 8 xlrs will be used), so I'll need to find a good way to go thru a 1/4" cable into the mixer.

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:45 pm

I think that the beta 52 have a great low frequency response and you are right I am not familiar with the AKG. If you ran out of inputs you will probably then need to purchase a analog mixer and premix the drums in stereo and that way you'll have another 6 channels available for the rest, and Smile

yea the c1000's are great isn't.

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:22 pm

for kik mics dont discount the audix d6 either. i have used both it and the beta52 on different occasions and they are both great mics. im using the d6 abit more tho at the moment....

*edit* dont forget snakes, etc as well... */edit*

twon

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm

i dont want to premix drums because the best part about the onyx line is that each input shows up as a seperate track on the computer. so being able to eq/pan/mix each drum seperately is what makes a live recording become studio quality.

thanks for the help ya'll!

... what this about snakes?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:40 pm

a snake is a multicore cable. the question is where are you going to be sitting? will you be on the side of the stage? snakes will let you sit further away, and will make cable runs more easy to deal with. you could put the box from the snake on stage and the other end would plug into your stuff

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:56 pm

oh, yeah thats the plan... probably a 50-100ft. know any good places to get a deal on one? i'm not sure if i trust myself to build one.

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:28 am

where are you located?

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:29 am

near buffalo, ny

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:35 am

About snakes...

You will need to determine whether you will need a single isolated or dual isolated split.

What that means is that you will be supplying the entire interconnect from FOH, optional Moitor Beach and your tracking rig.

The direct feed either goes to FOH or Monitor world. (Whoever is supplying phantom) to ensure that musicians on stage don't get the crap shocked out of em' when they step up to a mic while playing an instument.

I opted for a 48x8 dual ISO Whirlwind w/ Jensen's. 2-300 foot trunks, and 3-25 foor fans. By far, the most expensive piece of gear I own. Then again, it IS the heart of the entire tracking chain. Garbage interconnect means garbage tracks.

HTH,
Max

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:48 am

How do I determine what kind of split I need? I will simply be micing the entire setup, plugging mics into the snake, and then snake into mixer. The mixer has firewire out into the computer, which takes each mixer channel and turns it into a seperate track.

I dont' know what FOH or Monitor Beach means. Sorry i'm such a newbie!

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:54 pm

F.O.H = Front of house ... as in where you sit and listen/mix/ in front of the desk. ....

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