Hi all!
I always enjoy reading how people approached recording situations, so I thought I would share my latest here. I don't post much, but I read every day and appreciate all the good ideas and advice I have seen here on the forum over the years.
I recently was hired to do a live recording of a local blues/rock band. The band consists of guitar, bass, and drums, with the bassist and guitarist on vocals. The venue was a typical bar/pub.
Here is the link to a track from the recording:
[MEDIA=soundcloud]rob-neidig/doublebookinblues-alt[/MEDIA]
For you gear hounds out there, here's a bit about how it was done.
The Setup:
Drums -
Kick - Audix D6
Rack Tom - Audix D2
Floor Tom - Audix D4
Hi-hat - AKG SE300 power module with CK93 hyper-cardioid capsule (the combo is sometimes referred to as the SE393)
Overheads - Oktava MC012 (x2). I have a pair of Audix scx-one mics that I use in more controlled situations, but these Oktavas do something better for me when I use them live. I'm not sure why, but I like them.
Snare - Sennheiser e604. I would normally use the typical SM57, but this is a left-handed drummer who sets up her kit right-handed. It would have been a little difficult to put the 57 into the right spot, especially to avoid it being in the way when she played cross-stick (since that would end up being right where a snare mic usually is placed). She uses the e604 when they are on a stage big enough to warrant being miced, so I went with it. Used the included mic clip that mounts directly to the rim. Placed it at about 2 o'clock on the snare. It actually worked out pretty well on her snare - a little more "beef" than a 57.
Bass - Electro-Voice RE20 on the cabinet
Guitar - Cascade Fat Head II with Lundahl transformer on the amp
Vocals - The band uses one of those boxy mixer/amp combo setups for a PA. I would normally take direct outs from the mixer, but this one does not have those, so I split the mic signals before they went into the PA.
Audience - I set up 2 AKG SE391 mics on either side of where I was recording, about 30 feet in front of the band.
Snake - I ran all mic cables from the stage to a snake, then back to my recording station.
Recorders - for live recordings, there is already so much equipment in use and so much going on that I like to streamline as much as possible. I have a Yamaha AW4416 16-track recorder that I have used for live recordings in the past. It is great in that you can record all 16-tracks at once and has a very flexible routing setup. It only has 8 mic preamps built in, though, and they are actually kind of weak, so in the past I have used outboard mic preamps. For this gig I did not want the extra gear. I used two Tascam DR-640 8-track recorders. They have mic preamps for the first 6 channels. Channels 7 and 8 can be recorded using AES or SPDIF, otherwise they end up just being a stereo mix of the other 6 channels. So on the first recorder, I put the drums on channels 1-6, as well as the hi-hat through an Apogee MiniMe mic preamp into Channel 7. Then I ran the output of recorder one into Channels 7 and 8 of recorder 2. This acts to clock the two recorders the same, as well as gives me a track to use to sync up the tracks from the two recorders once I get them into the DAW for mixing.
So really this ended up being a 13-track recording.
DAW - Reaper using a variety of plugins, though probably the ones I use most often are from the WAVES Chris Lord-Alge collection.
I know this is long, but I hope you've enjoyed the journey. I know I enjoyed taking it.
Rob
Comments
Is the track set to "private" or something? The Soundcloud playe
Is the track set to "private" or something? The Soundcloud player is blank.
It was linked to a playlist. Perhaps that doesn't work? I have e
It was linked to a playlist. Perhaps that doesn't work? I have edited it now to link to just one track. Hopefully that works.
I clicked the Reply button on your post and got to the link. May
I clicked the Reply button on your post and got to the link. Maybe links to playlists don't show up correctly.
That's a nice clean capture and a good mixing. I hear a lot of energy below 100Hz. That's a classic small room mixing issue. Even if you can't hear it it's there eating up headroom.