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I have a modestly well-equipped mobile studio consisting of and existing around a Roland VS-2480CD,
a fairly well-designed rack system (if I do say so myself) with a 2ch. tube pre, 4ch. Comp,
4-12ch. Headphone Amp/Dist box w/Audio-Technica & Sony 'cans, 48-point Patchbay,
& Powered NFMs "on the side"...
(I won't go into the computer side of things, it's only just begun...and it's irrelevant...)

My mic selection is as follows:
AKG C 3000 B
AKG C 1000 S
APEX 435 Large Diaphragm Condenser
(2) APEX 180 Small-Diaphragm 'Pencil' Condensers
(4) XM8400 Dynamics
'58
'57

Here's my quandry... I have a remote session coming up of a 20-piece band, complete with
hour section, et al... They have a great location in which to record (I've played there myself and
can attest to it's great sound), they even have their own (in-house) sound system for the place
that they've offered to let me jack into, so-to-speak. There's what used to be an industrial-sized
kitchen, a bedroom and an "almost completely soundproof" office, all off to the one side of the building
(we're in the basement of this man's new "house"...he bought himself a church, of all things, and is
living on the lower floor with his wife, both of them performers).

They want to record it all in one "go", very few if any overdubs at all... I THINK I'm planning to use the
"near-sound-proof" office for the vocalists (3-4), the bedroom for guitar maybe and the kitchen for
a big drum sound. The main room will, of course, be for the horn section and keyboards, 'cause
the keys will be DI'd, as will be the bass... I'll likely have to submix the drums or something...

Here's the rundown on the tracks I have available to me... The VS-2480CD can record up to 16 tracks
at once, which is great but, I only have 8 XLR ins plus the 2ch. Pre for a "grand" total of 10 mic ins.
I can rent more mics, but not really any more pre's...(small town, I'd have to travel a good distance
without my dead car to rent from a 'big name' outlet) HAAALLLPPP! Anyone? Anyone?

Comments

inLoco Tue, 04/19/2005 - 05:16

what does halp mean??? :D :D :D :twisted:

regarding the question buy the behringer ada 8000 which is a 8 channel rack mic pre with adat out! the quality of the pres is the same as the vs2400... it costs around 200 bucks! and i wouldn't submix the drums! if so use just 4 mics on drums but submixing something may be a bad start...

JoeH Tue, 04/19/2005 - 07:17

I hate to be negative (and I've always thrown myself into projects like yours over the years, too), but be very aware that you're almost in over your head, from what you're describing, and not just due to the mic pre count.

I too think you'd be better off recording them "live" all in one room, or club, hall, etc., and creating the best mix from there. (Buy or rent a Mackie ONYX or Soundcraft or something with more than enough channels and do submixes to your 16 tracks "live.")

Putting people into other rooms from each other is going to be a very tricky proposition, with monitors (audio AND video) to keep everyone happy and in sync, etc. (You're going to need a few runners as well, I would guess...)

I think your recording rig may be a bit under-sized as well (when it comes time for overdubs and hi-performance running to its max with tracking, etc.) but perhaps you've got some more tricks up your sleeve. I'm not sure I'd risk the kid of project you're describing with just a 16 track recorder/CD unit. (It's nice for small band demos, etc., but....)

Good luck however you go; again, I'd suggest a "Live" date first, see how they like what you can do with the gear you've got.

anonymous Tue, 04/19/2005 - 09:37

For 20 piece band it looks you are short on mics, pre's and head
phones... Generally, I agree with Karl and JoeH - run it live, but in
addition I'd suggest this - first, make a click-track let the drummer
(or rythm section) hear it in phones, second mic what you can
(and best you can) mix down to let's say 12 tracks. This will leave
you 3 tracks available for dubbing, and here you can use whatever
room you want... Good luck.

anonymous Tue, 04/19/2005 - 11:33

I really appreciate all the "halp" you guys are giving, perhaps I might shed a little more light though... The 2480CD is a 24-Track machine, it's just limited to recording 16 tracks at one time, so I still have 8 left over for post...

Yes, the band/musicians do have a bevy of gear at their disposal (some can be borrowed from the Board of Education as one of them is a university level professor/instructor/teacher) including (I think) a Mackie 16 or 24 channel board...

We will most certainly be treating the session like a live gig, but the man in charge wants the separation...he wants to have more "selection" at the mixing end of things... Yes, I'll have to try to find roughly 18 sets of cans and another headphone amp/dist...

Has anyone ever used the new Peavey drum mic set? (PVM™ DMS-5 Drum Mic System) I can pick it up for a GREAT price, lord knows I'll want to be able to mic more than just this one set...for the future...but I'd want to know what kind of sound they put out...or rather pull in. Anyone try'em yet? Lemme know?

Thanks again for the responses, they'll give me a lot to think about. (Even the negative ones)

From behind the board of -G-

Guest Tue, 04/19/2005 - 15:57

inLoco wrote: what does halp mean?

Help is when you need assistance.
Halp is when you are Having A Large Problem. :?
Sorry, been reading too many Mackie manuals lately :? :?
I would love to see what a Wackie manual would read like if Kurt Foster was to re-write one? :lol:
As far as your situation Just1Ghost, I like Zemlins idea about recording the Bass guitar direct. It will really save you alot of headache. And just as important......time.

inLoco Tue, 04/19/2005 - 16:26

its that guy again wrote: [quote=inLoco]what does halp mean?

Help is when you need assistance.
Halp is when you are Having A Large Problem. :?
Sorry, been reading too many Mackie manuals lately :? :?
I would love to see what a Wackie manual would read like if Kurt Foster was to re-write one? :lol:
As far as your situation Just1Ghost, I like Zemlins idea about recording the Bass guitar direct. It will really save you alot of headache. And just as important......time.

and there is light inside my head... :-? :P

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