Using only three mics would most likely yield disappointing results. Rock recordings are usually exemplified by the definition of each recorded element, that is only the result of close micing.

Bare minimum IMO would be 3 mics on the drum kit alone .... a di from the bass, mics on the guitar amps, di's from keyboards and a mic on the vocals.

You would also need to be in a room that sounds pretty good to an open mic with facilities for separating everyone to control the spill...

I don't think he specified that the entire project was to be tracked live.

Assuming you're multi-tracking:

1. Shure SM7 (kick drum,electric guitars,and vocals)
2. Audio Technica 4050 (overhead,acoustic guitar,vocals,percussion,guitar room, etc.)
3. Senn. 441 (snare,el. guitars, vocals)

These are all pretty general purpose - oddly enough, I've picked mics that I don't own. Out of mics I own, I'd go with my Beyer M99, M201, and AT 4047 - which fall in around the same price range. DI Keyboards and Bass, or mic them with any of the above depending on the sound of the amp.

That could sound alright.

Quite right, I don't expect to be able to track everything live. This is as much a theoretical excercise as it is practical. I'm hoping to burn a little grey matter to find some out of the box suggestions that could be applied to situations not as limited gearwise. I will never have all the gear I want but creative solutions to technical limitations is where the fun begins isn't it?

dynomike wrote: I don't think he specified that the entire project was to be tracked live.

Assuming you're multi-tracking:

1. Shure SM7 (kick drum,electric guitars,and vocals)
2. Audio Technica 4050 (overhead,acoustic guitar,vocals,percussion,guitar room, etc.)
3. Senn. 441 (snare,el. guitars, vocals)
That could sound alright.

I thought that's what I said ... 3 mics on the drums .... How one gets there, live takes, or multitrack with overdubs is up to the recordist.

Are we limited by the mic count or the inputs available? That's the question ... Rhythm tracks sound so much better when the drums, guitar or keyboard and the bass are all recorded at the same time. That's why I suggested DIs ... and you can always reamp and mic the guitar later on another pass..

My prefrences if I had to have only 3 mics for my studio (this is the way the question should have been phrased IMO) would be
a D112 for kick, bass amps, guitar amps, vocals ... SM57 for kick, guitar amps, vocals, and a AT 4033 for overheads, vocals, acoustic instruments.

You could substitute the SM57 with a KEL HM-1 .... in fact that might be even better on second thought. I tend to go to the 57 because it has been a standard since before dirt.

Kurt Foster wrote:

My prefrences if I had to have only 3 mics for my studio (this is the way the question should have been phrased IMO) would be
a D112 for kick, bass amps, guitar amps, vocals ... SM57 for kick, guitar amps, vocals, and a AT 4033 for overheads, vocals, acoustic instruments.

You could substitute the SM57 with a KEL HM-1 .... in fact that might be even better on second thought. I tend to go to the 57 because it has been a standard since before dirt.

Inputs are unlimited for this example. I was driving at both what 3 mics you choose for the studio (as you much more clearly rephrased) but also how would you utilize them. Re-amping for example is something I hadn't considered. I agree with you Kurt in that I would prefer to track live as much as possible. Is there any impedance matching that needs to be done when feeding the signal back to the amps from tape?

TheArchitect wrote:

Inputs are unlimited for this example. I was driving at both what 3 mics you choose for the studio (as you much more clearly rephrased) but also how would you utilize them. Re-amping for example is something I hadn't considered. I agree with you Kurt in that I would prefer to track live as much as possible. Is there any impedance matching that needs to be done when feeding the signal back to the amps from tape?

Some say there is ... I have not had that problem.

I route a -10dB output to the amp and then turn the amp up until I get a good level.

I have also used the output of an aux send from a console to do this. In that case I set the amp at it's normal settings and then gradually turn up the aux send until I reach an appropriate volume.

Littlelabs makes a great box for re amping as does RE Amp ....

Street of $500.....for a project......

At a premium of $100 a day each, I rent U47, and a pair of UM57's.Of course these will probably vary in price depending on where you are.Anyway that gives me 5 days with unlimited track numbers and three of the most superb mics rock has ever heard.

is this cheating?

Nope, not cheating at all. Renting is certainly another idea I hadn't considered. That said, having tools that can be used again the next time would be nice though.

I have a couple of k2's that I use on stereo percussion consistently with great results- they also make great drum OH- street price on these is about $600/ea- put them together with a d112 kick (I bought a new one on evil bay for a hundred buc s)- that will give you three mics for under 500 ea- heck, you still have enough money to get a couple of 57's, one for the snare and one for the guitar cab!