Live recording

[jezeke]

hej guys,

after i saw the thread about recording the live gig by headcrusher, I got to thinking how you guys record live metal gigs in an easy manner. I myself record most of the gigs i mix live on a laptop using a motu ultalite - Rode Nt5. I just record it to have a reference about my mixing skillz, and for the band to have an impression about how tight they were, ...

The thing i do is use the stereo out of the desk, and the rode couple to record the room. So its just 4 channels, easy and quick. But the results mostly suck.

So i'm still searching to find a quick and easy way to get a decent representation of the live gig.

So please enlighten me with your visions and ideas. :Smokin:

Thx

 

[jesterroot4]

lol i'm actualy thinking about this for tonight. i'm thinkin i use my managers macbook pro and install my motu 8 pre on to it. i then go the the desk and take 8 of the most important line outs straight from the channel strips and hook em up

u guys think i should attempt it?

 

[jezeke]

hell yeah!! if it doesnt work, its only data on a computer... If it works, its something you can let your grandchildren listen to in 2055.

And you can also share your experience on our community here...

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I borrow this from school:

I tried to do a huge ass mic setup and it was a nightmare (plus I hate being a pain in the ass when dealing with the FOH guys, they deal with enough shit). I just grab the vox send and run that into one of the mic preamps then set this out infront of the stage up over everyones head.

The only downside is if you have a bad FOH mix this sounds like ass.

 

[Where She Wept]

Grab a couple of adats of ebay, any decent mixer should have direct outs.

 

[jezeke]

not only a bad FOH mix can fuck up the sound, also venue acoustics and mix position...
In metal you also are dealing with a lot of volume generated on stage; which is also something to consider i guess.

 

[006]

On the few times I've done live shows I used a direct box for each guitar and bass guitar, as well as any signals from the FOH board. Usually I got kick, snare, two overheads, a ride mic, and the toms mic'ed in pairs, and then I had 1-3 room mics going in too. All of that directly into my 8Pre/ADA8000 -> PowerBook G4. Once I took the project home I would setup a trigger track for each tom and insert a pop/click for each tom hit so that I could blend a triggered sample in with the mic'ed pairs from the venue. Blend a kick sample and a snare sample. Reamp guitars and bass. Vocals usually just needed some compression and they were good. Then blend the room mic(s) in until it had that typical live album type sound.

The toms are the wierdest thing because I would actually duplicate the paired tracks and then edit out all the bleeding so I could pan each tom accordingly. For example, pair 1 would have tom1 and tom2, so I would duplicate that track, and delete tom2 out of the 1st track, and delete tom1 out of the second track, so that I would have a track with just tom1 and a track with just tom2, same goes for any more mic'ed pairs of toms. Then I could pan them properly, as well as have a sample blended in using the trigger track that I made for each tom.

Overall it's quite a mess and mostly a PITA but it's certainly worth the experience looking back in hindsight.

~006

 

[ahjteam]

Just have a good FOH mix and it will sound good even from the master outs, like I did with this one: (matrix channel to the bass players mac line in, no room mics etc)
http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/14_Mental_Fix.mp3

 

[jesterroot4]

On the few times I've done live shows I used a direct box for each guitar and bass guitar, as well as any signals from the FOH board. Usually I got kick, snare, two overheads, a ride mic, and the toms mic'ed in pairs, and then I had 1-3 room mics going in too. All of that directly into my 8Pre/ADA8000 -> PowerBook G4. Once I took the project home I would setup a trigger track for each tom and insert a pop/click for each tom hit so that I could blend a triggered sample in with the mic'ed pairs from the venue. Blend a kick sample and a snare sample. Reamp guitars and bass. Vocals usually just needed some compression and they were good. Then blend the room mic(s) in until it had that typical live album type sound.

sounds killer man, i shall try this. although, how did u get the DI links to the interface? just shove it into the stage box and take it straight from the other end into the interface?

do u have any examples of live recording ur have done?




i didnt get round to recording the other night, although i'm engineering at this venue for a few weeks soon, so will give it a bash then..

 

[jezeke]

hej ahjteam,

Your recording sounds pretty nice, but is isnt metal, where everything is louder than everything else. This means the average spl on stage is going to be a LOT less, which results in an easier foh mix, and recording

The thing i am trying to achieve is to record things in a way that gives me a certain freedom when doing the mixdown. e.g. when you record only the stereo out, and play in a small venue, your stereo out is gonna suck bigtime, because you are missing all the things that are loud on stage (because you dont mix them in that much).

:Smokin::Smokin: