recording a live band with only 10 mic preamps.

[Loren Littlejohn]

What would the best way to do this be? It's a local fest and the audio is for a DVD. I wish I had surround mix capabilities but all well.

I was thinking:

snare
bass drum
OH L
OH R
Guitar 1
Guitar 2
Bass
Vocals
Crowd/room mic R
Crowd/room mic L

 

[AudioPhile777]

That sounds good... hope there isnt more than 1 vocalist in each act and you'll be good...

find out... if there is... sacrifice the snare mic... the OVHs should pick that up pretty decently...

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

That sounds good... hope there isnt more than 1 vocalist in each act and you'll be good...

find out... if there is... sacrifice the snare mic... the OVHs should pick that up pretty decently...

Oh yeah shit!

What do I do if it's stupid and they have 3 vocalists? Rely on the room mics?

Most core acts have only 1 vox thank god but you brought up a good point.

 

[greyskull]

i'd pop down to the store and buy a behringer ad800 or whatever it is,
i hate them, and its probably not that great, but you get 8 mic pres and 8 digital ins via adat! for fuck all

it might come in handy to get you out of a tight squeeze like this again

 

[-Gavin-]

Oh yeah shit!

What do I do if it's stupid and they have 3 vocalists? Rely on the room mics?

Most core acts have only 1 vox thank god but you brought up a good point.

Get a wee mixer and create a compd vocal track with all 3 sources to one channel.

If it's backing vox, shouldn't be a problem...

 

[AudioPhile777]

Get a wee mixer and create a compd vocal track with all 3 sources to one channel.

That too.

 

[Torniojaws]

You could sacrifice one crowd mic, too. I'm sure they'll be loud enough as it is

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I have a firepod so no ADAT. The mixer idea is perfect thanks.

 

[QV]

maybe just one omni room mic, with the crowd you'll always phasing problems anyway

 

[KeithRT99]

rent gear.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I agree, axe the crowd mics, get a side mix and squeeze toms on there.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

hmmm ok....

Gonna have to rethink I think

 

[egan.]

That sounds good... hope there isnt more than 1 vocalist in each act and you'll be good...

and what if they have keyboards, acoustic guitars and a Theremin? If you don't know the instrumentation you could be in some serious trouble (or not).
Can the promoter or whoever you are working for get you stage plots? Are you sharing mics w/ the FOH? Which ones? Do you have a splitter snake? Since this is live, do you have a backup format?

I would borrow/rent/steal some more gear and get as much info before hand as you can.

 

[broken81]

yea i would get a mixing board.....

Are you looking to mix this stuff after the shows or just gonna record? Cause if your not going far into mixing or anything i would just run all the drums to a mixing board and create a board mix to send to your recording gear and then you will have enough free mic pre's for almost any situation unless you get like a slipknot type band

Good luck dude and let us know how it goes!!

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Not going to do major mixing and the only thing in question is vocalists. This is a hardcore/strait edge fest there will definitly be no keyboards, or acoustics or any wierd crap.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

I've done a hell of a lot of this, and if the room is small, you would be better off to drop the one or both of the overheads, and just use the room mics in stereo. That is VERY FUCKING IMPORTANT for the live vibe of the show, unless you want your recording to sound like Tokyo Showdown.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

Also, expect the audio to drift from the video if you don't lock to timecode. Coordinate some sort of "slate" with the camera operators at the start of each set. The drift will probably be so minimal that you may only have to make slight adjustments at a midway point or something.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Why not only record the FOH mixers stereo out?

 

[colonel kurtz]

'cause the FOH mix is the FOH mix, and will sound like ass on record

however, if possible, see if you can take individual, dry channels off of the FOH board...run it to your shit...mix later

 

[Sloan]

'cause the FOH mix is the FOH mix, and will sound like ass on record

however, if possible, see if you can take individual, dry channels off of the FOH board...run it to your shit...mix later

+34577209*3

very true. the FOH mix is gonnna sound shit because it's "tuned" to the room etc.
I've done a bit of straight FOH recordings and they just don't work.