[ajfarber]

Hi Gang, I'm recording my 17-piece big band next Monday at Sear Sound in NYC.
My plan is to record without isolation and headphones because the band is more comfortable playing that way.

The instrumentation and mic-ing is as follows.

5 saxophones: 2 altos on a U67, 2 tenors on a U67 and 1 baritone with a U47 or M49. The clarinet will be spot mic'ed with a km56.

4 trumpets with 2 RCA 44BX. Solo trumpet parts will use Coles 4038.
4 trombones with 2 RCA 44BX

1 arch top type acoustic guitar with AKG C60

piano with 1 M49 (I don't plan to have stereo piano)

bass with a KM56 or KM 54 and an RCA 77DX (no DI)I'll mix the 2 mics together.

Drums with an AKG C12 to capture the entire set, plus a KM54 (or something like it) as a hi-hat/snare combi mic, and a Beyer M88 for the bassdrum.

I will play some alto and tenor saxophone solos and a bit of flute on an AKG ELAM 251

I have a guest singer, Jazz great Jon Hendricks, who will be on 2 tunes and the only one in isolation. He'll use a U47.

When I mix, I plan to pan the saxophones and piano to the left channel, and the brass to the right. Bass and drums will be in the middle. I'm not sure where the guitar will go yet. I'm gonna listen to some stereo big band records from the late 50s-mid 60s as a reference.

The mixdown will go to an Ampex 351(set up for 1/2 in tape @ 30ips) through 2 Altec tube mixers. My concept is to have a sound that is like those old 60s big band dates but with as little noise as possible. I love the sound of old tube gear and analogue tape. I would record the whole thing direct to the Ampex machine, but I'm afraid I'm too much of a control freak to allow anyone else to mix it. I don't have enough bread to record 2 inch, although Sear has 16-track heads for their Studer and a 16-track Ampex.

We'll record in Protools and master in Logic audio.

I'll post photos in a few weeks. Wish me luck!

Here's a photo from a similar recording date at Right Track (now Legacy).