Recording a Jazz Trio

[Dennis]

I have a project coming up that is a jazz trio (4 piece drums, upright and keyboard), I'm going to be recording them playing together in a VERY small room. The piano/keyboard player usually uses a keyboard amp, should I run it out into the room along with the other players so they don't have to wear headphones (I can take a stereo feed off of it as well).

Here are the mics I have to choose from

4033
PZM
SM57 x2
Oktava 319 x2
Oktava MC012 x2
CAD GXL 3000 x2
Nady RSM4 Ribbon

Recording into Pro Tools. What would you guys suggest?

Thanks

[TheGetDown]

what kind of sound/vibe would you say that you're going for?

[rainy-taxi]

I think you can run the keyboard amp for the other players to hear something but take the stereo feed of it to record instead of miking it up.
Keyboards usually dont rely on the sound from an amp (unless you are talking about a rhodes/wurlitzer here or an organ but in the latter case, recording the leslie would do it)

Maybe using the MK012s as overheads and sticking the SM57 in front of the bassdrum for some low end on the drum and especially the kick.

As the upright is concerned, I don't know...

[uncle duncan]

Maybe stick the ribbon in front of the drum kit, a few feet out, a few feet high, with keboards on one side and bass on the other (in the nulls) and have the keyboard amp as quiet as possible. Keeping the keyboard amp low would also help the drummer to play softly, which is going to work better in a small room. Try a 319 on the bass, up by the fingerboard, and the other one down by the bridge, just to give you options later. Plus take the di. Use the 012's for overheads, one 57 on kick, one on snare. Maybe try the PZM behind the kit on the wall, just in case the ribbon out front sucks. If you have inputs, you might as well use them. You can always throw away tracks later. The thing about the ribbon is, if you put on isolation headphones and find the sweet spot, you might be able to get your whole drum sound out of that one mic, and then use the other drum mics to add a little presence if you need it. In jazz, you want the sound of the whole kit, and trying to get the sound of the whole kit with close mics is a losing battle.

[climber]

Originally Posted by uncle duncan

In jazz, you want the sound of the whole kit, and trying to get the sound of the whole kit with close mics is a losing battle.

just came across this quote & have to comment... after doing a bunch of recording of a jazz group recently I 100% agree. so many times I hear close miced drums on jazz records & it's simply not realistic.