Double miking on stage....

[nathanvacha]

wait wait wait...


huh? sorry man, you totally lost me. what's your question?

are you trying to ask whether or not it is wise to mic every source with two mics with the house's mics going to foh and your mics going to your recorder? so every place there's a microphone on stage you're gonna add a second? is that what you're getting at?

[bulley]

crazy......might work for the instruments but there's no way it'd work for the vocalists. they wouldn't know which mic to sing into, it'd be a nightmare for you mixing and for foh, in fact venue engineer would probably tell you where to stick it even before you've started. even if they sing into the same mic consistently the sound at the other vocal mic would be bobbins.

plus it'd look crap and how are you going to double DI things like bass, keys, backing tracks etc?

bulley

[XLR2XLR]

Hi sorry, yes that was the question, racing ahead a bit

Ok a compromise...

Split vocal and kick drum mics (say 4 splits), double mic amps (bass, Gtr) take Mult out of the DI I have 24 preamps so I need not worry about mixing on the night. Rim clamp mics

Of course with an upright bass I would need a split of the DI output too.

So long as I was there for sound check on time to set my recorders up first before any levels are taken, once the band are on stage and the instruments in house I would know what I was dealing with, I would also need a "line up" before hand.

Is it really that crazy?

Every lead I make will have gone through my own QC so when its there I can almost 100pct guarantee it will work so there would be Zero faffing around and all it would take is literally a quick blast through my preamps gains conservatively set at 24bit and I reckon I could level 24 tracks in 5 mins. I save on the cost of an extra 24 good quality mic leads (and the soldering back ache : )

I don't see how double miking is more of a pain for FOH than turning up with a split box on stage and giving him transformers and tonnes of exra stage wiring?

Then again I am NOT an expert in this arena, just naive and maybe a little creative.

Also no disrespect to the venues mics but they are often well worn to say the least, I can substitute those with
(less well worn ones!)

I am thinking of a pair of quality high bandwidth dynamics as a robust pair of drum overheads, what do you reckon?

Thanks

[talbe1019]

I don't know...wouldn't it just be easier to ask the FOH to use the mics you want to use? Maybe you could set up the split closer to where their snake is so you wouldn't have to use their stage snake??

It just seems like an awful lot of work when I think an easier compromise can be worked out.

[XLR2XLR]

Hi again.

I think I got a bit stuck on the idea that I am always going to be in a matchbox sized
space next to the FOH guy, in small venues in the U.K. I never know what to expect but so far the space I am meant to inhabit is miniscule
and makes simple operations awkward.

I just thought that venue management are not going to be too keen on my gear being towered up stageside where punters could get in my way or vice versa.
Every gig is different.

I can see merit in splits but as each venue is different it is difficult to plan your lead lengths. In an ideal world I would always be with 3-5m of the stage wall box (then I could plan my patches from the splits to my pre's and know the FOH cables will always reach their stagebox.

Being couped up in the FOH booth also required a costly and awkward to rig (overhead) 24 way snake back to the pre's from splitters, I know you can't do this sort of thing for dirt but when you are starting out the costs soon add up and need to bear some compromise.

I think I will have to start taking a closer look when I am doing my basic recordings
when i am in the venues.

[mal]

If you are recording live it is important to talk to the FOH engineer..
you can often come to a good solution as to what will work FOH wise
and what will work for a recording..
You can always put up extra mics if you really need them but often if you allow time to discuss your needs, the FOH person might be more than happy to maybe use your suggestion for a mic....and he or she will then hopefully help you with your requirements as to splits etc...