Tips for full live band tracking..

[-Noodles-]

Hey guys,..

I'm doing a session on Monday where it's a situation similar to live at abbey road (Live From Abbey Road)..

And I'm tracking a band which has three members (guitarist, bassist and drummer) but I'm looking for some help / advise.

The guys are probably going to want monitors (it's being recorded in a nice practice space) - so I doubt I'll have use for headphones..

but everything is being recorded simultaneously, so what's the pitfalls I want to watch out for?

I'm also using a 4 camera set up, which will be sync'd and edited later on (the mixing will happen at my studio at home) - so I don't have all the space that I might like!

Any further information required, I'll post up asap!
I've looked at similar topics - and the one thing I've gauged is that the cabs should best be placed facing away from the drummer..

the mics i've got are 57s, some of my perferred drum mics and an sE2200A.
I've got 16 channels to play with, going into a MBP w/ Logic 8.

thanks.

Edit; picture of the room (or similar!)

[AnthonyRochester]

when i've done live recordings, as long as everything is close mic'd and amps not turned up really loud and pointed at the drums, it should be fine, but the biggest problem I have had is too much spill into the vocal mic(s). That's what can potentially ruin everything. Make sure the singer knows they have to consistently be extremely close (touching or eating) the mic so that you can get enough clean level.

[DeadPoet]

or overdub the vocals later?

I don't have a lot of experience recording live gigs (check the remote forum for really exp users!) but what always helped my in the mix was: find the microphone with the most and ugliest bleed and build your mix around that channel.



Herwig

[MarkRB]

I'd recommend locking your DAW to the cameras before you record, just take an LTC feed from one of the cameras otherwise things could get a little tricky at mix time when you try to sync sound to picture. It's not always necessary over a few minutes but worth trying to set up if you have time.

Don't let them have their amps too loud either, I guess.

[dmilt23451]

Record the guitar and bass direct - re-amp later?

[travisbrown]

Careful mic placement to get the monitors as off axis as possible. Probably supercardioid mics on things will make life easier.

Can you use gobos to gain some isolation?

Tell the drummer to go easy on the hats and cymbals. If he just nods, make him repeat it out loud. Then tell him again.

Recording a live space isn't something to fear. I like doing it this way.

[-Noodles-]

Thanks guys..

I'm taking a DI on guitar and bass pre-pedals, so I can work on them if things become a problem there.


Hopefully the vocals won't be a problem, as they don't like their monitoring too loud in the room..

Unfortunately there's no options for gobos - if i did, I would be a lot happier with this situation!

any more information would be great... but thanks to the guys who've taken time to post!

[matt thomas]

leakage in the vocal mic will be your biggest problem


turn down the bass frequencies coming out of the bass amp, or have it off completely. Some people put a bass cabinet on each side of the drums, or just one in the middle to get around phase issues through the drum mics. You can even use two mics per tom (top and bottom) to cancel out other sources in the tom mics, but thats probably a bit carried away.

use gobos if you can, even make shift ones

narco

[-Noodles-]

Originally Posted by narco

use gobos if you can, even make shift ones

narco

What does that involve?... Just pieces of wood? / perspex?

[swafford]

We've been doing this weekly with 2 loud guitars, 4 mic/Johns style set up on drums and bass playing to fun levels in an raw space (back of the barn) and here is what I've found. Bass is your biggest problem.

1. Everyone needs to be conscious not of their volumes, but of getting louder as they get their rock on.

2. Keep all mic pcik up zones out of potential bass standing wave zones.

3. Try to aim monitors into dead zones of mics, but expect bleed into drum overheads and vocal mics. But face it, if people can;t here the vocals and your not playing surf music, then your wasting everones time.

2.Even with moderately loud vocals, I have little problem with guitars in vocal mics and drum overheads or drums in vocal mic etc..

3. The biggest issue is bass bleed and most of this (I decided this week) is from my drum side/top and room mics picking up standing waves (because it's not a problem in the vocal mic) so set the drums up so to minimize mic pick up from corners. Our worst recordings (from a balance stand point) have been with the bass almost OK at bleed level (and it can be eq'd a bit) and augmented with a little direct underneath.

Most of all, use bleed to glue your tracks together. A bit of bleed is not the enemy. Sucking is the enemy.

[-Noodles-]

Thanks Swafford.

Great information.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by -Noodles-

What does that involve?... Just pieces of wood? / perspex?

In a pinch, a boom mic stand set up as a T with a packing blanket draped over it.

If you are videoing it, you probably want something that looks nicer.

[-Noodles-]

Thanks for that

I'll see if I've got spare stands / blankets.

[Bruce_Lofi]

Noodles !
Why Dont you come use my studio !!
iv been doing loads of live stuff recently album demos/vid projects.

iv got 2 iso booths and a med size live room

you still got my number ?
Pm me
xx

[Han]

Originally Posted by narco

leakage in the vocal mic will be your biggest problem


narco

Not if you have a singer with a fairly loud voice and a Beyer M88.

[evangelista]

1. Make sure the band sounds great in the room

2. Put up standard mics in standard positions

3. Get out of the way

[Han]

Oh yeah, and let bleed be your friend, bleed is good, bleed is fine, unless you use mics with a nasty off axis response. Need I say more?

For example: I recorded a jazzband at once, the banjoplayer sitting next to the drummer at less than a meter. A Beyer M201 aimed at the banjo and when listening to the banjo in solo there's very little drums, plus this little bleed sounds just fine.

In my experience Beyer mics all have a very good off axis response, dunno how they do that but it's a f*cking miracle, M88, M201, M160, M260, even M69, it's all so much better than.......................er............................yo!

[-Noodles-]

Thanks to everyone who replied..


the day went well, just going through the motions of sorting things out. Got a rough mix that i'm going to put up in around a week with the first edit of the video footage.

Thanks again,.. If things go well - pictures of the day will be put up somewhere and linked here

[wshaw]

FWIW, the Audix OM5 kicks ass for low-bleed live vocals, and it sounds great too!