Gig Excerpts

[clambake]

Hi,

After much lurking I thought I'd finally post some mixes.

Here's a few excerpts from a funk trio (Sax/Hammond/Drums) I recorded a few weeks back live in a Sydney pub. Mics were fed into an Echo Audiofire8/Macbook Pro/Logic setup. The excerpts were taken from solo sections as I wasn't sure what the copyright issues were around here.

Anyways I'd be keen to get some critique. These mixes are unlikely to be mastered so I'm trying to get as close to a final product as possible.

cheers

Scott

[bishopthomas]

Sounds fantastic on my laptop speakers. Awesome job!

[boojum]

Sounds good! Must be the Vegemite. ;o)

What were the mics and how many tracks, etc?

[clambake]

Originally Posted by boojum

Sounds good! Must be the Vegemite. ;o)

What were the mics and how many tracks, etc?

. . . yeah I rub a little Vegemite into my A/D's just before every gig - gives me that extra phat yeasty goodness.

Drums had 2 x Beyer m160's (OH), Beyer 201 (Snare) and EV 868 (Kik)
Leslie had 1 x AT4047 on the bottom and a pair of AT 4051's on top
Sax was a Sennheiser 541

OH's and Leslie tops were Sytek
Sax and Leslie bottom were DAV BG 1
Kik and snare were JLM Baby Animal

8 tracks all up.


cheers

Scott

[Remoteness]

Sounds very nice Scott.

Those M160 do indeed sound mighty fine over the drums.

How did you place them?
Did you try my approach or something else?

With regard to the mixes I would get into the mix and work on riding the faders a bit more.

All the best!

[clambake]

Hi Steve,

After trying KM 184's, Gefell M 930's and AT 4051's as drum OH's I ended up with M160's on your recommendations. I'm pretty happy with the drum sound given it's just 4 mics flat into the interface. The M 160's need a bit of eq to get some sparkle into the cymbals but the midrange and bottom end is nice and thick and the transients fast. The spill - or lack of it- is also pretty amazing.

I know you also suggest an over-the-shoulder mic as well which I can't fit into my current mobile setup with just 8 inputs. How would you describe it's effect on the kit sound? Kinda glues it al together a bit?

The M160's are standard spacing over the drums and up fairly high - one centered over hats/snare/crash the other over floor/ride.

With regard to the mixes I would get into the mix and work on riding the faders a bit more.

When I've got 90 minutes of live gig to mix (and I usually mix without the band around) I spend 90% of the time getting the eq/compression/reverb/balance settings to work across all the tunes and then I always balk at micro-mixing the balance. I make a few crtical fader rides between tracks but that's about it. Part of me thinks . . . well that's how they played it live (particularly jazz recordings), and another part thinks that once you start automating you can begin hours/days worth of tweaks which my current budgets don't cover. But you are right . . . the dynamics and balance can be a bit all over the place.

Just curious, do you mix itb or on real faders? Do you find one way better/faster?

Thanks for the input.

Cheers

Scott

[Remoteness]

My favorite way to mix is on faders.

Lately, we have been mixing with a mouse for one of our clients.

I truly prefer the real thing not just for the tactile feel, but for the sonic quality you get by going through analog gear.

I have a Tascam US2400 fader control and use it from time to time, but there is nothing like the real thing baby; nothing like it at all.