Stereo miking a band - no joke

[middletom]

Hey guys

I'd like to do a two channel stereo recording of a band: Bass, Drums, Guitar, electric Violin, and vocal.
It's more experimental stuff for me, so no one would be disappointed, if the sound really sucks, because it's my own band and it's only for demo purposes.

The situation is as follows:
I've got:
Rode NT2A
Peluso 2247 LE
2 x Beyerdynamic mc 930
SM57
Apogee Duet
Logic

7 x Absorption stuff:
3 times a 0.8 m x 2 m rockwool "wall"
2 times a 1 m x 1.8 m rockwool "wall"
2 times a 0.8 m x 1 m rochwool "wall"

My idea is to setup the recording:

2x Beyerdynamic
taking the instrumental stuff
1x 2247 LE
taking the vocal stuff seperately

- How would you place the absorbers and where would you place the mics in the room ( I attached the footprint including prefered setup below )?

- Would you place the vocal mic in the same room with the same absorption setup as you'd record the instruments to have the same room impression, or doesn't it matter at all and the vocal part could be very dry?

- what stereomicrophone techique would you prefer?

personally I lean towards a separate absorption-setup. But to let it sound lo-Fi-ish, I'm thinking about keeping the setup the same.


thanks for your help!

[jnorman]

if you were in a nice sounding largish space, an ORTF (probably not XY) pair might work okay. in a smallish room like you are describing, a diiferent approach might work better. if you cantake direct feed from each of the amps, all you might need to mic up would be the drums - then mix to taste. otherwise, you might want to close mic each amp, close mic the vocal (or pull a vocal feed from whatever mic he uses for the performance), track each element to its own track, and mix later, adding FX as needed. i hvenever had any luck getting a good pull from a live amplified group in a small nonreverberant space using a single stereo pair - it always sounds jumbled.

if your band is capable of performing ina small space with balance, taste, and controlled volume (ie, someone might be ableto sit in a chair inthe room, and enjoy the performance, not too loud, etc), you might be able to try a single stereo pair. good luck.

[7rojo7]

Get the amps as close as possible to the drums and get a small pa for the voice and put that in front of the kit on the hihat side next to the kik, on a stand above the kit will be better, make that you center, use the absorption to tame the room, behind the amps
you might miss the power on the drums and the definition on the bass, you will not get a 'modern' panned stereo drum sound
experiment with your sounds, the band is the mixer
you'll hear what you must do after the first take, change and move things untill it sounds good
use a y cord for the vocal to have a 'dry', take, there will be a lot of bleed on that mic
put the singer in the room without the window/ put a window in, even plastic will help, give him a set of cans, vocal monitor in the room means no punching, you can try though
turn around your setup so you can have sightlines between the group and the singer
the 'arrangement' of the music will be very important
in a small space xy should work fine, you can get closer to the source
You should be able to make a fine recording if your volumes are balanced
if no singer in the room with no window, then hypercard for vox and booth him off. big gobo behind him and on the 2 sides, I do this for vox anyway

[GZsound]

I recorded my band once a month for ten years with two small condenser mics placed about twenty feet out in XY.

We played a local bar and used our normal PA and got pretty decent recordings. Certainly good enough for the critique we were after.

[middletom]

Would all of you place the absorbers on the wall behind the amps in direction of the mics?

Thanks for the answers!!

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by middletom

Would all of you place the absorbers on the wall behind the amps in direction of the mics?

Thanks for the answers!!

I'm sorry, but that question makes no sense to me..

There is no way the wall BEHIND THE AMPS would be in the direction of the mics...unless you were micing the amps from behind...

And in our live recordings, there was only normal stage acoustic treatment.. a curtain behind the band. Never used any absorbers.

[badhorsie777]

ummm... i think you misunderstand

he means behind the amps... facing the mics, which are faces at the FRONT of the band and amps

[middletom]

Originally Posted by badhorsie777

ummm... i think you misunderstand

he means behind the amps... facing the mics, which are faces at the FRONT of the band and amps

Exactly. Sorry if I didn't explain myself properly.

[7rojo7]

yes

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by badhorsie777

ummm... i think you misunderstand

he means behind the amps... facing the mics, which are faces at the FRONT of the band and amps

You are correct.. I did misunderstand.. sorry.

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by middletom

Exactly. Sorry if I didn't explain myself properly.

No.. I think that was all me being confused.

[huub]

This rock album was recorded in a church, classical miking style..

PLANTEIJDT - Page

[middletom]

Hey. Great! This is a really nice sounding record. Really love the natural feel!

@ huub: How far did you go away with the mics to the band? And how loud was the band in this record?

+ If my room wouldn't be sounding well, would you place two absorbers - or so - behind the mics, to awoid reflexions from the wall behind?

We're going to setup the room this evening and record the day after. So I hope I'll be soon ready to post a clip.

Thanks for the help and for answering my further questions.

Middletom

[middletom]

Just recorded some instrumental stuff today. Doesn't sound that bad.
We covered the wall behind the Amps + Drums with Absorption "walls" and behind the mics two other absorption walls.

Was a funny evening and I hope to be able to upload some samples soon

[huub]

Originally Posted by middletom

Hey. Great! This is a really nice sounding record. Really love the natural feel!

@ huub: How far did you go away with the mics to the band? And how loud was the band in this record?

+ If my room wouldn't be sounding well, would you place two absorbers - or so - behind the mics, to awoid reflexions from the wall behind?

We're going to setup the room this evening and record the day after. So I hope I'll be soon ready to post a clip.

Thanks for the help and for answering my further questions.

Middletom

Ah, I did not record this record, but if you can track down a cd, the liner notes have many details about the recording!

(Do not have the booklet myself)