Fun Live Blues Recording - Take a Listen!

[MaTr1x2051]

Hey all, just finishing up a blues band I tracked about a month ago and thought I'd post a clip both for your enjoyment and for any feedback you might have!

Simple setup really: 18 tracks straight into an HD24. Used the insert sends as feeds - yes I'm completely surprised that the FOH guy was willing to do this. All mikes were supplied by the venue (except my drum OHs) and pre'd through a Mackie board. I set up my own pair of room mikes and ran those through my own pres. Mixed completely ITB. Let me know what you think!

[abtech]

Originally Posted by MaTr1x2051

Hey all, just finishing up a blues band I tracked about a month ago and thought I'd post a clip both for your enjoyment and for any feedback you might have!

Simple setup really: 18 tracks straight into an HD24. Used the insert sends as feeds - yes I'm completely surprised that the FOH guy was willing to do this. All mikes were supplied by the venue (except my drum OHs) and pre'd through a Mackie board. I set up my own pair of room mikes and ran those through my own pres. Mixed completely ITB. Let me know what you think!

Who is the artist?

[MaTr1x2051]

They are called The Sugar Thieves. Voted Arizona's #1 blues band. This live album will be released soon, but they still need to get the proper liscenses for some of the tunes.

[abtech]

Very nice stuff! Definitely captured the feel of the event .

[boojum]

Can you post some more info on the mics, layout, mix, post, etc.? I like the mix. It is a great job of recording and mixing. And I guess I still am not ready for prime time. But I keep practicing.

Cheers

[MaTr1x2051]

Let's see... didn't run through much of my gear so this is from memory:

Vocals, horns, guitar - Senn e835
Snare and toms - Audix F10
Kick - Audix F12
OHs - Studio Projects C4s
Bass - DI
Keys - DI - Some kind of Radials I think
Sax - absolutely no clue what the mike was lol
Room - Rode NTKs

Board - Mackie SR 24-4

Everything was pre'd in the Mackie except my room mikes. I ran those through a DAV.

Took the insert sends out of the board and into an HD24. The great thing is the inserts were post preamp but before EVERYthing else. So I didn't have any of the live eq or mix to work around.

The show went smoothly. No hiccups or anything. Got to the venue a few hours ahead of time and had plenty of time for setup. The band had 2 vocals up front in center and stage L. Keys and sax were played by the same guy stage R front. Bass stage R back. Drums slightly stage L and back. Guitar amp far stage L and back. Horns were in two groups, nearly off the stage, R. It was a pretty small space lol. Room mikes were back by where I was working, all the way across the room. I didn't want them near the stage because it was also a dancing night at the club

That takes care of most of what I can remember about the session. Got to run right now, but I'll post details of the post work when I have a chance later this afternoon.

[MaTr1x2051]

About the mix:

There wasn't a whole lot out of the ordinary here. There was bleed on nearly all of the mikes, but it never posed any problems. The worst bleed was on the vox. But even under pretty heavy compression (between 3 and 10 db of reduction) the bleed isn't audible and doesn't 'breathe' in the mix.

Like I mentioned, it was done completely ITB with PTLE. Plugins used were mainly Waves SSL, Neve, and API. A tad bit of R-Verb. I used Massey's Tape-Head to warm up the sax and brass. I wrote more automation than it sounds like. Every vocal line and solo was treated to still sound natural but also be more present when needed.

I've found V-Comp does wonders for modern sounding vocals. It works a bit differently than other compressors, but when you dial in the right settings, it can really level the dynamics without sucking the life out of the performance. Other than that, the only other comp I used was on the SSL E-Channel, and I think that was only on kick and snare. I don't think I compressed anything else. Used sparing EQ and only to try and create more sonic separation. Finished it off with SSL G bus comp on the 2-buss for up to around 6 db of reduction. I lost a bit of the punch the mix had when I raised the level to a more commerical standard.

I did the mastering myself, but wasn't very intricate. Some slight EQ changes (I mastered the material a few days after finishing the mixes) and bringing up the overall level.

I hope that answers any of your questions. If you have any others, just post and I'll get back to you about them! It was quite a fun project!