Jazz Fusion band recording!

[Mixbuster]

Hello guys.

After x.mas I will start to record a jazz/fusion band. They are 3 guys that wants to record 3 songs. one drummer, one guitar player (will overdub bass later) and one synth/keyboard player.

The drummer want his drums to sound like 70's fusion. He gave me an example of the band "brand x" and the records between 74 - 79. For me they sound pretty dead. I have a small live room, which is pretty dead.

Neither of them have any studio experience. So I'm planning to record the drums live with the keyboard and guitar D.I.
The guitar will be reamped later. Due to that I only have 8 inputs, my plan is to have 6 mics on the drums. Reason is so that I have the two remaining slots for the D.I instruments. Drums: Kick, snare, overheads (recorderman method or x/y, any other tips would be handy) and 2 room mics.

My only concern is that I have absolute 0 experience with jazz. I'm experienced with rock/metal/pop genre, but this?
I know that there aren't that much processing going on, and the final will be as neutral as possible.


I really need your help and opinions here.

[cyjanopan]

they mean something like that ? YouTube - Brand X - Euthanasia Waltz

[cyjanopan]

if yes - drums are rather dead in dead room but with plate reverb, there is also plate on keyboards, and fretless bass without any reverb and here you are, done thumbsup

[DannyL]

There is certainly some ring in the toms...

My guess is that I would have the drummer get a sound he likes in the room and preserve it for him. Brand X sounds like a pretty muffled kick, a normal sounding snare and wide open toms. Use a good pair of Overheads, maybe
an SM7 or even a 58 in the kick, SM57 on the snare and a flat condensor in the Hi hat. You may want to fill in the lo tom(s) a bit and use a rack tom mic instead of the hi hat...but you will not be able to really reproduce the Brand X drum sound with 6 mics. Proper use of the OH's will get you a nice sound tho.

I would also put the guitar cabinet in another space and record it live.....if nothing else it will sound better in the cans. If the band has limited or no studio experience you want to avoid overdubbing as much as possible.


Danny

[timgsun]

late reply here, but the Brand X drums were not recorded like jazz drums at all, just as regular 70s rock drums. So that means dead overall, but as Phil Collins was the brand X drummer, he didnt use bottom heads on his toms...you make the call if that's good or bad...but otherwise they are just typical 70s muffled drum sounds with plate reverb on them, I cant see anyone wanting that sound today unless going for a specifically retro sound on purpose that can be trendy at times.

[seancostello]

[timgsun]

yeah love that video! funk fusion! also check out their "jazz trance" video on youtube. lots of jazz references in that show.