My first location recording

[Pascal]

I have been a lurker for a long time. Reading all about techniques and gear and in the mean time collecting my own setup, I finally did my first location recording.
Since I think I have been influenced by a lot of you, I want to share it with all of you.

It is a jazz quartet: piano, drums, bass and tenorsax. Recorded on the 14th of februari in the Mahogany Hall in Edam, the Netherlands.

Enjoy.

[Roland]

Hi Pascal, sounds great, really like the acoustic (I'm presuming that is the room). Love the imaging idea. A couple of things to watch, there apears to be quite heavy limiting on the drums (only when they get loud,) 1'54" is an example on the BD and toms. You also need to watch the bass tone as it will wash in a larger/reverberant room and becomes difficult to control and keep the sound. Perhaps you will share the set-up and mic's used on the session, together with mixing and processing details? I look forward to your response.

Regards


Roland

[Richie]

Nice work, very musical and spacious, natural and clear. I'd also like to know how you recorded it, esp. regarding placement and panning. Thanks for the post! It's in my itunes, a welome addition from the Netherlands. What a world!

[Pascal]

Thanks for the kind words Roland. You are right, there is some heavy limiting on it and I didn't hear it as heavy till you said it. I must disappoint you about the acoustics, it was quite dry and I put a little bit of D-Verb on it.
I don't get what you mean about the bass but will listen some more, maybe it will get clear.

As for the setup:
Kick Beta 52
Snare Top M201
Snare Bottom SM57
Rare mic NT1A facing the drummers right knee, between high and floor tom
OH L & R M160
Piano, wing MC 930 Stereo pair, one on low and one on high strings
Bass Behringer DI
Sax MD421

All went into a ULN-8 except the piano that went into an ISA828 that went into the ULN-8 by AES. All recorded on a macbookpro with MIO. No backup, yet.

What you hear, the panning, is how the musicians stood on stage. Piano left, bass middle, drums right and sax in the middle up front.

Mixing was done, and still working on it, in PT le 8. Kick is gated and has a HPF on it.
Piano as recorded, no processing. Bass a LPF at 1 kHz, there was a nasty klick when the snares where plucked to hard. The rest has only a HPF around 100 Hz.
A bit of D-Verb and a limiter on the master fader.

[Pascal]

I have been working on it some more. But now there is no limiter and reverb on the master fader. The sax and bass have been compressed.

The thing to watch with the bass that Roland mentioned has been addressed, I think. There was a lot of spill from the bass in the overheads, piano and sax mics. A HPF helped.

It is another song, enjoy again.

[boojum]

Real good. Skill trumps gear every time. You did well. thumbsup

[Roland]

Hi Pascal, I wasn't advocating removing the artificial verb, in fact the second mix in my opinion would benefit from some. removing the limter has helped. Be careful that the piano isn't sounding a little thin now. Also I would recommend staying away from the 421 for saxophone, I know it has a lot of fan's, but the truth is that although they are great mic's they are fairly coloured off axis that can be a problem with sax, particularly in your situation where the part is quite exposed, with brass sectional stabs it may be more suitable. Perhaps try two verbs, one for the other instruments and one exclusively for the sax? Trial and error is the name of the game! Good luck and thanks for posting the samples.

Regards


Roland

[music_food]

Nice mix, I liked the room sound a lot, quite quirky somehow. Wasn't a fan of the sax at all, i suspect thats a mic placement thing, it sounded very honky to me, almost midi-esque! Perhaps you were right on the bell or something. Or it oculd be the 421 as discussed before, having said that I used 421s on 2 saxes on a recent recording and was very happy with it.

[electraluxx]

Overall, I liked the first recording better. The double bass is missing bottom here. Maybe a hp filter and that's it? It sounds a little thin to me. I agree the, sax is honky. Still, nice job. Play around with it and I am sure the band will be pleased. I find live recording hard and I thin your first outing is great. I think you had a nice room and good band.

[Teddy Ray]

the recording sounds nice, though a bit dry for my taste. great job for a first gig to be sure. i wish my first recording had sounded a fraction as good as this!

my only problem with the sax was that the player was not very good. that cant be helped, tho!

[AlexK]

The HPF might have done you a disservice IMO. I actually quite like the sound you get from the bass leaking into other mics, it gives you more of a sense of the room and makes stuff sound bigger, you've just got to get the right balance.

Sounds ace otherwise though! It's all about the acoustic, mic choice/placement, and musicians the kit is secondary!

thumbsup

[Pascal]

The band came along and listened to the recordings. I had already a mix with different panning. They liked that better than the hard panned version.

Of course a sample for you all.

Enjoy.