My first live recording..what think you?

[GZsound]

This was a six piece show band at a Holiday Inn lounge.

Let me know what you think and I'll post the equipment used.

Thanks..!

[Murton]

The vocals sound like they clip at places early on.

I would do a little more panning, it seems like the right side is a bit crowded whilst the left side has very little information.

The bass guitar is panned to the right and is too loud. More kick drum and seperate those vocals more.

Overall it's a nice recording, a few mixing decisions I would've done differently. More room/crowd would be preferrable as it sounds a little soo small. More drum overheads and snare and toms.

[boojum]

Mark, good sound overall but I, too, would want more "room" sound. It sounds mono-ish.

What was the gear you used for this? I love live gigs, especially as that is all I do. LOL

[GZsound]

Thanks guys.. unfortunately nothing can be changed as far as panning or individual instruments in the mix.

As I said, it was my first attempt at recording a live band.

October, 1981 at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon with a show band called Louie And the Rockets. They were on their way to a multi month gig in Hawaii.

I used nothing but 57's and 58's into a Tangent mixer with stereo out to a Tascam reel to reel two track recorder.

I long ago lost the original reel to reel and only recently found the cassette copy I made. I put it in the computer and used noise reduction to get rid of some of the hiss.

I thought it held up pretty darn well for a 29 year old recording...from a cassette.

Thanks..!

[Murton]

For those conditions, the results are truly awesome.

For it to sound too studio like for a cassette rip is truly astounding. And a live 2 track mix to tape to boot.

Truly an excellant recording only using 57's and 58's.

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by Murton

For those conditions, the results are truly awesome.

For it to sound too studio like for a cassette rip is truly astounding. And a live 2 track mix to tape to boot.

Truly an excellant recording only using 57's and 58's.

Thanks.. It was more a function of me not knowing any better.

I sat a short distance from the stage (no snake) and tried to mix with headphones on while they played. All I owned at the time was a bunch of 57's and 58's, (although I may have used my Beyer M260 on the sax). my Tangent mixer and my trusty reel to reel. It was supposed to be for a demo.

A kinda neat ending for this story is that about five years ago I was in Reno Nevada at a Harley rally and Louie And The Rockets were playing at Harrahs.. and two of the original guys were in the band including Louie Fontane the singer.

I got their info and sent them CD's of the recording. They were amazed. . I have ten or twelve songs from that night.

A fun first effort.

[boojum]

Knowing the history it is amazing. Sheesh. You with 57's and 58's, another guy doing chamber stuff with a pair of Little Blondies. The skill makes it. The gear helps but first you need the chops. Great pull!

[GZsound]

Thanks I did a recording of two acoustic guitar players, an electric bass player and one vocalist back in 2001 with two $60 CAD condenser mics, an SM58 and ran the bass direct. It came out pretty good too.

I'll see if I can attach it.

[ebulb]

sounds good.. The vocal sounds thin but i like it, its got character.. I agree though the panning maybe let it down a little but overall very cool.. The performance is good also.

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by ebulb

sounds good.. The vocal sounds thin but i like it, its got character.. I agree though the panning maybe let it down a little but overall very cool.. The performance is good also.

Thanks.

That was done with a (gasp..) Behringer mixer to an ADAT using the channel inserts. Since I was running sound at the same time, I just made sure the levels to the ADAT were adequate. The only panning is that each guitar is slightly panned to create a spread between them.

I have been sucking the maximum quality out of inexpensive gear for most of my life...always had to earn the money before I could spend it.

[ebulb]

Originally Posted by GZsound

Thanks.

That was done with a (gasp..) Behringer mixer to an ADAT using the channel inserts. Since I was running sound at the same time, I just made sure the levels to the ADAT were adequate. The only panning is that each guitar is slightly panned to create a spread between them.

I have been sucking the maximum quality out of inexpensive gear for most of my life...always had to earn the money before I could spend it.

I was actually commenting on the first file you posted.. I hadnt heard the second... But just listening to that now and it sounds quite good also.. Nice work.

[boojum]

Originally Posted by GZsound

Thanks.


...always had to earn the money before I could spend it.

If you know of another way of getting money, please share it with me, offline. ;o)

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by boojum

If you know of another way of getting money, please share it with me, offline. ;o)

Well.. I met a guy last week that has a studio in Portland with some very high dollar gear.

He told me it's tough because he is nearly fifty thousand dollars in debt, doesn't have a job and just got an eviction notice for his rental house. He borrowed all the money for his high end gear and has been recording folks for free to see if he could build up a business.

That's the wrong way of getting money IMO.

[Richard King]

Originally Posted by GZsound

I got their info and sent them CD's of the recording. They were amazed. . I have ten or twelve songs from that night.

A fun first effort.

Very nicely done. I also used to love doing location recording projects. I am just starting to pick up some equipment to start again, after being away from it for WAY too long (I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to be when I grow up) . I went though some "old" tapes a while back and bumped some of the songs up to SoundClick. I have a live recording of a band that I did in 1976 that I tripped upon a few weeks ago. I did an internet search for one of the performers and actually found him and sent him a copy of one of the songs (one that he wrote). The band had 7 or 8 members, lots of guitars and vocals, harmonies and quite a good drummer (who got a bit covered up in the mix). This was recorded to 4 track. I wanted to keep a good stereo spread and so did a sort of "dual stereo" mix across the 4 tracks. Similar situation to yours, I was in the ballroom where the concert was taking place and monitoring over headphones. Here's a medley of a couple of songs from Crosby, Stills and Nash and Buffalo Springfield. SoundClick artist: Richard King's Recordings - page with MP3 music downloads Someone even took a picture of me that day

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by Richard King

Very nicely done. I also used to love doing location recording projects. I am just starting to pick up some equipment to start again, after being away from it for WAY too long (I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to be when I grow up) .

Dude... I have one of those in my living room...!

(TEAC 3340... my wife won't allow another hippy with a beard in the house...)

Welcome back. Just be sure you have several other sources of income, and a bit of savings to spend on great mics, mic amps, a good DAW, computer and... oh, yeah... the rent.

[boojum]

Originally Posted by GZsound

Well.. I met a guy last week that has a studio in Portland with some very high dollar gear.

He told me it's tough because he is nearly fifty thousand dollars in debt, doesn't have a job and just got an eviction notice for his rental house. He borrowed all the money for his high end gear and has been recording folks for free to see if he could build up a business.

That's the wrong way of getting money IMO.

Mark, I think you are right. I bet that guy does, too. But he is tool late knowing. ;o(

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by hbphotoav

Dude... I have one of those in my living room...!

(TEAC 3340... my wife won't allow another hippy with a beard in the house...)

Welcome back. Just be sure you have several other sources of income, and a bit of savings to spend on great mics, mic amps, a good DAW, computer and... oh, yeah... the rent.

I had a 3340 for several years too. I bought DBX noise reduction units for it and got some pretty decent recordings with that setup. I remember the monitoring playback being lame at best.

And I have a recording of my band in 1965 recorded on a Wollensack mono reel to reel tape deck in our skating rink rehearsal space. It isn't totally bad..

[Richard King]

Originally Posted by GZsound

I had a 3340 for several years too. I bought DBX noise reduction units for it and got some pretty decent recordings with that setup. I remember the monitoring playback being lame at best.

And I have a recording of my band in 1965 recorded on a Wollensack mono reel to reel tape deck in our skating rink rehearsal space. It isn't totally bad..

I remember Wollensak being the tape recorder that was used in all the schools back then. I wonder how much of that Wollensak technology ended up in the later 3M multitrack machines. You beat me by a few years in the recording thing. I think the first recording of music (other than copying my vinyl collection) was probably in about 1974/5 or so. I used to do mic/line mixing with an old Ampex consumer deck similar to this one: