Minimum Room Size for recording acoustic jazz quartet

[bolehnggak]

Hi,

I'm going to record a jazz quartet, with grand piano, upright bass, drums, and saxophone.
But there are some thoughts about the place of recording.
I have a small recording studio, with an iso booth. The size of the tracking room is 3metersx5meters, an iso booth 2metersx1.5meters, and the control room is also 3metersx5meters. I designed it so there's no parallel walls.
The first thought is, I'll place the grand piano in the control room with the upright bass, the saxophone in the iso booth, and the drums in the tracking room.
The second thought is the same with first, but I'll switch the piano with the drums, so the piano will be in the tracking room, and the drums in the control room, but I still doubt that it would be good, because the control room height is lower (2.5m) as opposed to the tracking room height (3.5m).
The third thought is placing everybody in the same tracking room, except upright bass in iso booth, but with the door open. The bass player suggested it, because he said that he would be more comfortable playing while hearing others live, not via headphones. I also heard that many jazz recordings are recorded with leakage, but with my size of room, I'm afraid that the leakage will be uncontrollable. Or is it?

Any suggestion? Or anybody can give other opinion? I wonder if there is a minimum size of a room that would acommodate this setup so they would be in the same room? FYI the drums will be played with sticks, not brushes.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Ari
Bandung, Indonesia

[Remoteness]

Drums in the tracking room
Bass in the iso room with the door opened
Piano and sax in the control room

Or

Drums and sax in the tracking room
Bass in the iso room with the door opened
Piano in the control room

Or

Everyone in the tracking room except the bass (leave the door opened) as long as you optimize the mic placement to maximize the isolation.


IMO, what's more important is the sound of the room than the size of the room.
The smaller the room the close the mics should be placed. YMMV.
The larger the room the further the mics can be spaced from the instruments.

[Roland]

The only thing I would add to the above is to check the bass out in all area's, double basses can be a whole heap of trouble to record, they are probably the most "room reactive" instrument there is and their quality (and that of the players) often varies dramatically. Recording the bass in the iso room (being physically small) might be the best solution, but don't assume, always use your ears for final judgement.

Regards


Roland

[stevep]

Cool session , sounds like fun

Why not just try and put them in the same room first and use Gobos and blankets ect to control some of the bleed


i have a 4 piece Jazz session Wednesday and they will all be in the live room drums, bass, sax, E guitar

I plan on bleed and will close mic everything and also use stereo room mics to capture the whole sound to 2"

The only problem is if we need to punch the sax.......... hope for good takes

Thanks for the Bass suggestion ,

Have fun !

[leddy]

Originally Posted by stevep

The only problem is if we need to punch the sax.......... hope for good takes

No one else gets to punch, why should he?

Horn players play a melody, blow a few choruses, then get a drink and hit on the waitress while the rhythm section continues to work. At the end of the gig, the rhythm section usually has gear to hump around while the horn player walks out the door (with the waitress) in about 45 seconds. They all get paid the same amount.

Now you want to let him fix his clams???

Tell him to woodshed like everyone else.

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Roland

The only thing I would add to the above is to check the bass out in all area's, double basses can be a whole heap of trouble to record, they are probably the most "room reactive" instrument there is and their quality (and that of the players) often varies dramatically. Recording the bass in the iso room (being physically small) might be the best solution, but don't assume, always use your ears for final judgement.

Regards


Roland

I hear you loud and clear...

Then I think about all that potential drum leakage...

But, like you said, "Recording the bass in the iso room (being physically small) might be the best solution, but don't assume, always use your ears for final judgement."

[bolehnggak]

Hi, thanks for all replies.

I'm interested in putting all musicians except bass in the tracking room, and the musicians are all hoping that the recording can be done that way. But I wonder about the leakage, cause the room is only 3meterx5meter (approx. 10ft x 16ft), for example, it might be just inches away between drums and piano. I know that leakage is okay, but i wonder if it's too much leakage, so I can't control the sound of each instruments. More thoughts everyone, maybe more details on instrument placement, or else maybe? Thanks in advance.

Ari