My life depends on this. Literally.

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Griffunk
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My life depends on this. Literally.

Post by Griffunk » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:40 pm

Ive got quite a scenario, and I need some answers.

Im recording a four piece rock band live. The band is a chili peppers esque funk rock band. Their instrumentation consists of two elec. guitars, one electric bass, and a 4 piece drum kit. Vocals will be overdubbed. The singer also plays guitar and wants to do a scratch vocal track. The room Im recording in is a pretty big place with a weird echo, and almost no acoustics. Should I isolate any of the instruments? Should I use DI on any instruments? What kind of mics would be the best choice for each instrument and a live room mic? (polar pattern, etc.) Im very new to recording so itd be a huge help if I could get as much feedback as possible on this. I have a pretty big mic selection for an aspiring engineer due to my schools selection. The room has a good iso booth, a half ass control room, and a big but echoey live room. Go into as much detail as you possibly can.

The gig is thursday, and Im in over my head as it is, If I could get some good responses, you literally would save my life.

OM15.2
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Post by OM15.2 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:10 pm

tell us about the part where you are going to die if this goes wrong?! What is it? terminal audio related disease? hit man? angry ex wife of the drummer?

WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU!?

signed,
concerned

Jess P
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Post by Jess P » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:36 pm

Forget recording the band, you should skip town and lay low. Post us when you reach the "safe house."

markmeat
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Post by markmeat » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:37 pm

What is going on here... this is the third nearly identical post by three different usernames?!?!? This isn't funny.

MEAT
"Every fight is a food fight when you're a cannibal!"

http://thedeadlivers.bandcamp.com

markmeat
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Post by markmeat » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:38 pm

Sorry... three threads, TWO users


MEAT
"Every fight is a food fight when you're a cannibal!"

http://thedeadlivers.bandcamp.com

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:41 pm

markmeat wrote:What is going on here... this is the third nearly identical post by three different usernames?!?!? This isn't funny.

MEAT
"Go into as much detail as you possibly can", the guy pleads

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inverseroom
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Post by inverseroom » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:44 pm

Ah, I'm sure the guy's dead by now. If only I'd read the post sooner! :cry:

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JGriffin
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Post by JGriffin » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:50 pm

Ah, the mis-use of the word "literally." An all-too-common occurence in modern life.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

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JohnDavisNYC
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Post by JohnDavisNYC » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:56 pm

yeah, he totally should have said 'Fo REALZ'....

john
i like to make music with music and stuff and things.

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biasvoltage
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Post by biasvoltage » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:00 pm

Record to full track mono using an EV635a in the middle of all the instruments. It'll sound like Louie Louie.

That will be $35, please.

MoreSpaceEcho
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Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:00 pm

if the band is indeed "a chili peppers esque funk rock band" i think this guy, whatever his name is, should fake his death right now and get out of recording them.

madtho
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Re: My life depends on this. Literally.

Post by madtho » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:12 pm

Griffunk wrote:The band is a chili peppers esque funk rock band.
...you literally would save my life.
Don't worry, I know they've made threats, but they just SAY they're nihilists and they'll run scared as soon as you show a little chutzpah.

shalom
-mad


PS. It's not really her toe.
We wanted to play traditional jazz in the worst way...and we did!
-Dave Van Ronk

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KilledByAlbany
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Post by KilledByAlbany » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:15 pm

To do list:

1: Relax. Understand that while at the same time you are stressing out during tracking that somebody in the world just stepped on a landmine or had their hands cut off. Hidden lesson: Things could be a lot worse.

2: Listen to records in a similar vein and decide what's right for the session. Do the songs get complimented by a super clean and seperated sounding peformance or does the whole thing sound kind of airy? A lot of people use big live spaces to their advantage. I personally get excited when I get to track drums in a space like that because you can end up using the reflections to your benefit and make the kit sound really powerful. The trade off is that you lose some of the instruments characteristics if you are not careful.

My suggestions for if you want a tight seperate recording would be to (obviously) keep the instruments as far apart in the room as you can, and use a lot of close mics, hypercardoid patterns, etc, some stuff like wood planks or couches or something put between instruments for better seperation. In this situation you won't have a lot of room to experiment with figure 8 mics or distance micing. You will have to set up like you are working live sound in a small club. Everything as close as you can get it and still make it sound good.

If you don't mind some bleed and air in your mix, my suggestion would be to (still) keep everybody a fair distance away and...well....essentially go to town and mic as you normally would. Maybe put the bass into the iso booth. If you are setting everything down to it's own track that you will mix later you can always go back and record guitars over again if they sound muddy. Use the room to your advantage, put a nice LDC up as a room mic a few feet in front of the kit to glue all of the individual tracks together a bit. Maybe even put up a PZM or SDC a decent stroll away from the kit and delay it a bit to simulate acoustic reflections.

3: Remember that if it sounds good it is good.

4: Continue to relax.

kayagum
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Post by kayagum » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:25 pm

Close mic everything (besides drums), look up "Glyn Johns technique" on this board for drum micing, and add as many room mics as you feel like, or can sponge from your school mic locker. Or not.

I assume this band can play cleanly in a single live take. Right? RIGHT?

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inverseroom
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Post by inverseroom » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:47 pm

kayagum wrote:I assume this band can play cleanly in a single live take. Right? RIGHT?
HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

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