Recording in the woods

Giant Beat · Post by **Giant Beat** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:02 am

Hi, 1st time posting so go gently....

I want to record & videotape my band playing live in the woods. Set up is 2x guitars 1x bass 3x vocals drums. I am the drummer. We are a pretty loud rock band but we also have more dynamic songs as well. My thought was to live mix thru an 8 channel and then record into protools as 1 stereo track. Any thoughts tips, etc?

thanks,

Paul

rushofblood · Post by **rushofblood** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:41 pm

electricity?

Giant Beat · Post by **Giant Beat** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:53 pm

Electricity is covered, we're running extension cords. I was looking for some kind of insight into mic placement, what kind of mics, capturing sound properly when not in an enclosed space. that kind of thing.

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:07 pm

There isn't any "room tone" to speak of, so things like mic placement etc aren't as important. If anything it should sound better, because there aren't any damaging reflections to speak of. Though if there are lots of big trees, you might get some.

Z-Plane · Post by **Z-Plane** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:24 pm

If you can record 8 tracks straight into PT or whatever, then do that and mix it later. This way you only need to establish a reasonably healthy signal going in, but you could still do with knowing someone who can turn up with a box full of mics and a small PA for vocal monitors. If you are just doing one track then mime.

-3db · Post by **-3db** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:12 pm

Sounds like a live set up
but with only 8 ins you have to cut something

I can only come up with this at a minimum

1 lead voc mike, 441, or sm58,
2 back voc mic, sm58s
2 sm 57s close in for Guitar amps,
1 di for bass
1 re20 for bass amp
1 re 20 for kick
2 421s for overheads,
1 sm57 for snare

pa for monitors

1 stereo track? Why? You have 8 ins. Do 8 mono tracks. Then do that stereo track in the mix later.

Giant Beat · Post by **Giant Beat** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:57 pm

thanks everyone. I was gonna go into a mac book with an M-Box, so I only had the stereo ins on that.

-3b, thanks for the list that's gonna be real helpful. I thought about doing the 8 mono trks, I do have access to some gear, and we might try to get a small budget together but I'm not sure what to use to get 8 or more mono into the mac in a mobile environment. Some kind of digital mixer?

Z-plane, no doubt! We have some reasonable decent PA's to use, lol mime...I want to do a full live set though.

JWL, do you think mic-ing further away or closer than in the studio? There are some trees but our location is kinda like a stonehenge outcropping of glacial rock. we are gonna set up on the rocks. Pretty sweet looking.

thanks again

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:02 pm

You should be able to do more distant miking outdoors than you can in a studio, without worrying so much about iso. If you can, bring some gobos with you which will help increase iso even more.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:33 pm

It should be an interesting experience for sure. The only outdoor recording I've done is tracking an acoustic song in my backyard. It was interesting because it was summer, the birds were chirping and there was light wind, it had a really interesting ambiance. The only thing that I really noticed that wasn't necessarily good or bad but really stuck out is that since obviously there were no walls and therefore no reflections, it sounded very much like being in an anechoic chamber. Also the lack of bass was noticeable - it's surprising just how much bass from my acoustic guitar is really just from buildup in my space. So when I hit playback I noticed great ambient sound, zero reflections, and very little bass.

It'll definitely be different for you just because of the freq range of a full band versus what I was doing. I feel like your kick might not be booming the same as in a room, but the frequencies it could be lacking might not be ones you really need. I imagine amps close-miced won't be that different than indoors, though I'm really wondering what mics that would normally be room mics would sound like. I'm in a small-ish space so when I put up room mics I'm getting a lot of reflections, so I have to deal with that each times. Outside will be interesting.

Any chance this is something we'll be able to see/here? If it's something that'll be sold I'd be happy to buy it, though I can't say I wouldn't love to see it on Youtube or something! It should be a great learning experience, and I'm really anxious to hear it since it's not something I've ever done before and not something I've personally heard.

ofajen · Post by **ofajen** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:24 pm

Just think of it as an anechoic half-space with the (hopefully distant) company of wild creatures!

Cheers,

Otto

firby · Post by **firby** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:14 am

Do you have some sort of windscreens for the mics ?

Giant Beat · Post by **Giant Beat** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:18 am

Interesting thought firby, I never even thought about that. I'm assuming a light breeze would add to the ambiance, but you're right if it's a real windy day we are gonna have problems...do they even make windscreens for a bass drum mic? lol

CurtZHP · Post by **CurtZHP** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:57 am

And don't step in the bear shit!

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:23 am

which begs the question, how do you record the sound of one hand pooping on a catholic bear? does it make any sound? should you reverse the phase? will the pope hear it if there's no click track?

fergus · Post by **fergus** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:48 am

dsw certainly has some good points!

they make wind-shields for most mics, but i find that a thick sock or even a scarf can work just fine. but alas, i guess it would be quite unsightly if they were visible :S

also, if you have any kind of console, big or small, and you want to bring your track numbers down, why not just do some rough sub-mixes before going to tape? stereo drum mix? backup vocals? it might be better than just not recording things at all.

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Recording in the woods

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