Take Main Mix left and right out of the mixer and plug straight into tracks one and two?

Or:

Use two room mics (like PZM's) and use as stereo pair?

I'm only going to record two tracks at one time, and if I use the mics, I'll probably lose the vocals, and if I use the main mix lines, I'll lose instrument and room sounds.

Combine them maybe? It'll be mono, but...

I've been awake for two days straight. Love me.

why only two tracks at a time?

Stereo (ORTF? I like it...) for room sounds. Get the room sound RIGHT. One more track for vocal overdubs. If you can record more than two tracks at a time, you might want to consider close mic'ed kick, snare, or both (careful...) on the remaining track, depending on what sounds more problematic.

Or, mono. Mono can sound good.

If you don't have lots of control over the situation, do one channel of board mix and one of ambient mic. When you mix down, you have the option of deciding the appropriate balance. If you're really nuts about making it stereo, slightly pan each off center to opposite sides.

= Justin

Justin from Queens wrote:If you don't have lots of control over the situation, do one channel of board mix and one of ambient mic. When you mix down, you have the option of deciding the appropriate balance. If you're really nuts about making it stereo, slightly pan each off center to opposite sides.

= Justin

I'm with him. What's wrong with mono?

Justin from Queens wrote:If you don't have lots of control over the situation, do one channel of board mix and one of ambient mic. When you mix down, you have the option of deciding the appropriate balance. If you're really nuts about making it stereo, slightly pan each off center to opposite sides.

= Justin

yeah, pretty good idea here.

why can't you run the board mix to tracks 3-4? want to save for overdubs?

You can always bump as an intermediate mix-down step to free up the tracks for overdubs... unless you don't want to take the extra day to do it.

gio wrote:
why can't you run the board mix to tracks 3-4? want to save for overdubs?

That's it.

Well, also it'd be handy if I were to run out of tapes, I could use the remaining two tracks for a whole 'nother (part of a) show.

I'm a fan of recordings where everything is done in the most basic manner possible, emphasizing the quality of the performance by downplaying the quality of the production (Langley Schools Music Project, maybe?).

I like that White Stripes concert DVD where it was all shot on Super 8 for the same reason. I don't own any of their albums, but that's a good show.

And I saw Jack White walking the streets of Vancouver a couple weeks ago after one of the Celebration Of Light fireworks shows. I was going to ask him for a Coke.

Freger wrote:

gio wrote:
why can't you run the board mix to tracks 3-4? want to save for overdubs?

That's it.

Then do this -

Track 1 - Board Mix L
Track 2 - Board Mix R
Track 3 - Ambient Mic L
Track 4 - Ambient Mic R

Mix them down later onto another cassette (Cassette 2). Take Cassette 2, put it in your 4 track and now you've got the stereo mix balance you were hoping for with tracks 3 and 4 free for overdubs. The loss of one generation shouldn't be a big deal if the equipment is clean and the tapes are of reasonable quality.

Re: running out of tape - If you're prepared in advance enough to post a question about this on a message board, you're prepared enough to go out and buy enough tape that it shouldn't be a constraint.

Who's the pendant that will point out his contradiction between wanting pure sound and leaving room on a tape for overdubs?

Oh shit. I guess it was me.

Good luck,

= Justin

Edited to put a question mark in place of a period.

Justin from Queens wrote:
Mix them down later onto another cassette (Cassette 2). Take Cassette 2, put it in your 4 track and now you've got the stereo mix balance you were hoping for with tracks 3 and 4 free for overdubs. The loss of one generation shouldn't be a big deal if the equipment is clean and the tapes are of reasonable quality.

I think the only problem with that is that cassettes used in 4-track machines run at twice the speed of normal playback cassettes. So the cassette I mixed down to would be chipmunk-ified when brought back into the 4-track machine for overdubs.

Justin from Queens wrote:
Re: running out of tape - If you're prepared in advance enough to post a question about this on a message board, you're prepared enough to go out and buy enough tape that it shouldn't be a constraint.

This whole plan is meant for an upcoming low-budget tour, over the course of which I'm unsure of a) the amount of materials I'll require, and b) if tape will be available in the middle of nowhere, Manitoba. I know that there are some places here in Vancouver where type two high bias is getting scarce. I figure it's best to plan for everything.

Justin from Queens wrote:
Who's the pendant that will point out his contradiction between wanting pure sound and leaving room on a tape for overdubs?

An excellent point, and I should have noticed this earlier. Any overdubs added would not be to the music itself (filling in a bad vocal line, whatever), but likely to add samples and "other stuff" to the beginnings and ends of songs. These recordings aren't for me, and the band has some ideas of ways they want to do things. I'm just trying to leave options open, and if it were up to me exclusively, I would most certainly take 2 from the board and two room mics and be done with it.

But thanks!

Chipmunk thing - Yep, that makes sense. The 4 track I've got allows "normal" speed recording but it doesn't sound like yours does.

Tape amount - Okay.

Overdubs - I was messing with you. You took it in stride.

= Justin