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Hello all, i have a question that hopefully you all wont find stupid,

but i am recording my band with 2 tracks, playing live, and i have an sm57, sm58, and 2 mxl condensers, any tips on how to mic the room,

i may lay the instruments down live then lay the vocals down.

any tips or anything would be greatly appreciated!!!

thanks

What do you instruments have in the band?

As a simple suggestion, I'd maybe record using the MXLs as a stereo crossed pair to record the whole band, and place the remaining 57 and 58 on the two quietest remaining sources.

I would also spend plenty of time arranging the layout of the sources as you have limited options regarding the mix.

1 guitar, 1 bass, drums, vox

should i mic the drums or just use the crossed pair to pick up the drums?

thanks for the reply by the way!!!!!

Ok, that's a simple setup.

I would take the grill off of the 58 and put it and the 57 on the bass amp and guitar amp.

I'd then put either a spaced or crossed pair of MXL condensers over the drums and move them till they sounded good.

Then pan, and record.

Alternatively, if the guitar and bass amps were not too loud, I would maybe try placing the MXL condensers in a crossed pair in the room pointing at the whole band. The drum volume would need to dominate in these mics though in order to get a suitable mix by dropping in the 57 and 58.

Maybe read MTAR's thread on his Push-Pull recordings as he obviously knows his stuff when it comes to live band recording, and explains his process well.

My tip would be to record many sample recordings, listening, and repositioning as necessary and adjusting equipement until it sounds best before making the final recording as you have little control over the mix afterwards.

thank you soo much!!!

ya, i think the most important thing is to experiment A LOT with mic / instrument positions until you get a good balance of all instruments. you said you have 2 tracks, but do you have a 4 channel board that will mixdown the 4 mics into the 2 channels? if so, i would try the mxl condensors in an xy or ortf configuration in front of the drums or overhead, then close mic the guitar and bass cab's with the sm57/58. another thought is to try to capture the entire band with the mxl's in an xy, then close mic the guitar and bass and bring them up to where it sounds good.

thanks sooo much for your help guys, i think im gonna borow a digital 8 track and maybe some mics so i can get a bit mor flexability with levels but still do everything live

does this sound like a bad idea?

1) Another thing you might try would involve placing one MXL in front of the drum kit, two or so feet away, just equal to the top of the top of the kick drum or just a littly higher. This should hear the whole kit well with better bass drum response than you would get from stereo overheads.

You could then hang the other MXL above the kit or use it on the bass for better low end response than the Shures or as a room mic, etc., placing the 57 on the snare for isolation, etc., etc..

I just find that a good condensor in front of a drum kit will draw out a kick drum. The Shures you've got can't really handle that. Which brings me to another thing.

2) You might be best to record the bass on a direct line (either straight from the guitar or on a line out from the amp head). The MXL is probably the only mic than can handle the frequencies and I find that absent a great bass cabinet, a direct line gives the best result.

Or think of this:

MXLs on the drums, SM57 on the guitar, bass direct, vocals through the 58.

You might experiment with a few arrangements to figure out your own gear before you start calling in favors. Or not.

I agree with Cowtown14. Mic-minimal recordings can teach you a lot.