i am trying to record to tape live, i have pa questions and vairous others. dont know how to do more than one take with a single cassette deck so i need to distribute my mics for best results on what i have.

just based on some bits here and there i would like some basic help with recording a three piece, very low budget equipment to cassette tape deck (akai with glass heads - dont know if that makes diff), i just scratched enough cash together for 6 shitty mic's, but i know i can get decent results.

heres my situtation, my current setup, the results ive gotten thus far, what i cant get, and what id like from ANYONE who will advise me

Mic's/gear
-----
shure sm 57 - on the guitar 4X12

shure sm 58 - between the left cymbal (drummers left) high hat, snare
shure c606 (crap but effective) - in the kick drum
shure c606 (mid toms/cymbal pointing slight to drummers right)

shure sm 58 - not doing anything - maybe for vocals
no name mic - not doing anything - maybe for vocals

bass combo xlr direct to pa

drums are in their own room, im getting a VERY DECENT sound out of three mics (shit ones to boot) but i would welcome all suggestions of mic placements that have helped anyone in the past. which mics where please let me know if it matters

the bass and guitar (in separate room) come up in the mix fine on their own, but when i play back with all three players going the bass sounds like shit and the guitars are almost inaudible, granted i have only spent 12 hours playing around, just looking for advice.

im using a behringer (heard they sucked) 10 channel powered mixer.

i dont know what panning is or if my pa can do it, etc, im a newbie

i also dont know which speakon output from my pa i should use for my two pa speakers 15" 700 W yamaha's

180 W @ 8 ohms Left/Right from the pa to the 700 W 8 ohm speakers
or
500 W @ 8 ohms "bridge" mode daisy chained to the two pa speakers, which causes lots of discharge when i turn the pa on and off.

will a higher output wattage help in powering such large pa speakers.
will i be able to turn my mic input levels down (they are set very high right now on when using the 180W per side) if my pa is using less main vol to power the pa speakers say if it was set to 500 W output?

im clueless
please ask me to clarify if you need a more accurate explanation
thanks
KwInCyMoNs

try micing up the bass amp with one of those mics - the 58 may well yield a better sound than DIing it. with regard to quietness; i guess the most obvious answer is to try turning everything else down! also, as a little tip - if you ahev a spare channel, send your quiet signal out through an aux send and then stick it back in through another channel. you now have twice the gain you had before. i find it's a useful way of boosting levels without adding superfluous hiss.

curtains4courtney wrote:the bass and guitar (in separate room) come up in the mix fine on their own, but when i play back with all three players going the bass sounds like shit and the guitars are almost inaudible, granted i have only spent 12 hours playing around, just looking for advice.

I understand your frustration, but be patient and things will fall into place. You'll learn more as you do more.

Regarding the above: obviously, we can't hear what you're doing, but it sounds like the bass player might be rocking a tad too hard. The bass might be bleeding into the guitar mics (and if it's a very live room there will be no easy way to deaden the bass). If you're going to continue having the bass DI, you might want to ask that the amp faces the wall or something. I might also suggest, as Tom did, that the bass not go DI (as that might be why it sounds shitty in combo with the other live instruments), but mic it and find a way to separate the guitars from it.

i posted in other forums before and it was like pulling teeth to get ppl to help. im glad you guys suggested those things, i will try and let you know if i obtained better results.

a quick question, my pa has recording in sterio or mono, i dont know the difference but play back of sterio recording gives me tons of hiss, where as the mono recording playback is much less hiss but also a bit less volume. would i hear less hiss if i used a different set of playback speakers instead of my two huge 15 " pa speakers which im using now as my monitors i guess.

thanks
KwIn CyMoNs

www.prosoundweb.com


go there. read it. learn.

to look, thanks again