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Recording a three man band with a 664


Mungo

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Hi experienced soundies,

 

what would you do?

I have to record a live performance of a small rockband for a tv documentary. Three men: lead guitar singer, bass guitar and drumset.

Luckily I have got all mikes for the different purposes.

But for several reasons the only recorder I can use is the Sound Devices 664. I will record iso tracks and leave all EQs, dynamics, reverb, stereo etc. to post. My only issue is the limited amount of just six mic preamps. This is my plan:

- Overhead L

- Overhead R

- Bassdrum

- ??? Toms?

- Bass guitar

- Lead guitar

- Lead Vocals (wireless handmike, line level to CH7)

- Backing vocals (wireless line lvl to CH8)

 

How would you solve this? Normally, a recording of a drumset requires a minimum of five channels, but I haven't got the opportunity as you can see.

 

Thanks in advance, guys!

Greets! Mungo

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14 minutes ago, Mungo said:

Hi experienced soundies,

 

what would you do?

I have to record a live performance of a small rockband for a tv documentary. Three men: lead guitar singer, bass guitar and drumset.

Luckily I have got all mikes for the different purposes.

But for several reasons the only recorder I can use is the Sound Devices 664. I will record iso tracks and leave all EQs, dynamics, reverb, stereo etc. to post. My only issue is the limited amount of just six mic preamps. This is my plan:

- Overhead L

- Overhead R

- Bassdrum

- ??? Toms?

- Bass guitar

- Lead guitar

- Lead Vocals (wireless handmike, line level to CH7)

- Backing vocals (wireless line lvl to CH8)

 

How would you solve this? Normally, a recording of a drumset requires a minimum of five channels, but I haven't got the opportunity as you can see.

 

Thanks in advance, guys!

Greets! Mungo

The drums are the only place here that you can fudge a little.   For rock, you need the kick.  You need at least one overhead mic, but you might not really need two depending on how this will be mixed and for what.  Steve Remote (from the Remote Recording Gearslutz forum) made a recco years ago about how to deal with a drum kit with very few mics.  The key--put an omni near the drummer's right knee, on a low stand.  I do this a lot now--it gets a very nicely balanced kit sound that you can add other mics to as needed.  Thus you could easily get by with kick, OH and the "knee", with the next add being a 2nd overhead (now we have stereo!)   You could stay mono with the drums if you really wanted a tom mic or you felt you need a closeup snare mic (from the opposite side from the knee mic).   With 664 you could always use extra outboard pres into inputs 7-12, this worked very well for me on a few album gigs when I had my 664.

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5 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

The drums are the only place here that you can fudge a little.   For rock, you need the kick.  You need at least one overhead mic, but you might not really need two depending on how this will be mixed and for what.  Steve Remote (from the Remote Recording Gearslutz forum) made a recco years ago about how to deal with a drum kit with very few mics.  The key--put an omni near the drummer's right knee, on a low stand.  I do this a lot now--it gets a very nicely balanced kit sound that you can add other mics to as needed.  Thus you could easily get by with kick, OH and the "knee", with the next add being a 2nd overhead (now we have stereo!)   You could stay mono with the drums if you really wanted a tom mic or you felt you need a closeup snare mic (from the opposite side from the knee mic).   With 664 you could always use extra outboard pres into inputs 7-12, this worked very well for me on a few album gigs when I had my 664.

 

Yes this!  The Steve in question is a live R&R mixer of great acclaim and this drum technique works.  I think some other great producer came up with it.  It's been a long time since I have needed to know this stuff (I record almost no music with a drum kit ever).  Maybe Philip can add a name here.  Why do I think Led Zeppelin's producer?

 

But your plan seems fine and should produce a fine result.

 

Good luck.

 

D.

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Thank you a lot, guys!

 

I think I'll go with the right knee mic, OH and kick!

 

It's just a small part of a doc I've been working for, about a celeb, mainly consisting of talking heads. The celeb also performs with his band from time to time, he's no professional musician. No audience, no foh mixer, just a rehearsel situation.

 

As already said, the doc will be for TV only, so just stereo and no 5.1 or so.

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For six inputs: Kick, Snare, OH, Guitar amp, Bass amp (or DI) and Vocal. Option: you could eliminate the snare mic and use that for the room. Obviously you'll probably need a two or three external pre-amps since the 633 only has three mic preamps. Most lavs cannot handle high SPLs, so get some dynamics for close mic'd sources. 57s and/or 58s are relatively low cost and good for just about anything that's loud.

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16 hours ago, JonG said:

I’ve had a lot of success miking drums with just a kick and mono overhead. More of your favorite albums from the 60s we’re done this way than you think. 

Couple of years ago I did a drum kit with just a 416 from a bit of distance. I takes a good balanced drum kit plus drummer to pull this off though.



Edit: I found a link the the production; it was if i remember correctly (2012 it was) 1 shotgun for drums, vocals ( Shure beta 58a) and keys via the house mixer panel out into my mixer, sennheiser e609 on sax and some cheap MXL large diaphragm on upright bass. So 5 channels into a cheap Behringer mixer (some EQ and reverb to play with) straight to 2-track (So no ISO recording...), no post on audio I believe.
 

 

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