Live recording with DP etc.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:19 am

Hey, everybody! I'm going to be recording 3 bands in a club here in about a month. I've got DP, my Traveler, and I'll request a couple of 8Pre's depending on how many inputs, of course.
If anyone has any suggestions or tips and tricks about recording in a club environment with DP, let 'er rip!

Thanks in advance for any info!

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:29 am

#1. Keep the beer away from your gear.

You didn't mention if there's going to be a house mix. If so, you might be able to tap into the house mixer, if they have Direct Outs, and go into your Traveler, etc. If no house mix, then you have to run your own cables and mics if you want direct sound. Zeus help you.

You could set up a stereo pair of mics, and keep an eye on your set-up all night, keep the curious or uncoordinated alcoholics from knocking over your stuff. And that's my biggest fear of recording in clubs: You have little or no control over the bar patrons. And all your stuff is going to smell like an ash tray afterwards.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:51 am

Jim wrote:#1. Keep the beer away from your gear.

No, doubt. Thanks for the advice, Jim!
What I'm planning, at this point, is getting my hands on a splitter snake so I can run xlr's to me AND to the board. Yeah, there will be a house mix, but I've tried "tapping" the board for audio at other times, and it never seems to work too well.
Hopefully, I can find a back room or little office in which to work. Run my side of the snake AWAY from the fray. Alchohol and electronics don't mix!

And the ashtray factor? Yeah, I know it well. After ten years of clubs and casinos, the equipment takes on a stink of its own!

I've definitely left THAT life behind, but I figure one night of recording might be fun. That's ONE night.

P.S. Hey, Jim! I was looking at your website. Looks great! I've often tried to set up a "client area" like you have, but to no avail. Did you build your site yourself? If so, how did you do your "client area"? Just curious. Thanks!

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:56 am

Thanks, Taggart. I built my site myself with Freeway Express. And the Client Area is just a few links I created in FE, along with the web hosting tools in Yahoo for setting up Password Access. Fairly simple to do, once you understand Yahoo's methods. And I use an FTP Client called Cute FTP Pro to upload my client files.

---

I wasn't sure how much trouble you wanted to go through as far as micing individual instruments. As if the process isn't chaotic enough, when you have bar patrons around who are a bit tipsy, and if you don't have a friend to keep an eye on your stuff out in the open, it can be a challenge. But, if you have a room to situate your gear, that takes a load off.

I think ambience may be an issue, depending on whether you want to capture it or not. If not, you might consider using all dynamic cardiod mics, as they tend to reject ambient sounds better. I did one live gig with my Traveler and all SM57s (and a Mackie 1604 for sub-grouping to the Traveler line inputs), even for the drum overhead, and I was fairly pleased with the results.

With your Traveler and without a mixer in tow, you could mic thusly using your mic inputs:

kick
overhead
bass cabinet
gtr cab

And then take a line feed from your PA for the vocals, and another from the keyboards, if applicable.

nick danger · Post by **nick danger** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:02 am

I did a live recording a few weeks ago (ballroom dance thing, so no alcohol or cigarettes to worry about.) The one suggestion I have is to figure out exactly what you want to do in advance and make sure whoever is in charge of the pa/sound for the band(s) understands and agrees with what you intend to do. You don't want to show up with your rig only to find out they don't want to cooperate with your plan, which is what happened to me. It was mostly an experiment for me, so no big deal, but I didn't get nearly the sound I could have otherwise.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:40 am

Thanks, Jim and Nick. Good advice. If I don't have to take anything from the board, I won't.
Eveybody involved with the gig knows it's gonna be recorded by me, so no worries there. My biggest worry right now is number of inputs (hence, my other thread, Nick

) and I'm still waiting for the guy in charge of sound to get back to me.
I guess another issue would be when the stage changes from one band to another. I don't want "Hey, singer guy! Just use that guitar mic for this set!" I'll have to keep a close watch.

Wish me luck!