So where to place them?
We have:
1 drummer
1 bass
2 lead guitars
1 rhythm guitar
Any ideas? Maybe one infront of leads and the other infront of the bass and rhythm?
"Today is what it means to be young..."
(Radiohead, RHCP, Jimi Hendrix - the big 3)
If you're going to try to record your band in stereo, you might put them equidistant in front of the band - like you were playing live - so you get a good stereo image of the sound. Maybe 10 feet apart and pointing in the general direction of the players. To get a good balance you'll have to have everyone adjust their volume so nothing's too loud or too soft. The drums should come out pretty loud anyhow.
But most times with that many people in the band and rehearsal spaces being what they are, you might all be crowded together and the sound gets sorta mushed together anyhow. Depending on whether you have a stereo mixing board, and amps with line-outs, you might be able to get the bass and three guitars directly input into the mixer, pan them the way you want, and then use the mics to capture the drums so they sound stereo - usually on stands above and to the right and left of the kit. That way you don't get too much kick and you get the cymbals.
What sort of recording setup do you have? Computer software, external mixer?
If you have a singer then the singer will have to have a track somewhere too.
We use Krystal, a freebie software package, but it gets the job done.
Both mics go into an external mixer I think, which has 2 plugs only (3 prongs - "balanced"?)
And yes, the rehearsal space isn't huge. :D
"Today is what it means to be young..."
(Radiohead, RHCP, Jimi Hendrix - the big 3)
You might try using the two mics to record the drums in stereo, and then the rest depends on whether the band members are comfortable adding their tracks one at a time. If the drummer can play his part from start to finish with nobody else playing, then record the drum tracks first and then have the others add their parts.
If you're going for the live-band sound, then use the 2 mics for the drums, DI (direct inject/input) the bass and DI the rhythm guitar and lead guitars. You might want to put the vocal on last. If you don't have a vocal, you could put the two lead guitars down last.
This way though, you'll have to face the amps away from the drum's mics (as much as you can) so the amps don't bleed into the drum tracks. The lead players (even the rhythm player) may have to play unusually soft to keep the bleed to a minimum. If you keep things as separated as possible, it's easier to mixdown later.
If the band needs to do all the parts at once, then just set the mics up facing the band separated as wide as you can go without being up against the side walls and then mix things live by varying amp volumes; sort of a live mix.
