Recording a band

Recording a full band

For starters, we contacted a band called SOAP (Son Of A Policeman) an indie band and we recorded three songs for them. We managed to set a time and recorded them all in one night. We came early for the session and took about two hours to set up a 7 member band before the set time. During the recording session we provided refreshments for the band as well as marking where they should stand and face to eliminate any confusion and ease the flow of recording.

Studio Setup

There are no E Guitar 3 for this song. The drums is a 8 mic set up, we decided to use the AKG instead of the MD421 which we planned on using but because of its large diaphragm and we wanted to minimise bleed as much as possible so we decided to switch it out. We also changed out the overheads from the AKG C414 to the AKG 451 B because we wanted a small diaphragm instead. For the musician's mixes, we used two audio interfaces because there weren't any power cables left so the drummer and the bass player shared a mix and the others had to share another mix, which was tougher because different musicians wanted different mixes but we manage to get the overall sound they are comfortable with so that they can hear the click and monitoring their performances.

*Guitar mics are on axis the bass drum is not on axis

What went wrong

• There weren't enough power cables for the audio interfaces
• There were issues with one of the guitarist input jack but we fixed the problem

Overall

I would say that the recording session went well and we manage to record all three songs. We also manage to eliminate the problems that came about. The drums set up we used were excellent for live recordings because of its small diaphragms which helped minimise the bleed as much as possible. Would certainly use this set up for future live recordings. What I also learn in this process is that you always have to be on your toes at all times.