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Recording in the cavern, January 2004
I am on the left, at the drum kit. Playing with me are Will Phalen, on guitar (far right) and Jordan Bader (aka the Young Republican) on bass guitar. In this arrangement we laid basic rhythm tracks for four songs. Even though we were all in one room, only the drum set was making real noise -- bass was run direct and the guitar amp was isolated in the bathroom. With this arrangement we got almost complete separation and a great recording. Unfortunately, listening through headphones while you play is nothing like "real thing."
The microphone setup was the most complex I've ever worked with. I've finally amassed a mic collection that allowed close-miking of every single drum. Five mics were used on drums -- a Shure Beta 52 on kick drum, a Shure SM57 on snare, and AKG D55s on the two toms and the "green meanie" (my repurposed conga). I used an Audio-Technica C87 on the hi-hats and a pair of AKG C1000s as overheads to pick up general kit sound and some cymbal detail.
Jordan's bass guitar was run direct through a simple chain: Presonus BlueTube preamp, Behringer Composer compressor, then a MOTU 828 firewire interface. Overdriving the tube when it hits hard, the bass picked up some healthy grit from the Presonus box and was then squeezed down to a controllable volume by the compressor. Both of these units are very musical, flexible and appropriate for bass tracking -- we were able to preserve huge bass frequencies and high-mid bite.
Will's guitar amp was hidden away in the bathroom, where we set it on a cardboard box to avoid picking up electrical interference and treated it with two mics. Pointed directly at the speaker cone, about 5" back, was a Røde NT1, which picked up high end clarity and sparkle. I placed a Shure SM57 closer to the grill and near the speaker's upper-right edge. The 57 captured a rounder, smoother sound that complemented the NT1 very nicely. In some rough mixes, we panned the two mics apart, creating a beautiful stereo image of Will's guitar tone.
From left to right:
- Apple Powerbook G4, running MOTU Audiodesk software. The computer interfaced with a MOTU 828 and stored audio data on an external LaCie firewire drive (not visible here). Originally, this setup was to be built around a Power Mac G4, but the Firewire quit on us during setup (presumably damaged during transport).
- Yamaha MS202 monitor speaker (the other speaker is off-camera to the left). These speakers have been with me ever since I started recording, and although they are totally unreliable as main sources, they do a good job with mid and high frequencies. When coupled with supplementary speaker sets, I can get a good overall impression of the how the mix will sound in the real world.
- Spirit Folio RacPac mixer. Another one of my original components, this mixer is just barely enough for what we were doing here. Each channel (except bass) was run through this mixer, with direct channel outs connected to the MOTU interface. The headphone mix was done with Aux sends, which have a tendency to overload easily. Buyer, beware!
- My rack: MOTU 828 at the top, Behringer Composer in the middle, Tascam CD burner at the bottom. My ADAT LX20 had to be removed due to space constraints, but I never use it anyway. On top of the rack base is the Presonus BlueTube and an ART DI/O analog-digital converter, basically used to add two extra inputs.
I've used the Powerbook/MOTU setup to record everything from live performances to radio PSAs, and it hasn't failed me yet. With a few external add-ons (compressor, tube preamp, etc) this makes a decent working rig for doing tracking of a rhythm section (like here) or small band. With the exception of a slightly more capable mixer, there is nothing I could ask for -- it sure beats the hell out of paying by the hour.
[note: text added March 4, 2004]