Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

[Nightburst]

Well not actually live band but more like rehearsal space live band lol . Our drummer wants to use these recordings to play along with at home but tells me the recordings need to be louder and perhaps a little more defined so he can hear every separate instrument a bit better.
Doesn't have to be perfect, just a little bit might do the trick. So far my puny attempts failed to achieve this, any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm using cubase 7 btw.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Well...start by letting us know how you are currently recording them. Are you sticking a zoom recorder in the room? all instruments separate? etc?

Limiter for loudness though.

If these are complete songs I would do actual demos of them, that way you have more control etc. It wouldn't take long to multi-track everything for a few tunes for demo purposes. then you can also give everyone their own mix without them on it for practice (which is what my one band does).

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

SM57 in middle of room straight into cubase

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Ok your only option then is to throw a limiter on there. you could EQ out some mud for the clarity perspective but that's about it.

What interface are you using and whats your band setup? You could probably fairly easily take it up a notch for minimal investment. Or even with just 1 57 you could get considerably better clarity by multitracking demos for personal practice purposes.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Thanks Kamandra. I'll try the limiter, I was thinking some parallel compression would punch up the whole track too?
The idea is to get a decent 'live' recording for analytic and practice purposes without mud indeed.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Typically speaking, the worst sounding location for a mic is dead center! It's usually in a null spot and has reflections from the entire room. As most rehearsal rooms are muddy sounding to begin with, that's a lot of mud going into the mic, none of it useful.

Recording music is called engineering for a reason; you have to put some work into it if you want quality results.

Start with making sure the band has a good balance in-room. Then, with the band playing, someone has to move the microphone round the room to find the best location. With a single mono mic, the location may end up surprising you. Don't use your eyes.

Also, don't forget to experiment with height; the closest boundaries are far more likely to be the floor and ceiling than the side walls. Adjusting the height can really change the sound.

Finally, if you are recording digitally, track at a lower volume to preserve dynamics (sorry, Komanda ). You can always increase the average level later.

Experiment, have fun, and don't give up. You'll find the sweet spot eventually.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Thanks Kamandra. I'll try the limiter, I was thinking some parallel compression would punch up the whole track too?
The idea is to get a decent 'live' recording for analytic and practice purposes without mud indeed.

I don't think parallel compression will do much for you in this situation.

Finally, if you are recording digitally, track at a lower volume to preserve dynamics (sorry, Komanda ). You can always increase the average level later.
.

Oh absolutely, I am referring to in post for the drummers purposes of being able to hear anything while practicing his drums.


With that said, Nightburst, please refer to my post above and give us some more insight into your band setup (4 piece...5 piece...what everyone plays) and what interface you are using to see if we can come up with a better solution

 

[devastone]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

An SM57 isn't the best for a room mic, it's fairly directional.

What software are you using? Look for a Normalize effect to fix the volume issue, unfortunately with a single mic recording there isn't much you can do about separating the instruments.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

I would try to multitrack it. A bad multitrack is more fixable than a bad mono mic-in-the-center of the room recording.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

What's your recording setup? The best way to achieve the desired result is to get a rig that allows for multitrack recording so you can adjust the tracks individually.

 

[Progbusters]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

walk around room to find the sound with a stereo mics like the zooms

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

The SM57 is a directional microphone. It is designed to let sound in the front and reject sound from the back.

With that in mind, point the mic spso it is pointed twowards the band, with the back of it towards the drummer. That way it will pick up more of the bass and guitar, and less drums. That will make it easier for the drummer to praxtice with the recording, because hell be able to hear the band in his headphones.

I agree with the others on the limiter. This will make everyhing seem louser in the drummes headphones, which will help make it wasier to hear during solo drum praxtice later.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Oh I totally forgot about this thread. Thanks so much for helping out!
First I want to state that we are going to record more seriously in a studio later but for now we just want to record for listening back, see if we are doing alright and for home practice purposes too. Band mix is pretty good now in the room we can all hear ourselves and each other properly.
The setup is 2 guitarists, 1 bassplayer and a drummer. Room is kinda muddy indeed, there is carpet on the walls and the floor is carpet on wood. Size is approx 4m wide and 8m long. Used to be a cooling cell in a previous life.
Recording gear is a SM57 into a focusrite into a laptop with cubase 5. Recordings now sound kinda muddy and especially the vocals are a little lost in the mix with some strange effects going on.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Which focusrite? And what type of PA are you using in the room?

Depending on your interface (or for a small upgrade) you could probably get decent separation via mics and sends from the PA as well.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Any tips on how to make a 'live band recording' more clear and louder?

Which focusrite? And what type of PA are you using in the room?

Depending on your interface (or for a small upgrade) you could probably get decent separation via mics and sends from the PA as well.

Ill check but I think its the 2i2 focusrite. PA looks like an old peavey, its has quite a few channels and buttons. Will post the exact type nr. after friday.