Help set my band up for recording

[JacksonsMen]

as of now we just want to record our practices so we can critique ourselves before we play gigs.
so far we have a Samson XM910 powered mixer with guitar and two vocals in it. what i want to do is mic everything (both guitars, bass, and drums) i was thinking of getting a decent (read: cheap) drum mic kit run through its own mixer and into the XM910 an overhead condenser for the cymbles also through the aux mixer, mic the remaining amp cabs with sm58s through the xm910, run the RCA outs on the mixer to a small digital recorder and call it a day

what im looking for is anything i overlooked in my chain and recomendations for gear, remeber, cheaper is better.

thanks guys

 

[BuffaloBass]

Man, I'm like the resident poo' boy here, but we use a cheap $120 -ish Russian mike hung off the rafter and it does a decent job of miking practices. It runs into a Korg recorder. We mike the bass drum using, again, a cheap Nady mike running through the PA.

I'll get the name of the mike tonight if you care. It does a very respectable job. Dead simple.

Assume this is just for the band members own use, yes?

 

[MakiSupaStar]

Man, I'm like the resident poo' boy here, but we use a cheap $120 -ish Russian mike hung off the rafter and it does a decent job of miking practices. It runs into a Korg recorder. We mike the bass drum using, again, a cheap Nady mike running through the PA.

I'll get the name of the mike tonight if you care. It does a very respectable job. Dead simple.

Assume this is just for the band members own use, yes?

I agree. For practice this will do just fine. We did the same thing. We've been trying to do a more "professional" job now, and we still haven't got something that sounds better than hanging a couple of mikes.

 

[topper]

I second (or is it third now?) that. Also keep in mind that if your goal is to critique your performance going into a gig, you want to capture the overall sound of the band the way the audience is going to hear you. A couple of mics around the room is the best way to do that.

 

[labgnat]

it'd be easier to run your bass into the mixer with the line out on your amp. assuming you have one. a line out i mean. save you money on a mic and sound good

 

[TL5]

Yet another vote for room mics.

I've become somewhat a fan of minimalist, stereo mic'ing - YMMV.

 

[el_Kabong]

I agree with the room mic solution too. I know you said cheaper is better but..... the rode nt5 mics are really good for this application, come in a matched pair and while not the cheapest solution, they are extremely hard to beat in terms of value. They also make very good drum overheads. Not good 'for the money', but just plain good imo. You could use these mics for a lot more than just taping rehearsals, though they will do an excellent job of that.

A cheap compressor/limiter placed before the recording device can also be handy so you can keep the gain high on the mics without distortion every time the band kicks it up a bit. Saves lots of fiddling with levels while you're trying to rehearse. That's another nice thing about going stereo, you only need one comp/limiter.

 

[DanielleMuscato]

Whoa, Nelly... If you're just critiquing yourselves, you really don't need any of that. Get a $100 omni like this

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-B5-Condenser-Microphone?sku=270492

and an Alesis 3630 compressor ($100). Mix the omni, vocals, kick, and bass guitar together in a 4 track recorder and you're finished. Or even just mix them all together and use the tape out on your mixer. We have an Olympus $100 digital voice recorder with an 1/8" input that's perfect for just plugging into the board (via adaptor). This is what we use, with the above described setup...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_2/102-7693676-5100112?_encoding=UTF8

It records 90 minutes in high-quality stereo, or anywhere from 2 to 15 hours or so of lower quality mono.

Here are some sound samples of this technique, using the Olympus recorder....

Link Removed

Not broadcast quality by any stretch, but more than adequate for critique or even promokit demos (which is what we use it for).

Dave