Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    "...strategically place microphones,..."
    
    This is the first thing that makes me want to say no. Four mics
    stashed around the rehearsal hall insure that sounds are picked
    up at 4 times, at *different times*. (The mic nearest the guitar
    amp picks up the guitar before the mic across the room.) This
    will give you eq problems. If a mic is n.5 times a given wavelength
    away from another mic you'll get phase cancellation at the
    corresponding frequency.
    
    My personal opinion is you'd be better off recording a live performance
    with only 2 mics and save the multitracking for the studio...
    
    Edd                     

Unless you insulate the instruments from each other.  Studios use movable
padded walls for this.  The drummer goes in another room with a window
so he can see out.

A way to do this at home, provided you have lots of wire and earphones:
put each instrument in a different room of the house, with a mic.  Feed
monitor mix back to all headphones so everyone hears everyone else.
But the drummer goes in the garage.

Needs *long* lo impedance mic cables and headphone distribution amps.

Might be easier to record one inst at a time, unless it is some kind
of freewheeling jam.

    Always record in a tiled bathroom. ;-) ~/~
    A book i read once said keep the mics 3 times as far from one
    another as from each's sound source.
    Or find a nice quadraphonic arrangement and play it back on 4 
    speakers.  that's what I'd do with a 4-track, if I had one.
    Who wants to buy my DAC dbx external box, I think i paid $60.
    Tom
    

    
     Great input so far but perhaps if I was more specific it would
    help.
    
     I have two set-ups that I've used. The first set-up was 2 mics
    arranged in a way that picked up drums and guitar on one side and
    bass, keys and vocals on the other. I used no EQ, left them in the
    detent position.
    
     The second set-up was to use line outs from the amps and a mic for
    the drums. Each instrument was fed to a mixer, EQ still set flat,
    the vocal pan pot was set in the middle so that vocals appeared
    on the left and right, bass and drum pan pots at 10:00 and guitar
    and keys pan pots set at 2:00.

     Does this change your opinions?
    

    We sorta started getting into these issues when someone asked
    about how to use his 4-track to record the DEC jam events.
    
    Others may disagree, but in my experience (I've done the same thing)
    for live 4-track recording you use your channels for COVERAGE of 
    instruments, not for some misplaced notion of "stereo" (like putting
    a mic on the left side of the stage and one on the right, one in
    the audience, etc.).
    
    That is, you should regard each channel as being dedicated to
    a particular set of instruments.
    
    The real problems that happen in these situations are those
    of balance.  You need to be able to "mix" the parts to get
    the balance between them right.
    
    I take it that your goal is to produce a listenable tape whose
    main purpose is self-evaluation.  Your not really trying to
    produce something that is going to go on a "live album".
    
    In either case, if you record in the way I've recommended, there's a
    good chance that you can hear all the parts in the mix with the balance
    you want, and if you're really hooked on a panning instruments you can
    still do that when you mix down.
    
    	db

    
    Well, what's the problem?  You must have gotten *some* sound on
    your tape.  Is it that the band started punching each other out
    in an argument that the drums sound like someone beating a sack
    of potatoes with a lead pipe and the guitar sounds like the speaker
    cabinet was inside a washing machine?  
    
    That's a matter of mike placement and EQ as mentioned above.  If
    all you want is to hear the *notes* you were playing, in order to
    work out arrangements, etc., who cares what the tone is like?  If
    you are trying to gauge if your band's *balance* is good, well,
    once you go into another room (like on a gig, eh?) the balance will
    be totally different anyway.  If you're trying to make a demo tape,
    forget it.  Good recordings make use of a lot of audio illusions,
    many of which are discussed in various notes in theis notesfile.

    Have fun.  

    This is just a suggestion of how I use my four track for taping
    practice without getting into to much production. First I take one
    mic inserted to channel one of the deck and place it in front of
    the vocal monitor, I assign channel one to track one. Then I take
    one mic and put it over the drums and assign that to track two,
    a third mic is placed facing the bass and keys on the left side
    of the room and assign that mic to track three, and a final mic
    on the right side of the room facing the two guitars and assign
    that to track four. When I finish recording I mix it down to two
    tracks on another deck. Its by know means a great sounding demo
    but it does just the trick for reference of your practice so that
    you can hear everything thats going on.
    
    Mike___