Recording technique with 8 voices vocal group

[goka]

I'm considering buying a Mbox or maybe (if I can afford it) a MOTU 828.

I'm singing in a vocal group http://www.veryeight.com with eight people, and we're looking into doing our first "real" recordings.

I guess there are millions of ways to record a group like this, but I suspect that one we would have to use at least on some tracks would be this:

First, we record a "monitor track" when everybody, regardless of function in the song, will sing. After that we'll begin to record channel after channel while using the first recording as a monitor track (or whatever you call it).

I guess the best would be that after we've recorded say the soprano, we'll exchange her first "dirty" channel, with the more recently recorded channel.

The problem with this is that if I'm buying the Mbox, we won't get a 8-channel recording while recording the song at first (only two channels, with for example males in channel 1 and females in channel 2), which means that we can't exchange a "dirty" channel with a good one until we have recorded all four guys or all four girls.

Is this a serious problem? Would this feel like a big drawback when starting to record? Does this make any sense to you at all? I'm sorry for not knowing the correct terminology, but I hope you understand what I'm describing.

What do you think about the limitations in the Mbox when using this technique, and is the technique I'm describing the right way to go?

The group already owns a Yamaha 01v mixer, which preamps could be used together with the 828. Using the 01v would also give us the option of having reverb on the monitoring, which is nice when recording vocals.

Regards, Joakim

[aziel]

Buy a very goog mic and a very good pre...voice is your business...
[img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[where02190]

You didn't give details, so I am goind to assume this is an acappella group or choir. the sound of your blended voices together is what you are looking to capture, not the sound sof the individual voices. It is similiar to recording drums, in that the sound of the kit is not the sum of the individula parts, but how they interact as a whole.

For 8 voices, I would do two mics, AKG 414's, Rode NTK's, whatever works best, and have one of rmales and the other for females. A good sounding room is key. Then simply position people to get the proper balance.

Hope this is helpful.

[goka]

Originally posted by where02190:
You didn't give details, so I am goind to assume this is an acappella group or choir. the sound of your blended voices together is what you are looking to capture, not the sounds of the individual voices.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yes, we are an acappella group. When on stage we're using one handheld microphone per person.

The music we're doing is in the same genre as Rockapella, Cadence, SixthWave, The Swingle Singers, The Real Group and other groups in that particular genre.

Since we're working a lot with vocal percussion and vocal instrumentation (like imitating trumpets and trombones) we must be able to equalize and set the correct level on each voice/channel.

Sometimes, say three people will be singing together in some part of the song, and then I can imagine using just one mic when recording that particular part.

When recording, we will probably add more sounds and notes than we're able to do live.

[ekuehnl]

I think your best bet is to go with one of the stereo mic techniques mentioned above. You should be able to get a good sounding recording by simply paying attention to group dynamics. Play to your strong suit--performing not engineering. Going to a multitrack recording situation requires much more skill.

If you do want to multitrack, maybe you should consider hiring an experienced engineer for your first album. You would certainly learn faster and pick up better technique. You might also find out what doesn't work before spending a bunch of money on gear. In addition, you will be much more likely to have a decent sounding album.

-Eric

[bluedemon]

I have actually done this type of thing before, and you are better off using a stereo micing technique. Individually micing everyone requires a lot more gear and a lot of skill. I tried both ways, and found that it actually sounds better to stereo mic the ensemble in a concert hall/performance hall setting, and in the studio. A nice pair of mics (AKG C414's, Neumann U87's, or even Neumann KM184's) and an MBox with a Laptop is all you should need.

[leebeefunny2]

i am by no means an expert at this or really know anything about recording acapella groups for that matter. i'm more of a rock guy. but, if i was presented this problem, i'd try the stereo micing situation for all the singing parts. then, i'd go back and individually record any other vocal instruments. that way you can position them where you want and really tweak them, but still have the vocal performance the way it sounds best (in the nartural stereo environment). good-luck with it.

[goka]

I'm all for singing together at the beginning of the recording to really "make music". But when we've done the track once all together, I can't see how we could create sounds like those linked to below without using lots of channels (and lots of work in DP or PT).

Here are two samples from the Real Group that in many ways should explain the sound I'm after:

http://www.algonet.se/~peder/rg/com.mp3
http://www.algonet.se/~peder/rg/bbw.mp3