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Quote Georgia:

Im going to record the bass and drums in the same room, the bass is going to be cornered off using sound barriers.

Okay -- but remember that it will be virtually impossible to prevent the lowest frqeuencies of the bass from spreading throughout the room anyway because the long wavelengths will ignore any managably sized baffles!

So in addition to the baffles, you'll need to minimise spill by close miking the sounds you do want -- drums, guitar amp, vocals etc -- and high-pass filter the drum overheads which have to be placed at a distance.

Quote:

Im going to use the recorder man technique on the drums...

I suspect you'll find you need to close mic the snare and kick at the very least to gain sufficient separation and impact if the band are playing 'as live'. The recorderman technique is okay if you're tracking the drums on their own in a nice sounding room, but I'd be surprised if you'll get what you need for a blues band using that technique in session with everyone playing together.

Quote:

...and the lead is going to be recorded in the corredor.

That would certainly help with minimising spill... but the guitarist might be too happy about it. Be ready with a plan B!

I'd keep the amp in the live room, but use baffles and screens to minimise its bleed to other mics, and close mic to minimise spill from the kit/bass. Also, record a DI to give the option to re-amp if necessary, as the Elf suggests.

Of course, there are many ways you could approach this, and they all involve differnt compromises and priorities. None are absolutely right or wrong -- they're just different ways that will deliver slightly different results. You challenge is to find the optimum way to satisfy your requirements and the band's.

I wouldn't get too bogged down in trying to get ultimate separation. It's almost impossible to achieve, it's usually unnecessary, and you're going to mix everything together again anyway... so work with it. If the band play together there will be spill -- it'll be part of the vibe. Place the musicians, mics and screens to control the spill so that it works for you.

The only need for total separation is if you plan to replace parts by overdubbing later. In that case spill from previous takes will lie embedded in retained tracks under the replacement parts which probably isn't helpful... But if you don't plan to replace parts, total separation isn't necessary, it just means that if someone messes up, you'll need to do a retake of the whole band, rather than fixing it later with an overdub. But most bands are okay with that, and you'll probably get better performances as they work off each other anyway.

And I'd also record a guide vocal at the very least during the main take...

H

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

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