In a normal 4 piece band (drums, bass, 2 guitars with one vocalist) this would be very easy. This band however had a drummer (with a full kit including 4 toms and 2 snares) a bass player that switches to guitar at some points, a lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist that performs backing vocals and switches to keys/Synth at some points, a main keys player with a synth and Hammond organ that also performs vocals and then a lead vocalist that uses an effects processor and plays acoustic guitar at some points.

For this project, the client (a Prog rock cover band) asked me to record a 4 track EP of them performing covers of some famous Prog Rock tracks for them to use as promo material and a way to showcase their skills and sound for events promoters. They requested I capture them playing together live without any overdubs or additional recording, as this is how they will be performing the tracks when they play live and that this is the most comfortable way for them to be recorded.

Initially they asked if I could record them at a rehearsal space using a portable rig, but I knew that the studios facilities at NCL are capable of having multiple live rooms and control rooms linked together so I could have the band perform together but with some performers in separate rooms to eliminate bleed between the microphone captures of each member.

After a lot of problem solving and studio hacking I was able to pull this off. having the Drummer in one room with the kit mic’d up and the lead guitarist and bass player in the room with the drummer with their instruments DI’d (the bass player had a guitar to hook up too), the rhythm guitarist in another room with his guitar DI’d, his keys DI’d and a vocal mic for his backing singing, and the other two members in a room with vocal mics each, a pair of DI boxes for the keys and the acoustic guitar was replaced with an electro-acoustic and DI’d.

The DI’d signal from the three electric guitars and the bass guitar were re-amped through to the biggest live room and the signals sent to amps mic’d up and spaced out through the room to avoid spill. I also used some baffles to try and help with spill and consideration of mic placement.

All the signals were then sent to a 24 channel SSL AWS console and recorded to Pro Tools. After recording multiple takes of each track I then took this away to mix and sent over to the client. The final mixes captured the band in the way they requested, a live performance capturing and showcasing their skills and recorded to a professional standard for them to use as promotional material.