avoiding the DEATH PENALTY (hypothetically)

Okay, you are kidnapped by a dictator whose son has a rock quartet, vox, 1 guitar, bass drums. you have a cassette 4 track, and 4 sm57s. You have to make a great sounding demo or be PUT TO DEATH!!!! How do you record it? I assume they're a great sounding band, record bass, guitar, with scratch drums, scratch vox. Have the guitar and bass bounced to two tracks. then do the drum tracks, bounce to one track, then do the vox.

i'd invite the dictator in to listen to the session, set up a massive bank of spring coil reverbs, pop in some earplugs and maybe put on a full body suit of kevlar, turn it to 11 and watch him puddle...the people rush in, see he's dead....rejoicing begins, the film crews rush in, and i say they won't get an interview unless they giove me at least 8 tracks.....the wish is granted, the demo rocks, stardom ensues.....or, if that didn't work, the dictator survived, i'd do the bass and drums together live, stereo, three mics on the drums (kick, snare, mono overhead) and one on the bass cabinet, then do overdubs on two remaining channels with vocals and guitar 1. or do guitar 1 live too, and have an extra track to add stuff from the protools tdm rig in the corner.

Well, since the tread was started out by giving an example using overdubs I can assume that it doesn't have to be done live in one pass. Okay, here's my old 4-track rock band formula: Record Drums, bass, and rhythm guitar live to two tracks in stereo. Do a few test passes to make absolutely certain that you're getting a perfect stereo mix of the rhythm section. Only 4 mics? And no mixer? Hmmm... Oh wait, my 4-tracker (yes I still have it!) has 6 input channels. Okay, that helps. Go direct on the bass. Go direct on guitar (it's a 4-track cassette, you can't do too much damage to the guitar tone that the tape will actually show!). Two overheads and a kick and a snare mic. Mix all 6 inputs to taste to two tracks in stereo. This will be the final mix for the rhythm section. Then overdub the lead guitar (or any solo parts, be they bass or guitar). Then record the vox. Well, wait a minute. Are there backing vocals? Is there only one singer doing multiple parts? That complicates things again. Of course you will want your lead vocal to be the cleanest sound on the tape, so no bouncing there. Backing vox can be bounced without too much ill-effect on the final mix. Say we've got a 3 part harmony all being done by the same vocalist. (remember, we only have two tracks remaining) Start by recording the highest pitch backing vocal (bass frequencies get way to muddy when bounced on cassette, so avoid bouncing low pitches as much as possible). Then bounce that backing vocal to the other remaining track while recording the second backing harmony during the bounce. It may take a few passes to get the blend right. Then bounce the mixed two backing parts to the other track (erasing your original backing track) while recording the lead vocal live. It may take a few passes to get the mix just right. Lead vocal OUT FRONT! Now you've got one track remaining on which to record the lead, or solo instrument(s). That ought to do it. _________________________________ Now let's take some of the equipment limitations away and I'll relate one experience I had recording a live band on 4-track cassette using only two mics (for the recording, the PA was using more mics of its own). Band: Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keyboard, Vox. Recording equipment: 4-track cassette, 2 SM-57 mics. (various assorted cables). I was not allowed to alter their stage setup or mess with the PA routing so I had to do the best with what I had available. This was a live gig so I wouldn't get a second chance. Knowing the polar pattern of my mics, and wanting to get a decent stereo field of the drums while catching the bass and guitar at the same time with only two mics, I set up as follows: One mic directly in front of the Bass cabinet, about 18 inches away from it, and pointing across it so that the mic was pointing directly at the kick drum. The other mic was set up similarly except it was in front of the guitar amp pointing across the speaker directly facing the snare drum. I crossed my fingers! Fortunatley their PA had two busses. I submixed the 3 vocal stage mics to a track on the 4-tracker, and then I took the keyboard mix direct to the one remaining track. I crossed my fingers! It worked out wonderfully! Except for the bass being just a little bit weaker than I would like, and the guitarist changing his volume several times during the gig, the mix was really good (considering the limited equipment). I had full control over the vocal level, and full control over the keyboard level. To this day it is one of my best live recordings. And I've done a few on 8 tracks with my ADAT that I got just a week after the 4-track gig. I don't know... I'd probably still be executed. But maybe not. Mie