Topic: Bar taping question (Larimer Lounge in Denver)

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

So I'm taping Crooked Fingers tomorrow night in Denver. The place is not really set up that well.

[see picture I drew below for a better idea how this place is set up]

There is a bar in the front of the place and the stage is stuck in the back room.

The speakers don't really point in a direction where I could set up inbetween them (because the place is so small). If I were to do that I would seriously run the risk of getting bumped into, steped on, etc. Seriously there is 20 feet between the speakers and a wall, and then theres the hallway to the bar/bathrooms. Also the SBD is way to the right side of the stage (pretty much in that hallway).



I will be recording the SBD also, so I'll have a backup but I want to mix both sources together.

If anyone's taped there before what did you do?

Thanks,
I was thinking of running on stage, but I really have no idea if that's an option. What does it take to make a good on stage recording? The only speakers in the whole place are the 2 PA's on top of the stage and the monitors for the band. Well that and the bands amps.
MIKE B

I drew a picture  

The PA with the /PA/ points that direction. The other points straight down the hallway (over the SBD). The M's are for the monitors and the direction they were set up the last time Crooked Fingers played there.

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|                                    |  /M/        STAGE                 |
|                                    |                                          |
|                                    |   /M/                        |M|     |
|                                    |_____________________|
|                            /PA/                                    |PA|  |
|                                                                                |
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|                                                                     ____ _|
|    can't set up here                                     |           |
____________________                             |  SBD   |
     little bar                      |                            ______|
                                        |                                        |
___________________  |                                        |
     BATHROOMS               |                                        |
                                        |               TO BAR             |

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Also if I run on stage how should I set up my mics?

I run Oktava MC012 (cards) > UA5 > JB3

Thanks again,
MIKE B

[Brian Skalinder]

Any clamp space at the ceiling level, and run cable to remote rig?
This saved me a couple of weeks back!

I just taped at a bar that had a damn near identical layout.  Crappy crappy crappy for taping.  Next time, I'm gonna clamp to the cieling and drop my mic cables down to a table off to the side.  Definitely worth looking into at this place.

As for stage taping, you'll pick up less vocals, but if you're mixing with the SBD in post, the SBD should have strong enough vocals, anyway.  Consider running XY with wider angle, say 110º.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Any clamp space at the ceiling level, and run cable to remote rig?
This saved me a couple of weeks back!

Nope. This place is a pit (not a bad thing). Just particle board ceilings.

MIKE B

[Brian Skalinder]

Hmmmmm...do you know anyone in management?  A local place here let me screw an eyehook into a wood support beam so I could clamp to it during shows.

[pfife]

I have gotten two local bars to allow me to mount a mic flange on their support beams...

ask the young people who work there... they won't give a crap, and the owners will never notice.

BTW- Crooked Fingers rules.  Hope that tape turns out nicely!

Peace-
Pfife

[Simp-Dawg]

Consider running XY with wider angle, say 110º. p

agreed.  i got really nice results running cards this way onstage for chronophonic at the redfish in boulder a few months ago...vocals were a little weak but that's to be expected.  if you're going to do a post matrix with the board it should not be a problem.......ALSO if you are running on stage, you could mix the board in with the mics all at once since you won't have any time delay issues....if you have long enough cabling that is.  i would go that route if i were you and had the ua-5 with the capability to run a matrix.

[Gordon]

I tape at a bar here in town a lot doing stage lip.  not on stage but stage lip.  I do xy and have the mics pointed up a bit so it pics up the speakers above and the stage amps etc.  works great (for me) not sure if the set up is the same.  vocals come out fine.

[Kindguy]

I just put a mic mount on the ceiling of a local bar. I'm lucky the owner is an old dead taper, so he's real cool about letting me do whatever. he even helped block sometimes before I hooked the mount up.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I think I might try the on stage route. Don't think I want to do the live mix. Not with this show. I have my CSB's too. Maybe I'll run those farther back somewhere as an additional backup.

Either way I plan on getting there really early so I can get set up and maybe mess around a bit.

The chick that I'm going with doesn't want to get there until 10pm. F that. She can drive herself!! Eric Bachmann is a genius, I want the tape to come out fantastic.

Thanks for the tips.

MIKE B

[jhirte]

Whats the chance of setting up to the left of the board?

[ZekeRnR]

I've taped there plenty of times, mostly from the board but several times I have mounted my mics to the front of the soundboard booth.  

Sometimes the back bar isn't open and I have set up in the back corner of the room.  Pretty much sounds the same every where in that room.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Just a report back...

Things turned out okay. I ended up setting up about 10 feet in front of the little bar. Ran the mics xy which I don't think made much of a difference.

Also ran SBD (thank god because there were a lot of talkers).

Just finished mixing everything together and it sounds fairly good. I've heard better.

Next time I plan on running mics from in front of the SBD and mixing live with the UA5. It was just too crowded in there to get from my AUD deck to the SBD.

Great show. Azure Ray opened with Crooked Fingers backing them, then Crooked Fingers came on with Azure Ray backing. Interesting to see two bands play like that.

2nd to last Crooked Fingers show until their next album is recorded and released (about 2 years according to Eric).

I'll be BT'ing the whole show soon. I'll post back here when that happens.

MIKE B