Mariachis

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Hi all,

Anyone have experience recording Mariachis? I have a dead room and I
have a church. I am thinking live to two track, but I am just guessing
as to how to get that sound... Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

 

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Thanks for the reply.... This mariachi is two trumpets, four violins
guitar, viheuala (acoustic treble guitar), guitarron (acoustic "bass"
guitar) and they all sing, taking turns at lead vocals. The vocals are
almost always call and response between whomever is the lead and the
rest of the mariachi. I don't think these guys have ever done overdubs.
My problem is that I don't have enough mics to record everything. I
have about 6 directional and 2 really nice omnidirectional condensers.
Any suggestions as to how to spot mike these guys in the dead room?

 

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Hello, I don't know recording but I have heard some mariachis. A
mariachi should be accustomed to performing as a group without any
sound reinforcement. I would want to record them in a large, live
environment with just two mics. A mic for the lead vocals might be
useful. With the marialchis I've heard, the trumpets tend to be
overpowering; this could be a difficulty. later, ron


sane54 wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have experience recording Mariachis? I have a dead room and I
> have a church. I am thinking live to two track, but I am just guessing
> as to how to get that sound... Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

 

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"sane54" <witzgall@swbell.net> wrote in message news:1122957353.809183.196620@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have experience recording Mariachis? I have a dead room and I
> have a church. I am thinking live to two track, but I am just guessing
> as to how to get that sound... Any help would be sincerely appreciated.


Need more details... like, are there horns or just stringed instruments?

Are we looking at three or four pieces, or a dozen players?

By "live" to 2-track, do you mean just putting up a couple of mics?


If it were me, I'd go for the dead room and do some spot miking if
not mic everything. The church might be cool though... although
you may still have to spot mic a couple of things.


--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http/www.m-a-m-s DOT com
Morgan Audio Media Service
Dallas, Texas (214) 662-9901
_______________________________________
http/www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

 

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"sane54" <witzgall@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:1122983465.867954.35780@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com

> Thanks for the reply.... This mariachi is two trumpets,
> four violins guitar, viheuala (acoustic treble guitar),
> guitarron (acoustic "bass" guitar)

8 musicians?

> and they all sing, taking turns at lead vocals.

All 8 musicians sing solo lead at one time or the other?

Do all the violinists and trumpet players also sing solo?

> The vocals are almost always
> call and response between whomever is the lead and the
> rest of the mariachi.

Would it be feasible for there to be one mic for whoever the
lead singer is, and have the lead singer walk up to it and
address it when they are singing lead/solo?

> I don't think these guys have ever done overdubs.

Live is good. I suspect there's a lot of interaction when
this music is being played.

> My problem is that I don't have enough mics to record
everything.

Really? No doubt true if you do static micing and want to
have one mic for each vocalist, and also one mic for each
instrument. But that seems excessive, to say the least.

> I have about 6 directional and 2 really nice
omnidirectional condensers.

> Any suggestions as to how to spot mike these guys in the
dead room?

OK, I'm going to your sketchy mic list to be 6 cardioids
and 2 omnis.

I'd use the omnis for more distant overall pickup, to
include the trumpets.

I'd use two cardiods crossed-coincident to cover the violin
section.

That leaves 4 cardioids. One cardioid for each of the two
guitars, and one for whoever the lead vocalist is to step up
to.

I'd really like one more cardiod so that if a guitarist is
soloing, he would have his own mic to sing into.

I'd record this one track per mic, and experiment with a
number of options at mixdown time.

 

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Thanks for the advice everyone!

I think these guys would prefer a commercial sound, so I guess I will
try the spot miked approach that Amy suggested.

 

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sane54 <witzgall@swbell.net> wrote:
>
>Anyone have experience recording Mariachis? I have a dead room and I
>have a church. I am thinking live to two track, but I am just guessing
>as to how to get that sound... Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

Which sound?

I've got a tendency to think live to 2-track is the best way to handle
these thing, possibly with spot-mikes on the vocals.

But most of the current mariachi discs from Mexico are spot-miked to
hell and beyond. Also, if you think the loudness war is out of control
here, you should see what some of the Latin discs are like.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

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David Morgan \(MAMS\) <mams@NOSPAm-a-m-s.com> wrote:
>"sane54" <witzgall@swbell.net> wrote in message news:1122957353.809183.196620@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Anyone have experience recording Mariachis? I have a dead room and I
>> have a church. I am thinking live to two track, but I am just guessing
>> as to how to get that sound... Any help would be sincerely appreciated.
>
>Need more details... like, are there horns or just stringed instruments?

These guys usually mute the horns, which makes them balance pretty well
with the stringed instruments. Traditional mariachi bands are pretty
well balanced in themselves.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

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In article <1122957353.809183.196620@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> witzgall@swbell.net writes:

> Anyone have experience recording Mariachis? I have a dead room and I
> have a church. I am thinking live to two track, but I am just guessing
> as to how to get that sound... Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

How about outside the church? What instrumentation? Singers? What kind
of sound are you aiming for?

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

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"sane54" <witzgall@swbell.net> wrote in message news:1122983465.867954.35780@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks for the reply.... This mariachi is two trumpets, four violins
> guitar, viheuala (acoustic treble guitar), guitarron (acoustic "bass"
> guitar) and they all sing, taking turns at lead vocals. The vocals are
> almost always call and response between whomever is the lead and the
> rest of the mariachi. I don't think these guys have ever done overdubs.
> My problem is that I don't have enough mics to record everything. I
> have about 6 directional and 2 really nice omnidirectional condensers.
> Any suggestions as to how to spot mike these guys in the dead room?
>

Keeping the violins in tune will be a challenge. <g> The horns will need
to be kept under control... perhaps moved away from the rest of the
ensemble. The guitarron doesn't carry well at all, but in their recorded
music it plays a really 'heavy' role.

Sorry I don't really have any additional suggestions, except maybe
coming up with a couple more microphones for spot miking, or
perhaps convincing the violins and/or horns to consider overdubbing.

Then again... a decent stereo pair and some diligent placement of the
musicians might yield a good result. (I've never been very good at the
minimalist miking thing).

DM