Let me just say that this is the LAST TIME I run a cabaret show like I did this year.
The root of our problems stemmed from the fact that our two (distinct) recording systems were only capable of handling 24 tracks each. 24 tacks - 19 vocals = not enough left over for everything else. Luckily I found a few different ways to hack things together so I could use both recording systems at once.
Tings I'm going to do differently next year:
1) LS9 for the mixer - the analog board I had was not only shitty for everything else it was used for, it was the worst possible choice as FOH/Mon for the cabaret show.
2) Not worry about getting a multitrack recording of the cabaret half of the show. Lets just say that the only tracks worth keeping were the drums, some bass, some keyboards, and nothing else.
3) As many monitor mixes as I can possibly get my fingers on. 4 is simply not enough granularity I would have liked for the show type and stage I had to work with.
A few other interesting things I learned from looking at the multitrack recording:
- The blue and green wireless mics were distorting *constantly*. I knew their gain staging was whack from the get-go and even after a 10dB reduction they were still yucky in post (yet sounded mostly fine live).
- The mics we we're using for horns are just pathetic
- The drum setup was rockin
- (open lid) piano mics pick up just as much cymbals as they do piano
tl;dr> Cabaret 2011 is going to be much different if I have any say in the matter. (Which I probably wont since our budget for rentals will probably be close to $0)
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