Advice on how to record a band live...

I've been asked to record a band on Saturday.
 
They have 5 vocal mics -- needs to be sent from me to the mains
2 guitars -- do not go to the mains because they will be amped
1 bass -- does not go to the mains because it will be amped
1 bongo player to mic -- needs to be sent from me to the mains
and a drum kit -- does not go to the mains -- straight acoustic.
 
I have an RME UCX, an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra that I can use for SPIDF to the RME, and a Tascam 2488 hard disc recorder which I can use the midi out from the UCX to synchronize.
 
What I'm thinking...
If I record only 10 tracks, I can leave the Tascam at home and use RME's digicheck recording software rather than running Sonar during the show. I much prefer using Digicheck when recording without needing a metronome or output from Sonar. The RME has EQ and compression for every channel and a reverb if I want it.
 
The problem is that 10 tracks is a little tight to capture the drums well. I do have a set of drum microphones (3 for toms and snare and stuff and 1 for kick).
 
I could ask the Bongo Player to use her Bongo Mic for vocals as well as her Bongos.
 
I'm also tight on pre-amps as I go to high numbers of tracks. I was thinking of running the bass and acoustic electric guitars straight to the 2 1/4" inputs on the front of the RME and then sending them back out from the RME to their respective amplifiers.
 
Preamps
2 phantom powered on the UCX
4 in the RME Quad Mic Pre outputs sent to the UCX
2 Art Tube PreAmps where I could send the output to the Fast Track and roll the channels left and right and send into the UCX using SPIDF
8 phantom powered on the Tascam 2488, but 4 are 1/4" inputs
 
I was planning to record at 24 bit 44.1 because there are so many tracks I thought a higher sample rate would be unnecessary and might jeopardize disc writes (?). I don't really think writing at 88.2 would be a problem recording 10 tracks, but I don't normally do this from within Sonar. I guess, I think that mixing tracks recorded at 88.2 would be a tax on my system (after the fact). I might have an easier time mixing 44.1 tracks.
 
Anyway, this is the idea. I don't normally do this, so I wanted to put my questions out there.
 
1. If I mic a drum kit with 1 or 2 microphones, where should I put them? Overhead and kick?
 
Writing this, I feel like I'm talking myself into bringing the RME, the Fast Track and the Tascam.
 
 
 

So, right now, I'm thinking...
 
All drumz except the Kick into the Tascam 2488.
 - 1 snare
 - 2 Toms mics
 - 2 Over heads
A microphone on the crowd into the Tascam 2488.
 - 1 (at least mic pointed towards the crowd)
 
Into the RME UCX
 - 5 vocal mics
 - 1 Bongos
 - 1 Kick
 - 1 Bass (preferably off the direct box our 1/4 out on the bass amp)
 
Into the Fast Track and then to the RME via SPIDF
 - 2 Electric Guitars pre-amped with the Art Tube Pres
 
Sends from the RME
 - 1 Send to the T1 Tone Match for amplifying for the crowd
 - 2 sends to monitors if you guys can bring them (I'm assuming the monitors are powered).
 - 3 My head phones for soloing etc...
 

He could probably rent one or something similar for the night. Put it on the band's tab.

And Mike, It's great to see you recovering well!
 

I totally misunderstood what you were looking for. Apologies. Glad it worked out. I've always wanted to try the portable studio thing to capture live bands. Live recordings are my favorite. Much more life and energy.

Sounds like the live session turned out pretty decent.

 
Great job!
 
Tell us how you captured your tracks!
 
best regards,
mike

Thanks for all your encouragement, Mike. It makes a big difference. And Danny is giving me guidance on the mix. I'm very grateful.

 

It's great way to keep ground issues from happening. You may have some voltage sag, but the modern stuff that doesn't like that has voltage regulators to help with the sag.
 
I use one wall jack, as you did, until there's a need to bring in a power distro box and tap straight into the mains panel.
 
Using a single outlet is a good, practical compromise. Most of the time you try to use 2 sources of power you will end up with a ground loop noise. The irony is that the bigger, small shows, where you think you may be running low on power... are the ones where you have the system gain running hot and so the quieter noises become problematic. If you are doing a quiet coffee shop sing and strum you might not notice a ground buzz as much as you did if you had stacks of drivers pumping out a loud signal.
 
So, we elect to keep using the single source until we just can't. 
 
 
best regards,
mike

We try to predict when it's definitely going to break the circuit.
 
As you have noticed the amperage ratings on the equipment has some overhead built in. Experience will lead you to understand that adding up the rated current draw gives you some idea of what you need... but you also have some wiggle room.
 
Yes, getting a feel for that wiggle room sometimes involves having the circuit breaker pop. :-)
 
From a practical point of view... make sure you have all 15 or 20 amps on that circuit. Don't share with any lighting or beer coolers. Bring good quality extension cords and you can stage a loud bar band with out too much trouble.
 
I don't recommend lifting a ground... but you can sometimes lift ground and use a 2nd circuit without adding noise.
 
Sometimes you can use a 2nd power circuit because some devices are separated from the system. For example; Mic'd guitar amps that don't have a direct wired connection to the P.A. can be on a 2nd circuit. 
 
best regards,
mike