I want to record a band that is coming to my neighborhood.
I have a Tascam 34b reel recorder and the show is in a nice square room. Do I just need to run four mics to each corner and hit record?
Cant be that simple. Is there any literature out there on how to do this?
I can't seem to find anything with a four mic placement set up.
To make a "field recording" (ie capturing an event from a point location in the venue) you'd have the mics 90 deg apart and located at the point you wanted to capture the live sound from. That would give you a quad surround capture of the live surround sound event as it sounded at that point location.
If this is a live performance in a room presented in surround and with live acoustic instruments and the live performance is naturally mixed in the space, you might have good results recording the 4 quadrants instead of from the central listening position. You would be able to adjust for balance afterwards.
Recording a band and further producing mixes in surround sound is VERY different! If you don't literally have a live event going on organically presented in surround, you'd want to do the polar opposite and close mic all the mix elements to produce in the studio. Even if you were mixing from 20 or so channels live to surround for the event, you'd still normally want to take the raw multitrack home and remix it in the studio after the fact. It's a rare event that goes down so perfectly that you want to present a live capture as is. There are multiple sound sources in a live event. Instruments with different volume levels. Drums can be very loud for example. You need to end up with a complete and balanced mix in the wire at the end of the day and it's a heck of a lot easier with all the elements captured and working with a single sound system that trying to do that while mixing multiple sound sources in a room live. And this would be tenfold for a surround mix.
Depending on the instrumentation, you'll want anywhere from 8 to 24 mics and recording channels to capture the live performance from a close perspective to every instrument. Then any additional parts are overdubbed if there are further arrangements that didn't get performed live. Then you mix! Present all the elements of the performance in the balance you wish to hear in the perspective you wish to hear. All levels/balances, any ambience (this is a big deal), instrument position on the sound stage (surround and/or stereo), movement, etc etc etc.
To try to recap a little:
A more classical or jazz style performance truly mixed well in the space live (a combination of the natural instruments as positioned with players very under control of their dynamics with possibly some live PA support for quieter bits just as well controlled and mixed) would beg to be captured live to preserve the event.
A band that relies on some level of production and being more traditionally mixed live in mono you would want to produce in the studio after the fact from the multitrack.
Even if it was the rare first thing, I'd still bring home as many tracks as I could so I didn't end up painted into a corner missing something at the end of the day.
PS. Leave the old open reel deck at home. A Macbook Pro (specifically the 2009 - 2012 models), an audio interface with the number and type of inputs and outputs you need (this is modular so you can just add more interfaces for more channels when needed), and Reaper DAW app are all you need to do everything from run sound at the live event* (plugins replace racks full of processing gear), simultaneously record all the inputs to multitrack, and produce/mix the recording you brought home.
* Your controls can be anything from an iPad to an iPad + multiple MIDI controllers assigned to the virtual mixing board controls. I prefer MIDI controllers for real faders under your fingers + the iPad so I can always have the screen right there and full control over the whole computer.