Had anyone recorded a \"Mariachi\" band?

I just got this artist who desires to record a song using the whole instrumentation of a Mariachi, any advices on how to deal with those two uncomon acustic instruments ...please?

believe it or not, i recorded a mariachi band this summer "Mini Mariachi" from canada. fully real authentic instruments and a (casio!) keyboard. what is your question?

what?! it may be no "britney" but it's kinda cool. i really dig the bass the band i recorded used. it was a hand held acoustic bass (played like a guitar). the sound was HUGE and required no compression for a very big sound. it also had no frets. it was built in mexico. did i mention it was neat? i get tired of the steady stream of rock bands, so this project was a relief.

Thank you for replaying. Coaster; You are absolutely right this thing is getting really exiting and as you had mention before the "Guitarron" that's how the bass is called, had A very rich sound, is played in octaves (two notes at the same time)and no frets and that's exactly my question how did you deal with it and the small guitar "Vihuela" in matters of compression, EQ, or effects? did you use a mic-pre on the bass? how did you set up the EQ for the small guitar? and how much puch for the bass at mixdown"? Any help will be very appreciated. Bohana; Are you a musician? if so I recomend that you listen to a tape of this band called "Sol de Mexico" where they perform some clasical pieces. Thank you guys. Your friend; Gerry.

corbel- since this was a project that used naturally generated sound, i decided to go with the natural dynamics of the players. the guitarron generated such a smooth, even, phat bass sound it required very subtle eq on the lows (around 90-120hz) and no compression. i tried a few mics, and VERY suprisingly, the one that had the most natural sound was a cheep audiotechnica pro 5. a $99 kick drum mic. couldn't believe it myself. i placed right about where the 14th fret would be. the smaller guitar i had more problems with. i tried quite a few ideas, and again a strange one made the day. stereo micing did not work. i used a ev357 around the 12th fret (.....i know) and turned up the mids until it soared into the mix. a little 'flash' compression helps as the playing style was fast strummed beats with occasional lenghty strum. casio- well i tried to do my best. i have a little experience with this style (i run sound for three latino bands...yes, in FARGO ND) and i have found that the sounds i would normally avoid are the sounds these bands go for. a little added mids is good to go. on vox i treat every singer different but for this band the singer was very very consistent and required no compression. a very intimate style of singing that would be destroyed by compression. backup singers were subbed and squash. a little inconsistency. i rolled the lows off to get them out of the way. maybe i can email you my favorite cut, as it's a cover and cannot be posted on mp3.com

Gerry, no disrespect intended. It was late, I was tired, I was silly. Yes, I am a musician and I will check out Soul de Mexico...I'm sure I'll discover some smokin' chops. Thanks, DB

Coaster; Excelent ideas Thank you very much, and definitely YES send me the cut on a E-mail that'll be very exiting. Thank you, your friend; Gerry.

corbel, your email address is not available on the duc. i have a tune encoded mp3 192kbs via pt ready to send to you, as soon as i have your address.