Members jumpchamp Posted March 29, 2004 Members Share Posted March 29, 2004 my band is playing on thursday and we want to record the show so we can put it up on our website. so to get to the point: what's the best and most cost effective way to do this? this by no means needs to be a professional thing. unfortunately, none of us have a minidisc recorder or anything like that. are there any mp3 players out there that we could run off the board? we're going to try to get a live mic recording too so we can blend the two recordings together to try to capture some of the room. any ideas? hope my question was clear enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted March 29, 2004 Members Share Posted March 29, 2004 First off, board recordings don't usually turn out all that great. You usually get a loud vocal and very little drums. This is because vocals get mixed above the band to cut through. Drums can carry small rooms unmiced. Unless the room is pretty big (or you're really loud) you'll be mixing around the "acoustic" part of the drum. Add to that, anything coming out of a guitar amp also has to be mixed around. In small rooms with guitar players running amps you may only end up with vocals coming out of the PA and thus making it on the recording. As far as mp3 players go, any mp3 player capable of recording AND having a mic in can be hooked up to the board. This usually will mean one of the hard disk recorders. RAM based player/recorders won't be able to record that much (usually 64 - 128 MB or 12 - 25 songs total). I'm sure someone has a tape deck. I'd just go that route. First time recording you may just want to use a tape deck and a microphone. This is also a good way to go if you are mixing from the stage. You'll be able to review what the crowd heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rbts Posted March 29, 2004 Members Share Posted March 29, 2004 abzurd.. one of the things you are suggesting,is that one good way to (after the fact) check how the mix sounded in the case of a band mixing ther sound on stage, is to stick a mic out in the room somewhere hooked up to a tape recorder? Good idea. Any more details on ways that have worked well for this... ie where should the mic be placed and such? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jumpchamp Posted March 29, 2004 Author Members Share Posted March 29, 2004 thanks for the reply abzurd. we actually won't have drums, so we won't have to worry about that. i was actually able to locate a friend with a minidisc player, so i think i'm going to use that. additionally, we'll have two tape decks going as well, i think. i plan on putting one in front of the mixing desk, should be a decent spot for that. the other i may try to put midstage somewhere. either that or just a different point in the crowd. i'll have friends out there, but i dont' want to hear them talking on it so i'll have to figure something out for that. i actually think it'll be pretty cool to mix the more hi-fi minidisc recording with the decidely low tech tapes. hopefully we'll be able to capture everything (two guitars, keys, vocals) well enough to make a good mix out of it. any other ideas on where to put the tape recorders? i'll certainly post the results of this mess when i get everything assembled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted March 29, 2004 Members Share Posted March 29, 2004 i actually think it'll be pretty cool to mix the more hi-fi minidisc recording with the decidely low tech tapes. hopefully we'll be able to capture everything (two guitars, keys, vocals) well enough to make a good mix out of it. And how do you plan on syncing these two sources up perfectly? Recording "open air" is pretty much hit and miss. Smaller venues have a lot of reflected sound. Larger venues can be more clear, but then the mic is often further away and picks up crowd noise. One thing I can tell you is don't put the mic near a trash can. Nothing like hearing beer bottles clanging into a trashcan periodically through the night. Also, depends on mic quailty. Cheapies will be more distorted and lack low end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jumpchamp Posted March 30, 2004 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2004 sync up will be interesting, i know i've considered that. but i'm alright with the software, so i think i'll be able to make it happen. i'll certainly stay away from the garbage cans. the first time i try this, i certainly know it won't be pro, but it'll be fun to see what i can do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted March 30, 2004 Members Share Posted March 30, 2004 Sounds like a good learning experience, I say go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jumpchamp Posted March 30, 2004 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2004 hey abzurd, i noticed you're in c-bus. the show is actually going to be in dayton on the UD campus. (i'm an alum in cleveland). funny thing is, one of my friend's down there was in a group that called themselves "next exit" for about 2-3 months. they decided to change it, but i don't think they've settled on a new name yet. but i found that interesting, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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