Members Crusher Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 Do you guys record your band practices/jam sessions? If so, which equipment do you use? Any recommendations? I was thinking of buying a simple tape recorder, but I'm sure there are better options out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Will Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 We do it in a variety of ways: 1) Sometimes, we just set a tape recorder in the room and let it run. That gives us a pretty good feel for what we sound like to the audience, but the fidelity leaves a lot to be desired. 2) Another way we do it is to take a main mix feed off the board and record to a computer. That gives a fairly clear picture of the mix, but doesn't really represent the "true" sound in the hall. Unless you can account for stage volume in the mix, you lose a lot of the dynamics. For us, stage volume isn't a big issue because we run everything through the board except for the grand piano--and we often will mic that. Still, a FOH mix doesn't sound like the real deal., 3) Using Cubasis and a computer, we'll do a multi-track recording off of the board and then remix. This gives a nice, polished end product but, again, it doesn't really capture the real deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 You could set up a cheap multitracker (4 track or so) and put mics around the room and mix them together later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zookie Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 This is probably a less common approach, but there's a venue locally where I have a good rapport with the owner. He has a great stage setup and provides all the sound equipment. As a perk, he records your performance and hands you a CD at the end of the night. I'll schedule a Sunday afternoon at the place every once in a while simply to try out new material. You can practice all you want, but the proof to how well a song works is really how it sounds when played on stage. I've dropped material I personally loved, but just didn't sound right when I listened to the CD. I've added material I'm not all that crazy about, but just seems to work live. I've played a couple of places that have digital recorders hooked up to their mixer and offer performers a CD. In most cases a CD is likely handed over in lieu of cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Headbanger Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 A laptop with Wavelab on it. You just hit the space bar to record/stop, you get single clips in wav or mp3 format. Then you take it home, listen in for 2 sec, name the ones you need, delete the rest. You normalize the clips, burn them on CD, give them to drummer to prove he IS speeding up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MrKnobs Posted October 31, 2005 Moderators Share Posted October 31, 2005 Originally posted by Headbanger A laptop with Wavelab on it. You just hit the space bar to record/stop, you get single clips in wav or mp3 format. Then you take it home, listen in for 2 sec, name the ones you need, delete the rest. You normalize the clips, burn them on CD, give them to drummer to prove he IS speeding up. This is exactly what we do, except I have Audition on my laptop. I put two condenser mikes up widely spaced in the room. The result sounds like a garage recording, but you can clearly hear all the parts which is the idea. And it doesn't take much time to set up. If the band is sounding exceptionally good, I may tell our smokers to take a cig break and set some mikes and DIs up, as my control room at the house is just 50 ft away and the recorder can be controlled remotely using the laptop over ethernet. This gets a far better recording but at the expense of maybe killing the moment. Terry D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Singin' Dave Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 Both of my bands record pretty much every rehearsal and many gigs as we find this really helps us reference what's workinng and what's not working. It's a great tool for improving your band IMO. Basically, unless we're posting something to our website or sending out a demo, we're just doing this for reference and since we don't really have a dedicated laptop in our rehearsal space we'll either record with 2 large condensers spaced well in the room -> mixer -> ADAT or just a simple Sony MS957 stereo mic -> Sharp portable MD recorder, which produces decent results (again just for reference). While the little MD units can be unreliable at times, I love the Sharp which has never let me down (vs. small Sony units I've used) for how easy it is and I'm glad I went for the nicer Sony mic with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grogthecaveman Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 Originally posted by Headbanger You normalize the clips, burn them on CD, give them to drummer to prove he IS speeding up. Man I wish drummers I've played with would speed up. Every drummer i have ever played with except one would slow down a little bit more every chorus/verse/whatever. Especially on slow-tempo parts, which is what really confuses me. I am lucky enough to have band practices at my guitarist's garage studio. If we have a couple new tunes we're working on, we'll put mics in 2 corners (and if you point the mic right at the corner of the room, it sounds really good) and just hit record. If we have 2 new songs that we're happy with, we'll mic every drum and amp and run a line out from the PA, and it sounds really good that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Knottyhed Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 Originally posted by Crusher Do you guys record your band practices/jam sessions? If so, which equipment do you use? Any recommendations? I was thinking of buying a simple tape recorder, but I'm sure there are better options out there. Personally i use a mini-disk player and camcorder mic. It's good enough quality to review and learn from i reckon and that's all you need. I'm not sure how much it's helped us, because we're still a load a rubbish - lol I'd only bother recording yourselves if you're really going to analyze you faults and act on them, we spent months just recording ourselves and not really being critical enough to properly improve on our weak areas. It was only when we competed in a BOTBand's comp that we realised we weren't as tight and proffessional sounding as some of the other guys out there and really started focusing on it. (And we still suck ) In short recording a band practice is only as useful as make it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sideswipedv Posted October 31, 2005 Members Share Posted October 31, 2005 we just started recording our practices this weekend, i havent really had a chance to really listen to them (they are still on the mini disc at the band room but what i heard i was surprised by. I didnt think we sounded as tight as we do On the other hand our drummers girl was there for the first time and all she did was roll her eyes all night.....not a good sign eh? I say WHO THE F%&*&^ IS SHE !!! I dont even know this.....woman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted November 1, 2005 Members Share Posted November 1, 2005 Honestly, even though I'm a recording engineer and have plenty of equipment lying around I find it easiest to just stick a cassette boom box in front of us for recording rehearsals and such. Although several new portable digital recorders with built in mics and such are now entering the market so that might tip the scale in the digital direction. I just don't feel like firing up a computer, arming the tracks to record, connecting and setting up mics, etc. when I'm trying to focus on playing guitar. The boom box quality isn't great but it tells us what we want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsongs Posted November 1, 2005 Members Share Posted November 1, 2005 We record our band rehearsals all the time...I use a Shap MD recorder (Sharp is way superior over Sony for recording, as the Sharp MDs allow you to change the recording level on the fly, whereas the Sonys do not) with a Sony stereo mic (the ones almost ever MD owner uses). I record these to my computer (via SoundForge), then make mp3s of the songs and post them on a non-linkable page on my website. The bandmembers go there, donwload the tunes and go, "Eww, I did THAT?!" It only took my band about a month to rehearse for our first gig because of that...we learn stuff incredibly fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted November 5, 2005 Members Share Posted November 5, 2005 Condenser mic in the middle of the room > cheap mixer > laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members roabre999 Posted November 5, 2005 Members Share Posted November 5, 2005 I record my kids band with a consumer MiniDV recorder. Good enough results for analyzing the songs and to get a general idea of what is what. Not studio quality but good enough for the web... http://www.indyinghands.com/videos/oct2105/21oct01.wmv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Throatsinger Posted November 5, 2005 Members Share Posted November 5, 2005 Yeah, sometimes. Lately I just pop up a couple Oktavas, directly into my MOTU 828 and into DP. Sometimes I use Shure SM 98s, on the walls. Computer is set up in the next room, where I mix, etc. Works pretty well. Here's a recent jam recorded in the living room, where we always practice. I think it works pretty well, but the drums are always a bit high in a room that size. Only vox, flute, and acoustic gtr run through the small PA, so I added a bit o' verb to the mix so the drums aren't so dang dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DonaldDemon Posted November 7, 2005 Members Share Posted November 7, 2005 Originally posted by Headbanger A laptop with Wavelab on it. You just hit the space bar to record/stop, you get single clips in wav or mp3 format. Then you take it home, listen in for 2 sec, name the ones you need, delete the rest. You normalize the clips, burn them on CD, give them to drummer to prove he IS speeding up. AHA this is our plan. I am currently builing a PC to leave in our practice space to show him he needs to slow down/chill out. Its like Animal from thr friggin Muppets. Besides that, its great to hear from an outside view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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