Best Audio for Concert?

A band/musician and DJ/toasts are slightly different situations, but if both are through a PA, they're not that different, and I'd go out of the mixer.

An audio recorder would be nice, but a wireless out of the mixer should be fine, especially if you don't think you'll need to remix levels.
Just set 2 levels on your camera, one a little lower to handle peaks.

I shot this performer (acoustic steel guitar, vocals, harmonica) with a G2 wireless coming out of the 1/4" Monitor Out jack on the onstage PA amp.
The G2 worked well because I could take the line level out of the PA, to line in on the camera.
(In the profile shot, you can see the wireless sitting on top of the PA):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-wlYOlVu1E&fmt=18

I could have set up a shotgun, or mixed in camera mic, for more room/crowd live ambience.
But I opted to go with the clear PA sound, even though the mix (he set it from the stage) was a little vocal heavy because the acoustic steel guitar projected better in the small room.

Good luck!
Chuck
 
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Capt Quirk said:
Instead of running the cable to your camera (That can cause several unforseen problems), spend a couple hundred dollars, and buy a multi track recorder used. You can then run the house board into separate channels, giving the instruments and vocals their own channels, and mix it down to where you want it. I paid maybe $300 for a 12 ch Roland, with enough hard drive to record a couple of shows.
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Picking up where I left off....

I like the Zoom H4n/shotgun mic concept, if only because it would be cheaper, but I'm becoming concerned about the quality of the audio I'd get. Such a setup's going to be 30-50 feet away from the source, I'm guessing, on average. PA's are loud, but loud enough--and clear enough--for that distance?

If there's no board to plug into, I guess I'd have to have something like that just for backup, but how often would that actually happen? Will most venues/live bands have a board?

And to cement my newbie status, how does one actually plug into a board? I assume through XLR, but doesn't that mean a long cable that drunk people will have to walk over and around in the dark?

Oh, and what's the model number on the 12-channel Roland being discussed?

Someday I'll have more answers than questions.
 
You leave the recorder next to the board, or if you are plugging from the board to your cam, then you are indeed tethered to the board. And most larger venues will have a mixing board.
 
If there's no board to plug into, I guess I'd have to have something like that just for backup, but how often would that actually happen? Will most venues/live bands have a board?
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Call and ask. Always try to find out as much information as you can before you head out to a venue. Having said, most venues have a mixer of some sort and will usually be able to give you a 1/4" feed (some will even have XLR).
 
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