Help with recording band LIVE
- Thread starter benandaim
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Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
Get a portable mixer and get a stereo line level feed from the board.
Ah, no. Please do a search, as this has been covered extensively in the past few weeks.
You do not want to take a feed off the house board, as, if the mixer is doing his/her job correctly, is mixing for the house, not your video. (And, yes, I know, many of you have done this with great success, but we have also read the stories of failure.)
But, given that you are using an ME66, you might actually be better off taking a feed from the house board. There is little you can do with an ME66 in that environment that will work properly.
Phil
You do not want to take a feed off the house board, as, if the mixer is doing his/her job correctly, is mixing for the house, not your video. (And, yes, I know, many of you have done this with great success, but we have also read the stories of failure.)
But, given that you are using an ME66, you might actually be better off taking a feed from the house board. There is little you can do with an ME66 in that environment that will work properly.
Phil
jontuttle
Well-known member
Your best bet is to get a stereo line level feed out of the board. It will be mixed for the house but it is the best you are going to get unless you do the following: rent a 24 channel board, get a butt load of cables, pray the house board has enough aux sends or direct outs, run each send from each house channel to individual channels on your rented board, get a really nice set of headphones, and mix to your liking. Oh and hope there is room for your board and camera. The only place I have been able to do this at is big churches. Mostly because they have already done all the steps above so they can record to tape or CD. They usually have a live house board and one set up just for monitors and recorded mixes. The stereo line feed from the house board should be close enough do some touch up EQing to and be pretty good. It will sound "live" but if it sounds to good people tend to think you just overdubbed the track from the CD. What ever you do, good luck and let us know how it goes.
This is probably too late for your concert, but in my experience the cheapest and easiest way to get a good live sound at rock concerts is to use a dynamic mic like a Sennheiser MD425. Probably you can use a cheaper mic because dynamic mics in general can take a lot of sound-pressure and they deliver a full sound with a good bass.
The ME66 starts to distort really fast when it's getting loud, so it's not a good choice for rock concerts...
The ME66 starts to distort really fast when it's getting loud, so it's not a good choice for rock concerts...
Rax
Member
Since you have the mic. Borrow a CD/DAT recorder for your direct stereo feed. Ask the band.... somebody always has or knows somebody that has a recorder.
I usually get a live stereo recording from the board (CD /DAT/whatever) and record the room with a couple of decent mic's on another (CD/DAT/whatever) recorder. I sync it in FCP when editing. I use the on board camera mic for reference only, to line up the audio and video. Once the show starts NEVER stop your camera. That way the video and audio tracks can be lined up.... if you stop your camera or any recorder you'll have a rough time getting it all in sync later.
It's hard if you are moble and are using sound recorded to the camera. The room mics need to be placed in a sweet spot in the room. On camera recording is going to be tough with high volume if you move around at all. (Head phones can't work if you can't hear them so you'll be watching meters and hoping there is no distortion). The sound changes will kill you and you'll be more dependent on that direct feed. But at the least you'll be able to get crowd response... something that the direct feed won't give you.
Brad Sayre
AcoustiCon
http://www.acousticon.net/
I usually get a live stereo recording from the board (CD /DAT/whatever) and record the room with a couple of decent mic's on another (CD/DAT/whatever) recorder. I sync it in FCP when editing. I use the on board camera mic for reference only, to line up the audio and video. Once the show starts NEVER stop your camera. That way the video and audio tracks can be lined up.... if you stop your camera or any recorder you'll have a rough time getting it all in sync later.
It's hard if you are moble and are using sound recorded to the camera. The room mics need to be placed in a sweet spot in the room. On camera recording is going to be tough with high volume if you move around at all. (Head phones can't work if you can't hear them so you'll be watching meters and hoping there is no distortion). The sound changes will kill you and you'll be more dependent on that direct feed. But at the least you'll be able to get crowd response... something that the direct feed won't give you.
Brad Sayre
AcoustiCon
http://www.acousticon.net/
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Sound Chaser
Active member
The best way to record a band with no budget is...
The best way to record a band with no budget is...
I never do this but, as a 20 year pro FOH & recording engineer believe this advice.
When you don't have the gear, take a stereo line feed off the house mixer and also a stereo (preferred) mic signal, either on a boom stand or cam mounted and capture on to four tracks of your camera. If your don't have 4 track capability use 2 mono tracks. Balance the four tracks, live mic and direct board feed together in post.
The reason you do this is because, A FOH (front of house) MIX IS AN INVERSE REPRESENTATION OF THE STAGE BALANCE! In other wqrds the softest signal (vocals) is the loudest in the mix, while the loudest signal is the weakest or often left completely out of the board mix. And therefore misleading. A microphone hears a truer representation but, lacks articulation and exaggerates room ambience. BUT SOME WHERE BETWEEN THE TWO SOURCES IS A GOOD BALANCE.
I don't record this way but, while mixing I often supply feeds to professional T.V. crews who do this and have heard some great results.
P.S. a proper balance is very hard to do live and headphones are in themselves very misleading...do it in post, (preferably with monitors) that way you also have the benefit of touching it up.
The best way to record a band with no budget is...
I never do this but, as a 20 year pro FOH & recording engineer believe this advice.
When you don't have the gear, take a stereo line feed off the house mixer and also a stereo (preferred) mic signal, either on a boom stand or cam mounted and capture on to four tracks of your camera. If your don't have 4 track capability use 2 mono tracks. Balance the four tracks, live mic and direct board feed together in post.
The reason you do this is because, A FOH (front of house) MIX IS AN INVERSE REPRESENTATION OF THE STAGE BALANCE! In other wqrds the softest signal (vocals) is the loudest in the mix, while the loudest signal is the weakest or often left completely out of the board mix. And therefore misleading. A microphone hears a truer representation but, lacks articulation and exaggerates room ambience. BUT SOME WHERE BETWEEN THE TWO SOURCES IS A GOOD BALANCE.
I don't record this way but, while mixing I often supply feeds to professional T.V. crews who do this and have heard some great results.
P.S. a proper balance is very hard to do live and headphones are in themselves very misleading...do it in post, (preferably with monitors) that way you also have the benefit of touching it up.
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