Live Music Recording
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SouthBySoWhat
Well-known member
There's a lot of variables, but to generalize:
If the house sound is well-heeled, the desk will have a few output options that you can run into the XLR DVX inputs (make sure you adjust the line/mic level settings accordingly). If the house system is ghetto, you'd be better off using your own mics. Make sure your mic(s) don't overload the DVX inputs (in that case, use a small mixer or inline attenuator(s). I'd bring an external recorder, to use a dual system stereo setup, using 2 external mics, running to either the DVX or external recorder, AND a board feed going into either the DVX or external recorder. Also you could just go mono and run one mono send from the board into one channel of the DVX and an external mic into the other for ambience. No matter what, bring a few assorted audio adapters and cables just in case...
Cheers,
Sean
If the house sound is well-heeled, the desk will have a few output options that you can run into the XLR DVX inputs (make sure you adjust the line/mic level settings accordingly). If the house system is ghetto, you'd be better off using your own mics. Make sure your mic(s) don't overload the DVX inputs (in that case, use a small mixer or inline attenuator(s). I'd bring an external recorder, to use a dual system stereo setup, using 2 external mics, running to either the DVX or external recorder, AND a board feed going into either the DVX or external recorder. Also you could just go mono and run one mono send from the board into one channel of the DVX and an external mic into the other for ambience. No matter what, bring a few assorted audio adapters and cables just in case...
Cheers,
Sean
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Just a warning. The live sound mix is to support the stage. It often sound not great on it's own. The EQ for instance is often set to compensate for the space and that makes it sound bad on it's own. Also you may get some sync issues. If you have a distant shot people expect a certain amount of delay on the sound. At the concert the visuals are traveling at the speed of light and sound is traveling at... well the speed of sound. If you take a feed of the board it's all traveling the speed of light.
davbeisner
Well-known member
The only way you'll get good and reliable sound off a soundboard that's setup for house sound is if you can take the output of one of their pre-fader aux sends. (You've GOT to make sure its a PRE-FADER send). Then you'll have to have the sound guy set the levels on each aux pot of each channel for you. (You'll want to get this done during the pre-show sound check so you can monitor on your own headphones through your camera.)
Be ready for the sound guy to be p'ohd at you for asking for it, cause its a royal pain to set all that up (if he even has a free aux send). Trust me, I'm a sound guy by trade, video guy by hobby.
If I were you I'd also make sure I've got my own feed from my own mics just in case... I've been screwed over by fellow audio guys before when I was running the camera for a show.
If it were me, my preferred workflow would include an output off the board like I just described (stereo if you can get it), and then two or three of my own mics set near the stage for sound pickup (small diaphragm studio condensers like the Neumann KM184 work well for this). Then I'd run all these mics into an external multitrack recorder (I use the Alesis ADAT HD24, but it's a pro studio recorder and not likely something most video guys would have). Then take all those audio feeds in post and mix them down till you get something that works for you. Sound only off the board will be too "clean." People watching video of a live event will expect to hear "live event noise" and if they don't, they'll be upset. Trust me, audio's far more important than people think.
Oh, and when using an external multitrack recorder, make sure your clock speed is the same as your video (probably 48khz).
Good luck!
davbeisner
Well-known member
What's cheap? I use the ADAT HD24 for 24 channels of digital audio recorded to hard drive. You can pick one up for about $1k on E-Bay or about $1600 new.
ZazaCast
Major Contributor
Best advise...hire an audio engineer (with gear) to record the show. I'm sure a local studio could do this for you. I often wonder why people think they can do it all. Consentrate on what you do best, even if you get the gear, if you don't have someone watching it, you just get crap. You only have one shot at getting it right...do it right if you want a quality product. MHO....