Pulling audio from the DJ's soundboard.

[Peternap]

I see a lot of discussion in the Audio section about taking audio (Music) from the DJ's board.

I've never done that and although I have filmed and had music going in the background of the room. That's legal as long as it's incidental to the main focus of the video.

The question I have is..If I plug directly into the soundboard, am I in Copyright violation?

Seems like I would be.

 

[Cole]

I'm no lawyer but here is my take on this. Your Copyrite situation does not change with the source of your audio. Regardless of if you use the built in microphone, plant your own mic or recording device, or tap the board the source is irrelevant. What matters is that you have permission from the owners of the performance. This means that if you are taping a band ALL of the members need to sign off on you documenting and redistributing their music. If someone else wrote the music you then need to add them to your list of permission granters. If someone owns the rights to it guess what, you need their approval as well. Even if it is a DJ spinning a record, you need permission from anyone who owns the rights to the music.

A few thoughts on tapping the board. I have learned to never rely on this as a sole or primary source to capture sound for video (or sound for sound for that matter). The mixer is tweaking the sound for the room, not for the recording. Sometimes not all of the elements are coming through the mixer. I have had shows where vocals only came through the mixer, the guitars were through their own amps on stage and drums were just playing with no amplification.

Why don't you elaborate a little on what you are recording and what the final use will be.

Cole

 

[Peternap]

I'm no lawyer but here is my take on this. Your Copyrite situation does not change with the source of your audio. Regardless of if you use the built in microphone, plant your own mic or recording device, or tap the board the source is irrelevant. What matters is that you have permission from the owners of the performance. This means that if you are taping a band ALL of the members need to sign off on you documenting and redistributing their music. If someone else wrote the music you then need to add them to your list of permission granters. If someone owns the rights to it guess what, you need their approval as well. Even if it is a DJ spinning a record, you need permission from anyone who owns the rights to the music.

A few thoughts on tapping the board. I have learned to never rely on this as a sole or primary source to capture sound for video (or sound for sound for that matter). The mixer is tweaking the sound for the room, not for the recording. Sometimes not all of the elements are coming through the mixer. I have had shows where vocals only came through the mixer, the guitars were through their own amps on stage and drums were just playing with no amplification.

Why don't you elaborate a little on what you are recording and what the final use will be.

Cole

It was more of a general question I had than a specific situation. As I said, I've never done it and can only think of one type of event I regularly video, that it would even be feasible. That would be political events and there is never a live band at those. It's always a DJ.

Those are often so noisy, I cut the audio completely and replace it in post.

I agree with your assessment of the Copyright infringement , except for one small part which the courts have ruled on many times, and I was curious because many here that do weddings and the like events, seem to tap the boards a lot.

I was wondering how they justified it.

I don't do weddings BTW.