Recording my band's performance at a talent show??

twdavis13 · #1 10-07-2009, 03:54 PM

At my high school, my band(Im 17) will play publicly for the first time, and I wanted to know if there would be an easy way for me to record it?? I mean, I don't want to make it super-uber live album quality, but I want to record us playing, and do the guitar and bass separately, and do our vocals, maybe mic the audience of about 100 people and then, I want to mic the drums too, but couldn't I just place a couple of mics by the drummer?? How would this work??

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If someone understands what I want to do, then explain it to me the easy way

groooooove · #2 10-07-2009, 04:01 PM

invest the $300 in one of these, it will give you phenominal live recording, and it can function as a 4track recorder for demos, youll be glad you bought one. IF you were to use one, id recommend placing the unit itself (built in mics) near front/center of the audience (on a mic stand, or just sitting somewhere, whatever) plug in whatever two mics you can get your hands on to the external inputs, put one on the left side of the stage, one on the right, and youll be amazed how good itll sound.

the method you described is essentially a "real" live recording- micing everything separate, ext. that requires a lot of equiptment, knowledge, and skill. start looking into portable recorders- if the zoom is too much for you, if you click the link in my sig. all those shows were recorded on a yamaha pocketrak2G- they go new for $150 now.

or, if this is a one-time deal (if your going to be playing music for years to come, its not

) just try and find a friend who can help you out doing this, or pay someone who knows how to / has the equipment to.

best of luck.

tv

twdavis13 · #3 10-07-2009, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by groooooove

invest the $300 in one of these, it will give you phenominal live recording, and it can function as a 4track recorder for demos, youll be glad you bought one. IF you were to use one, id recommend placing the unit itself (built in mics) near front/center of the audience (on a mic stand, or just sitting somewhere, whatever) plug in whatever two mics you can get your hands on to the external inputs, put one on the left side of the stage, one on the right, and youll be amazed how good itll sound.

the method you described is essentially a "real" live recording- micing everything separate, ext. that requires a lot of equiptment, knowledge, and skill. start looking into portable recorders- if the zoom is too much for you, if you click the link in my sig. all those shows were recorded on a yamaha pocketrak2G- they go new for $150 now.

or, if this is a one-time deal (if your going to be playing music for years to come, its not

) just try and find a friend who can help you out doing this, or pay someone who knows how to / has the equipment to.

best of luck.

tv

Thanks for the reply, but I was just wondering, what type of mics should I use?? Condenser, Dynamic?? And EVERY SINGLE ONE of those shows was recorded with the Yamaha.

Shindig · #4 10-08-2009, 04:03 PM

I've found IME (the hard way) that it works better to keep it simple and just record the band overall, just as Groooooove said. I use the built-in mics.

I'm using an Olympus LS-10 for same thing. Instead of messing with various mikes to get a good sound I've found "where" I place the recorder affects the mix.
It may take several tries to find best spot for best mix but it works really well, and is waaay easier. You'll be amazed how much detail the recorders can deliver. The mix (balance between the instruments) is the whole thing.
Take a set of headphones with you to check the mix and record the band with a couple different placements of the recorder. I've found they pick up drums well and guitars from across the stage pretty good but aim a monitor at the recorder to get the vocals.
Place it closer to your bass amp than you'd think.

If you want to record each instrument as separate tracks (as I originally wanted to do) you'll find it's a LOT of hassle and expense - usually more than it's worth. You'll spend so much time at the gig setting up mikes and getting levels (plus you'll need a laptop w/ recording sofware, and a preamp for the mics, and the cables to connect everything) that you won't have much time for focusing on playing bass - and isn't that the reason you came to the gig for?
Keep it simple and enjoy the gig.
Good luck

Shindig

MrTAteMyBalls · #5 10-12-2009, 08:08 AM

will everything be mic'd through the PA??? if so, maybe a direct line out from the mixer into some sort of recorder....tape/cd/hard disk/etc. doesn't give the best mix sometimes.....probably the zoom would give better balance with the built in mics. or a combination of the 2, which i have done with decent results in the past.

ttomom · #6 10-12-2009, 08:26 AM

You should try recording video with a digital camera. Not great but can be decent. Here is a video I shot recently of Living Colour at an instore appearance; I took this video with a $150 Fuji digital camera and the sound and video came out decent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfPa...eature=channel

It wont let you separate the instruments but will give you a good document of the show