... what equipment do you use? What kind of recorder and mics? I basically want to be able to listen critically post rehearsal as it is nearly impossible to get a sense of how things really sound when you are busy making them.
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Recording band rehearsals ...
- Thread starter Funkateer
- Start date
I'm using the exact same recorder, and MD is definitely the way to go IMHO. I use a a Røde NT3 mono mic. It has a very good low end and I actually think mono is better, or should I say more handy because you don't have to worry about the stereo aspect when placing the mic. Either way, recording rehearsals are a very useful tool to improvement.
We use an 8 track mixer, some instrumental mics (there not mine so can't remember brand), and a laptop onto Cubase. We just leave it running througout!
I use a Sharp SR80 minidisc and a crown pzm. i like that i can record in mono which eliminates phase problems in a small room. Sound quality is good albiet a little muddy from my less than ideal surface for the pzm (the carpeted floor!)
We use a radio shack tape recorder and the cheapest computer mic we can find. The mic for some reason cuts out all the highs and lows and gives it a sort of compressed sound. Works incredibly well for picking out individual lines later.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Computer happiness here. 2 Crown (not RS) PZMs on adjacent walls, through a Crest board, then to a Gadget Labs sound card, using Wavelab at 24/96. The mikes are always in the same place, I know what I'm going to get. Anything else I used for recording would get dumped to the computer, might as well cut out the middle man. 
I use an iRiver iFP 590T MP3 recorder with 256 MB hard disk and a miniscule stereo microphone that I got with a walkman a long time ago. Recording at 320 Kbps it delivers an astonishing sound quality and gives me 1h45m recording time. Battery life is also excellent and navigation is easy. To top it off, it is the size of a box of matches. I edit the recordings with Nero wave editor and post the results on a website at 80 Kbps (to keep down the size of the files). My fellow bandmembers can listen to the recordings on the internet the day after the rehearsal. It works perfect for me.
Steven
Steven
FR5,
Have you used your iriver unit plugged directly into a mixer? I see that there is a line-in as well. I would be very interested in this approach as it would make the transfer into the PC much easier than with a minidisk.
Have you used your iriver unit plugged directly into a mixer? I see that there is a line-in as well. I would be very interested in this approach as it would make the transfer into the PC much easier than with a minidisk.
Roland Porta Studio.
Two inputs are toasted so we have 6 channels available at once for recording. Bass direct, guitar direct, and stereo vox direct take 4 channels. Drums are miked into a Mackie mixer and then stereo'd out to channels 5 and 6 of the Roland.
So, the only things miked are the vox and drums. SM57 for vox. Can't remember everything miking the drums.
Downside: better have a good drum mix because once it's recorded, you can't change levels of specific drums (even though they are miked separately).
Upside: very good quality recordings immediately accessible. Bounce ideas off each other, decide on arrangement, push record. Everyone leaves with a CD of the new song(s), singer applies lyrics over the week, meet up again 7 days later and the song is complete. We're prolific as hell with this thing and have enough music for 3 albums....just recorded the first professionally.
Two inputs are toasted so we have 6 channels available at once for recording. Bass direct, guitar direct, and stereo vox direct take 4 channels. Drums are miked into a Mackie mixer and then stereo'd out to channels 5 and 6 of the Roland.
So, the only things miked are the vox and drums. SM57 for vox. Can't remember everything miking the drums.
Downside: better have a good drum mix because once it's recorded, you can't change levels of specific drums (even though they are miked separately).
Upside: very good quality recordings immediately accessible. Bounce ideas off each other, decide on arrangement, push record. Everyone leaves with a CD of the new song(s), singer applies lyrics over the week, meet up again 7 days later and the song is complete. We're prolific as hell with this thing and have enough music for 3 albums....just recorded the first professionally.
....In the past I've also simply used a Tascam 4 track, hung any two available mikes from the ceiling, and recorded the room sound in stereo.
If you dial in a nice sound in the room you can get fine live recordings doing this....at least for critically listening to post rehearsal.
If you dial in a nice sound in the room you can get fine live recordings doing this....at least for critically listening to post rehearsal.
This sounds much like what I'm doing.
We've got 2 Peavey mics on stands in front of the drums, picking up the bass and guitar too. This goes to a Behringer Eurorack UB1202 and then to computer for recording. This seems to sound pretty good for 2 mics.
We let the recording roll during all Jams.
We've got 2 Peavey mics on stands in front of the drums, picking up the bass and guitar too. This goes to a Behringer Eurorack UB1202 and then to computer for recording. This seems to sound pretty good for 2 mics.
We let the recording roll during all Jams.
jive1
Commercial User
SMASH said:
I use a similar setup. I record some of our shows from the tape outs on the board to the the Sharp MD-MT15 recorder, if we're in a setup where we mic everything.
If recording without the board, using mics alone, there are plenty of options available to me. But, the simplest option that I use is a homemade stereo microphone. It cost less than $7 in materials and takes less than an hour to make. Plus the sound is incredible for a microphone like this. I picked up a couple of electret condensers from digikey.com that have a frequency response of 20Hz-20kHz, and a stereo 1/8" plug. I wired the grounds from the two condensers to the ground on the plug, and then wired the hot from each condenser to each of the hot leads on the stereo plug. Voila! A simple, compact, cheap and great sounding stereo mic.
I have attached a short clip (MP3 in a zip file) of a recording using this mic and a MD, as well as a picture.
jive1
Commercial User
BTW, the Jive Mics are powered by the MD-MT15. The main reason why I bought that particular model MD Recorder is that it will provide power to condenser mics.
4 Shure mics (sometimes condensers) -> Fostex FD-4 digital four track -> Zip 100 drive (33 minutes per disk) -> computer for mixing for fun 
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Jive I was expecting a music clip, so I switched the audio of my PC over to my mice Hi-Fi with the big subs etc, then turned the volume up..... that was the loudest dunny flush I've ever heard.jive1 said:
Have you got any music clips?
A new Rode NT-4 stereo mic was already on its way to me when I read this. I was sorry that I didn't have this info before I ordered. I got a good deal on the Rode, but it is still way more expensive than the BMC-3 mics. However, yesterday when I received the mic, and tried it out in my home studio, I was really impressed. One of these day's I'll win an ebay auction for a MT15 and I'll be all set to record rehersals, gigs, and other shows. Until then, I'll be recording at home using Cubase.SMASH said:
jive1
Commercial User
Petebass said:
Here's one of music. I used the toilet flushing sound since I think that the sounds of running water give a decent indication of the subtleties that a mic reproduces. Since attachments are limited to 150K, I don't get a whole lot to work with.
