Outboard Gear Recording for a Small/Medium Church

HansH

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Premium Member
Hi all,

I'm primarily a lighting guy that occasionally does sound (read: still just a lighting guy). So, while in my day job I work for a larger entertainment lighting company, I tend to be just a little bit out of my comfort zone when it comes to sound for my church. All that to say, I'm posting here just as me, not representing the company I work for.

A bit of background, and then the question(s):

We're moving from a small portable recorder (an older Zoom H2 handheld recorder) and want to get a higher quality recorder for sermons. Some of our criteria include a clear and easy user interface for basic recording, high quality inputs, flexible for future needs, and a variety of storage options (SD, USB, and so on). Budget is $650. Why are we moving away from the Zoom unit? While the quality is fine, the user interface is designed for portable/handheld use and it's hard to keep an eye on it without picking the unit up off the desk. It's fed with a RCA to 1/8" mic input, and I'm always worried that will get unplugged in the process.

Looking through a number of options - I really am a fan of the Tascam SSR200. (http://tascam.com/product/ss-r200/). It's got a nice clear display, it's rack mountable, good variety of media options, and balanced ins/outs. I don't need all of the extra I/O, but the SS-R100 (next step down) loses the balanced XLR connections and I feel that's important if the recorder moves too far away from the mixer. (Right now, the recorder would be 3-5' from the mixer. Not far at all).

Our mixer is a Mackie VLZ Pro 1604. The Main L/R out goes to our powered speakers. To hook up this recorder, I have a few options that I'm okay with (others, like the C-R out have gotchas):
  • Use the mono out
  • Use the tape out
  • Split the L/R out to both the recorder and the speakers
  • Use a postfader aux
The questions:
  • Is there a preferred way to hook up the mixer to the recorder?
  • If I end up using the Tape Out, then I'm spending money for balanced ins/outs that I'm not going to use for a long while. Is it still worth getting a recorder with balanced connections?
  • Is a splitter okay in this instance? Will I have any issues with that?
  • Any other recommendations for recorders? Am I in the right category of recording equipment?
Thanks!
Hans

EDIT: I suppose this actually isn't outboard gear - I chose the wrong category... Sorry about that!
 
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I agree, the control room output is not a good solution- too many other things can get bussed there.
It seems like maybe you've got you device picked out- That's fine, you know your situation better than I do. If you like the interface, options, etc, then I'm not gonna tell you to go for something else.
I'll try to answer your questions, though to help you out a little more-
The questions:
  • Is there a preferred way to hook up the mixer to the recorder?
  • I would say the post-fade auxes might be your best option- that way, everything is still affected by the main mix (similar to splitting off L/R) but you can still boost the volume of the main channels used in sermons
    [*]If I end up using the Tape Out, then I'm spending money for balanced ins/outs that I'm not going to use for a long while. Is it still worth getting a recorder with balanced connections?
    How long is "a long while"? Do you think you will be upgrading to a newer console before the Tascam reaches the end of it's service life? If you're planning to use it (or maybe even think you'll use it) go for it- otherwise you might wind up replacing it (and thereby spending more money)
    [*]Is a splitter okay in this instance? Will I have any issues with that?
    As long as it's a transformer-isolated, there shouldn't be any issue
    [*]Any other recommendations for recorders? Am I in the right category of recording equipment?
    Another option to possibly look into would be multi-track recording. But, this might be more expensive, and is also _highly_ dependent on application- for example, if your service is mostly one or two mics with organ accompaniment that might be overkill, whereas if you have a full praise & worship band that wants to release CDs (or CD quality services) it would be a major improvement.
 
Running off of postfade auxes sounds like a really good option - I do like the control it provides separate from the main mix.

Transformer isolated splitters don't look too expensive either, so it's good to know that option is there too.

We are looking at upgrading the mixer, but I don't want to do that for a few more years until we move to a bigger building. Right now, 16 channels is just about right for what we're doing (worship band with 3-5 musicians in a rather small space (50' x 30')). Recording the band isn't on the radar at this point, but we'll see.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. It's much appreciated!

Hans
 
I considered a computer, but I'm a fan of purpose-built hardware for this kind of application. I'd rather spend a bit more money upfront for dedicated hardware than go the less expensive route and then have a recording hiccup every now and then. I do lose some possibilities for expansion later, but by that point I'd probably be looking at another computer too.
 
I too run sound for a fairly large church (not mega, but big), and we use a PreSonus rig to capture our audio. We have an Allen and Heath GL analog board that provides direct outs for each channel which are then snaked over to two FireStudio Project boxes which provides 8 preamps per unit. These are daisy-chained via firewire to a macbook that runs StudioOne. This setup allows us to capture the sermons and burn to disc and compress and upload for our podcast of the messages each week, as well as capture audio from the praise band on at least 16 channels. It's upgradable to quite a few project boxes which provides enough input channels for most needs that we encounter. I've recorded demo tracks and other small projects that the band has done over the past couple years. StudioOne is a capable DAW.

PreSonus | FireStudio Project is the rig we use.

I don't know if the Mackie has the direct out option per channel, I know some did, but I'm not familiar with the VLZ. I know there are some who will have a stiff opinion of PreSonus equipment, and I wouldn't recommend their console, but I can vouch and say that this recording setup has served us well and is still in good working order after at least 4 years. Also, it's pretty easy to isolate from your hall with a long snake from your console to the firewire boxes.

Not trying to sway you one way or the other, but just sharing how we operate in the hopes that it gives you some ideas.

-ED
 
I've used Tascam solid state recorders in a few of my jobs and from what I've seen they're well built, and work well.

The only concern I would bring up is if you might want to record more than 2 channels in the future, since that's Tascam's main limitation. If you might want to get into multi-track recordings in the future, I would go with something like a 2 channel PreSonus AudioBox USB interface ($120) and get a computer running some free recording software (I think Presonus's Capture software comes with their interfaces anyway, otherwise Audacity works fine). This would give you more flexibility in the future to upgrade to a larger USB interface, but the downside is it's not quiet as simple as the Tascam to use.
 
Audacity runs well on many computer platforms (Mac, PC, etc.) so horsepower isn't a huge dealbreaker either. I think with a decent computer, you could do multi-tracking relatively inexpensively with adequate results using that and a digital audio interface of some sort.

What is your overall goal in recording the service? Do you just archive or do you publish online? Is there a potential future of video recording being added in? Would it be beneficial for that recording rig to tie into the video rig?

In my experience with churches, they like to throw money at technical problems until they go away and usually you end up with almost the right sort of equipment and not a clear vision on what you actually want/need to do with it. I always start from what is the ideal scenario for the AV needs of the church, what does our current equipment lack in comparison and then you establish a middle ground where wants and needs meet without breaking the bank.
 

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