Recording

[whhsce]

I'm the tech director at my high school's radio station and we do live music shows for fundraising. we thought it would be good to record the shows and sell the cds. I was wondering what was the best way to record the mixers output. I was thinking using a usb interface but i don't which is best. i would appreciate any suggestions.

Nick Potts

 

[bishopthomas]

The quickest way would be to just burn it straight to CD. Then you're ready to dub, label, etc. If you need to do some editing then going to a computer or HD recorder is probably the way to go. How much are you looking to spend? Do you plan on taking this recorder to other places to record? Some have built in microphones and run on batteries so you can make a quick recording anywhere in the world. Some have microphone inputs so you can set up your own pair of mics and record the ambient sound that way. Some have strictly line inputs. And then some have all of these features.

 

[whhsce]

Im not sure about spending yet we may be getting a $10,000 grant but we have other things to get as well. I think $1,000 is the highest price we should spend. we already spent $1,000 on mics and cables and stuff like that so we could mic all the instruments. now I'm wondering how do i take that mix and record it, either to cd or on my computer.

 

[MisterTim]

Alesis Masterlink would be my vote. Powerful and easy to use and edit, then straight to CD when you're done. Assuming you have a good mix out of your board, that and a CD duplicator would be all you need for production.

On another note, 'recording music' and 'selling CDs' both set off big red flags for legal reasons...

 

[DuckJordan]

for the legal stuff, i would tell you that unless you have complete rights over the songs being performed the only recording you can do is the announcing, so i would just record right out from the mixer, do you know what mixer it is as that would be very helpful. another type of mix recorder is something like an audio fire box hooked up to a fire wire connection on a PC, you could record directly from the mix that way and still get very good quality.

I would use a free software like audacity to record.

 

[pmolsonmus]

#1. avoid USB for recording, possible but VERY problematic and not reliable.
#2. Unless it is all original music you need to obtain mechanical royalties for any song you record that isn't original. That can be relatively easy via Songfile at Harry Fox if you are producing at least 50 units (maybe as few as 25?) and you have a credit card. You must pay royalties to the copyright owner at the statutory rate of about $.10/song per unit produced. So each 10 song CD would cost you $1 in royalties. If the song isn't on Songfile it is a lengthy process where you need to contact the copyright holder - usually via email and then signing forms. Understand that you have to pay for all units produced not sold.
#3. If you can upgrade your mixer to a firewire mixer and use that as your interface into a computer, you have a fighting chance to get a decent recording if you can learn the complex art of recording. I may be partial, but I mod at recording.org, if you've got questions, that's a good beginning source- lots of knowledgeable people there.
#4. Decide if you can still make money after you determine your production costs. CDrs, labels or printing, jewel cases or envelopes? Do your likely customers use CDs? I teach in a high school, almost everything has gone virtual via Itunes or MP3s. That's a different thing to try to sell and it is more complex.

Good Luck

Phil

 

[jkowtko]

*** Assuming you have the legal right to record your program material ***

Check out the Tascam DR-1 or equivalent, handheld digital recorder, in the $200-400 range. There are many models at this level made by Sony, Edirol, M-Audio, etc. Very versatile, can record WAV or MP3, most can record 24-bit, and most will store on a SD card. The Hosa CMP or CMR cables (2xRCA or 2x1/4" to 1/8" stereo line input) or equivalent will connect your handheld to the board, and then afterwards you can drop the audio file onto your PC and use Roxio or whatever other CD burning software you have to make the CDs.

If you are using a digital board, then look for a handheld with S/PDIF input ... there are fewer of these and they may be more expensive, but you cut out the analog middleman and get a cleaner recording.

I personally don't care for the units with the built in CD unless you're doing that frequently (i.e. cutting CDs from live without any form of editing).

I also own a couple of USB PC audio interfaces (M-Audio FastTrack Pro and Ultra), and they are great, but require you to lug around much more equipment than the handheld.

 

[mixmaster]

The big thing that jumps out at me with this is the expectation of your clientele. If they are expecting (and will be happy with) a quick, unedited rip of the show, with a mix that reflects the only FOH mix (called a board tape), then a two track feed from the board into a CD burner will probably be OK, probably even within the budget.
If your clientele is going to expect a well mixed, edited, and professional looking product, a stereo feed off the house board straight to CD isn't going to cut it. You'll need to split all the signals from the mics to take a separate record feed, then record each channel as a track (AD converter to computer, or hard disk recorder), mix the tracks, burn, label, and duplicate the CDs. Not gonna happen for a $1000. Depending on the gear, maybe 5 grand, if you've already got a computer to host your audio software. It all depends on what your client is expecting. I'd be upset if I went to a show to see a band, bought a live CD of the event for 8 or 10 bucks, and only got a board tape with a Sharpie label.

For reference, we use AD converters into logic in our portable recording rig. We've got a couple grand in our splitter, about 800 each (x3) in AD converters plus misc. firewire and lightpipe cables. Toss in a 2 or 3 grand for the laptop, plus whatever the going rate for Logic and we're at least half way thru your entire grant, and we're only doing 16 or 24 tracks.

 

[jhochb]

Good Morning

Are you aware that the MIX for reinforcement & recoding is often different.
In the analog days they would split the mic sends & use 2 consoles. I don't know the new digital board so just my $.02

 

[mixmaster]

In the analog days they would split the mic sends & use 2 consoles. I don't know the new digital board so just my $.02

Depends on the board. If you get one of the DigiD.....excuse me, Avid consoles, you can go straight to protools. That's the expensive way. There's no shortage of guys out there who record off a split just like "the old analog days" because that's what they are already tooled up for. That's where we are are at, with an analog split feeding a rack of AD converter on one side of a split, and the FOH off the other. There are also boards out there that have multiple digital outputs that be sent to computers for recording. We have been expierimenting with doing that with our LS9. The direct outs for the channels we want to record, or submixes of channels, get assigned to the ADAT outs on an expansion module, wich then get converted to firewire and feed to the laptop.

 

[WooferHound]

Yes the guys are right about a House Mix sounding different from the actual sound in the room. Usually the vocals are very much louder than the instruments in the Board Mix.

As an example. The bass player may be turned up so loud onstage that you don't need to put them in the House Mix and it sounds fine. But a recording of that mix will have the bass sounding a bit thin.

When I make recordings of my live mixes I always use a Pair of microphones high on a boomstand at the Mix position. This will usually sound exactly like the true ambient room sound.