Recording a band in rehearsals? Advice ...

[livebass]

Hi ...

I'd like a simple and portable solution for recording my band in rehearsal studios - it's all about capturing ideas, as opposed to looking for demo quality recordings! Ideally it would be some sort of USB mic that can feed straight into my Macbook, and record into Ableton Live.

If anyone has other recommendations for capturing a live band, where the audio is still of a reasonable quality (ie, you can make it out!), then let me know!

I did think about the 'Blue Snowball' until I discovered it was the size of a football!? Anyone had experience of this?

[Fwonk]

If you're after a USB solution I'd suggest getting one of those Samson USB Condenser mics, attach it to a stand, press record and you're done.

LINKY

[livebass]

Thanks mate - can you recommend a model to check out?

[Fwonk]

I just did if you look at the Link.

[livebass]

Wooops - thanks mate (hey, I'm new around here )

[Amberience]

I'd get two of those to be honest, and use them as a stereo pair. That way you'll capture a better image of the room, and be able to hear everything a bit more clearly.

Aim on specifically at the drums, and one at the rest of the amps. Don't go too mad with your gain though, coz you'll just clip the hell out of your sound and your ideas will be roughly equivalent to trance synthesiser patches.

[smokingbeagle]

I'm not sure that you could do stereo recording with two USB mics directly into a computer...I may be wrong...

If it's not over-complicating things, my solution would be to grab a simple (ish) USB interface with two phantom-powered mic inputs (M-Audio Mobile Pre USB, Tapco Link USB, Tascam US-122L, Alesis IO1 - shit, there's tons of 'em) and a pair of Behringer's C2 pencil condenser mics (they come as a matched pair with a stereo spacing bar; I've used 'em for rudimentary gig recording and got results that TOTALLY belie the thirty-odd quid price tag). Whole package could come in for less than a ton if you shop around and/or get secondhand, and gives you a bit more flexibility later on (stuff like headphone outputs, proper mic preamps etc).

Just my 2p-worth, mind.

[Fullofkittens]

Originally Posted by smokingbeagle

I'm not sure that you could do stereo recording with two USB mics directly into a computer...I may be wrong...

I think your suspicion is correct - the usb mic shows up as the audio interface in your sequencer, so you wouldn't be able to select both of them simultaneously.

[Amberience]

Originally Posted by smokingbeagle

I'm not sure that you could do stereo recording with two USB mics directly into a computer...I may be wrong...

If it's not over-complicating things, my solution would be to grab a simple (ish) USB interface with two phantom-powered mic inputs (M-Audio Mobile Pre USB, Tapco Link USB, Tascam US-122L, Alesis IO1 - shit, there's tons of 'em) and a pair of Behringer's C2 pencil condenser mics (they come as a matched pair with a stereo spacing bar; I've used 'em for rudimentary gig recording and got results that TOTALLY belie the thirty-odd quid price tag). Whole package could come in for less than a ton if you shop around and/or get secondhand, and gives you a bit more flexibility later on (stuff like headphone outputs, proper mic preamps etc).

Just my 2p-worth, mind.

In that case, your suggestion is probably what I'd go for too then.

[REDSTRAT]

Has 8 Hook Ups At Once 'thats Enough Vocal,,guitar,guitar, Guitar,bass ,keyboard,backgroung Vocals,and Maybe A Cowbell Ha Ha