Recording and mixing live

[soundtechdan]

hi

I'm just starting live recordings. 16 channels of recording. Doing 2 or 3 bands per night I work.

I was just looking to see if anyone had any tips for me about mixing live tracks and recording them?

Also I have some of my first live recording posted on my myspace so I'm looking for some opinions upon the tracks. Just check the link below should send you straight there.

myspace.com/dansoundman

Anything welcome

cheers

Dan

[*Noodles*]

http://uk.youtube.com/user/noodles31
there are videos and audio up there, which are live.

I had 4 stems to work with, so with 16 tracks - you'll be a lot better equipped than I had to work with.

What are you using to record with? Hardware recorders such as the Alesis HD1something is pretty good..
If not, try and use the best hard drives that you can.

[soundtechdan]

hi

I'm using 2 presonus firepods firewired to a mac book wanted a pro but couldn't afford it. I'm using ableton live as my DAW (love it). I'm running everything from the direct out of the mixing desk (soundcraft). Was tempted to try and run the PA into the Firepod and then back out into the desk and use the vst rather than out board but my mac does have to pause a few times while recording.

I tried looking at your myspace but your details didn't come up just said to added your details.

cheers

dan

[*Noodles*]

You shouldn't really have any problems, like I say - use FW800 drives (the best you can afford), and personally, I would use smaller ones (200gb) because larger ones can have issues related to spinning / writing.

If you want to do the Desk / Mac / Desk for efx, I can help you out there - but it's tricky, and if you run monitors there will be an audible delay [even at 64 samples] which some performers maybe unhappy with.

Direct outs via 1/4" cable into the firepod with careful gain setting should give you more than enough to work with.. just have fun!

[Danny1969]

I've been recording live gigs for about 2 years now. I use 18 channels into a Protools LE rig, all racked and self contained in the pic you see here :



There's definitely an art to live recording that's different from studio tracking. You don't get a chance to properly check what's going down to disk and unless you use a lot of mic splitters your often at the mercy of the FOH engineers gain settings even though the direct outs are pre EQ and pre fader. Given the time and the choice I would split everything but it's just not feasible at smaller gigs.

Most of the time I'm aiming for isolation on all instruments with as little spill as possible even though it's live. The more isolation you can achieve the more editing options you have. And to be honest some of the bands need some editing like vocal tuning, moving bits of audio to tighten things up, a lot of EQ and compression etc.

I find the normal mics bands use like SM57's and 58's aren't so good at achieving good isolation at small venues where the guitar cabs are 1 foot from the drums and the singers stood 2 feet in front of the drums. So I take the mics my band uses, all Senn E900 series. I'm still learning but the mics have helped a lot.

[soundtechdan]

hi

cheer for the advise guys keep it coming. I have to admit I tend to attach the mic as closely as possible and directed away from other instrument to try and get some insolation. I also using an ambient mic but not sure where to aim it or put it. At the moment its in the safest place that I can (next to me) but I hope to convince the boss and attach it to the ceiling above the crowd good idea or not?

I would also love to get some video on the go but can't afford a camera is there any cheaper options?

cheers

dan

[*Noodles*]

to get crowd noise, you could either put it next to the speakers - and try to use phase to eliminate speaker output.. (as they do for IEMs)..

or just keep it beside you!

As for video, the easiest and cheapest option is owning a camera - but you could rent a camera, however I don't know know much about where to get them from etc since your location isn't listed.

[soundtechdan]

I live in south wales. Not sure where to hire them from but to be honest I think it would be worth it to buy one as I work in one venue and it would cost alot of keep renting out the camera.

I was just wondering if there was a cheap camera like a webcam or small DV cam that might be good

cheers

dan

[jim_branning]

i made this little video of me recording Senser live at the Underworld if it helps - we used an alesus hd24 which is awesomely good cos it can be wired up as a networked device and you can dump the recorded tracks over a standard network to any machine in your setup for mixing or redistru#ibution to an outside studio - so i dumped the tracks to a network machine, then burned them to a couple of data dvd's, turned that over to the bands producer and he mixed it elsewhere for the dvd release

the alesis is bloody excellent, it's cheap, network enabled as standard (not need to buy the costly firewire add-on port device), it uses common cheap PATA ide disks as it's storage media, and even changing the discs is a peice of p*ss cos they are housed in simple detachable drive-sledges.

anyways check it out, it's all explained in text before the video

http://www.dancetech.com/article.cfm...did=163&lang=0

the recording has since been released on a dvd by the band

the google version is embedded at the bottom of the page after the text intro

[*Noodles*]

Originally Posted by jim_branning

we used an alesus hd24 which is awesomely goodo

Most 'professional' recordings that I've come across have been with that unit.. either that or a DigiDesign desk (running hd2/3).