Topic: Recording My Solo/Band Shows

[willonguitar]

Just picked up an Edirol R-09HR... seemed to have pretty positive feedback/price point from the general consensus on here. Any thoughts on the internal mics? How about an inexpensive mic/input chain?

I'm mainly looking for portable.

[Neilyboy]

check in retail section. for the price you cant beat a set of chris' 'church audio' gear!
Neil

[skelly14120]

People here will tell you that theyre "decent"  Maybe my ears arent that goodcause I hear no problems using them . Its all about placement be smart think where you wont get crowd noise and are able to hear the vocals . Ive got the cover set and have attached it to camcorder tripod  (yea it looks stupid) I could post some examples if you tell me what type music you play . Just make sure the input level is set for a small club I usually do around 20 you'll have to check the meter before you hit record and make sure its not clipping also turn off agc turn off lo cut filter and set gain to low plug in power off (kills batteries)/Anyway if you have time to get some mics get them,but if not then this will be more then alright quality for someone who isnt an audio file .record at least in 24bit 44hhz

[willonguitar]

I do mainly singer/songwriter style tunes... I'm doing a song a week challenge at 5252Project.com, so my primary reason for pulling the trigger on the Edirol was that live recordings would be the easiest way to fill the need to constantly put out new tunes this year.

[rhinowing]

I do mainly singer/songwriter style tunes... I'm doing a song a week challenge at 5252Project.com, so my primary reason for pulling the trigger on the Edirol was that live recordings would be the easiest way to fill the need to constantly put out new tunes this year.

if you're just guitar/voice, you might wanna consider a fairly cheap mic combo (CA-11s, for example), and use one mic for voice and one for guitar. that way you can modify the levels on each channel in post to balance them however

[fmaderjr]

Any thoughts on the internal mics? How about an inexpensive mic/input chain?
I'm mainly looking for portable.

No to the internals. They might sound OK to you if you haven't tried anything else, but you can do so much better with a good external mic.

I would get Church Audio CA-14 cardiods and something to adequately power it (plug in power is not sufficient). Assuming your band is loud, a small & inexpensive Church Audio (or Sound Professionals) battery box would be fine. If you need more more clean gain for acoustic performances, get a Church Audio ST-9100 preamp instead. With proper mic placement, you can make recordings with this rig that approach ones made with several thousand dollars worth of gear.

For even more versatility, if Chris is still offering a package deal, you might want to consider getting both the CA-14 cards and omnis.

[willonguitar]

I do mainly singer/songwriter style tunes... I'm doing a song a week challenge at 5252Project.com, so my primary reason for pulling the trigger on the Edirol was that live recordings would be the easiest way to fill the need to constantly put out new tunes this year.

if you're just guitar/voice, you might wanna consider a fairly cheap mic combo (CA-11s, for example), and use one mic for voice and one for guitar. that way you can modify the levels on each channel in post to balance them however

I have a home studio, so I'm pretty set on that end. I'm looking for capturing the live shows... I sent Chris a PM and am waiting to hear back about a Church setup.

[willonguitar]

gn00b alert on this one: cards over omnis for general purpose? I've dealt with a lot mics, but they've mainly been studio or actual stage mics... this is my first real venture into pulling some AUD recordings.

[fmaderjr]

Omnis are great in a great sounding room, especially close up, when there is not a lot of crowd chatter. If there is a lot of crowd chatter, cards are better at rejecting noise behind them so are generally the go to mics for audience recordings. In your case, being the artist and having more control about where to put the mics, omnis might work well the majority of the time, but it does depend on acoustics in the room and crowd noise as well.

[stevetoney]

Omnis are great in a great sounding room, especially close up, when there is not a lot of crowd chatter. If there is a lot of crowd chatter, cards are better at rejecting noise behind them so are generally the go to mics for audience recordings. In your case, being the artist and having more control about where to put the mics, omnis might work well the majority of the time, but it does depend on acoustics in the room and crowd noise as well.

I'd add a little bit to the above advice...your question asked 'for general purpose' use. 

FWIW, I think most people, if they had to choose a single mic pickup pattern, would choose cardioids as the best general purpose mics, because they're the middle of the road in terms of directionality.  This make them a versatile microphone pattern for the many different situations encountered when getting to the gig. 

I agree that omni's can sound really great close-up because you're recording the natural sound of the instruments (instead of the PA), but close mic'ing imposes its own set of challenges in regards to getting good balance between all of the instruments and the vocals of a musical group.  It's usually not good enough to simply put the mics in the middle of the stage and expect to get a good balanced recording because the bass might be too loud and the vocals not loud enough, or some other dynamic issue that affects the balance. 

So, it's often easier to move back from the stage a little ways and let the natural projection in the room balance the sounds (for acoustic gigs) or let the soundguy worry about balancing the sound through the PA speakers.  In that case, use the directionality of the cards to zero in on the sound, while rejecting the crowd as much as possible.  FWIW, I've also gotten plenty of great up close recordings with cardioids in front near the stage in ORTF configuration.

In the end though, which mic is better depends entirely on how you plan to record your band and where the mics will be positioned.  If the mics will be out in the audience, you'd DEFINITELY want to choose cards over omni's.  If the mics will be on stage, then you'd want to consider some of the things I've stated above.