Topic: Creating a very basic soundboard

[BluesForAllah45]

Ok on new year's my band is going to be playing a huge gig in our town square and I want to get just a basic soundboard for archival purposes from the gig. What would have to do to connect to and record from the board with my laptop? It's a windows xp computer and has audacity as it's recording program (once again this is very basic, I'm not looking for the best sound in the world, just a half-decent soundboard). I know a decent amount about mixing and all that I just don't know how to actual connect the computer to the board correctly and get audacity to capture the audio.

[poorlyconditioned]

Ok on new year's my band is going to be playing a huge gig in our town square and I want to get just a basic soundboard for archival purposes from the gig. What would have to do to connect to and record from the board with my laptop? It's a windows xp computer and has audacity as it's recording program (once again this is very basic, I'm not looking for the best sound in the world, just a half-decent soundboard). I know a decent amount about mixing and all that I just don't know how to actual connect the computer to the board correctly and get audacity to capture the audio.

For the simplest and most reliable system I would just plug a minidisc or similar standalone recorder (Edirol UA1, microtrack, etc) into the RCA "tape out" on the soundboard.  Remember to turn up the tape out level, eg., turn it to halfway or so, then adjust the level on the minidisc.  Have a friend or the sound tech do this while you play.

The other thing you might consider is to request (or hire) someone to do a professional recording (mics + board).  If it is a big gig for you you'll probably want a very nice souvenir, and it might be worth paying for.

  Richard