I want to start capturing sound board feeds at shows I tape.
In order to get a full sound of all instruments, I'll need a recorder that can simultaneously record and store individual tracks, rather than simply taking the house mix, as you know.
I've seen recorders ranging from 4 inputs to 24. I'm open to whatever works best. For instance, if a 4 track recorder results in a pretty good range for a standard pop/rock band with singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer, then that's cool. But when you're mixing the show in post, if you need 8 or more different tracks to make it sound way better, than that's what I'd like to get.
At that point, you'd need to run many cables from your recorder to the soundboard. I have to wonder if this is a nuisance to the soundboard guy. Even using a snake cable, is there a way to hook up a dozen or more cables to the soundboard's bus outputs without disturbing him? Obviously, you'd ask permission, but is this too much to ask, as opposed to a standard soundboard patch into the house mix?
I'd also like the ability to "set it and forget it", meaning go to another area of the venue, while the mixer recorded. The 4 track device isn't so big, but the larger ones can be. The only thing I can think of is to cover it with some material and use some gaffer's tape to tape it to the side of the wall where the soundboard is.
This is all new to me and I have a lot of questions that I have to throw out there without a lot of understanding of. But for now, I'm trying to ascertain how practical this idea is with a band that you're not friends with.