Topic: Edirol E-09 - recording musicals

[eyekanspehl]

I'd like to start by apologizing if I put this in the wrong forum. I tried searching and couldn't find anything relating to this, and I hope someone can be of some help. Here's the deal: bought an Edirol E-09 + battery box + binaural mics over the summer. I've mostly been extremely happy with the results, so far. My only thing is that I occasionally record musicals, which obviously include a combination of music and spoken dialogue. With the handful of musicals I've recorded thus far, I've found that the music comes out fine, but the spoken parts end up being on the quiet side. I know it has been said that an external pre-amp would help with recording spoken word/quiet sounds, and I've been considering buying one for situations like this. However, I assume that a pre-amp would amplify both the music and the dialogue, so there'd still be a noticeable difference. Honestly, I'm still a newbie taper, and I'm not well versed in recording jargon, and I'm not sure what to do in this situation. Is there something I can do during performances, or should I try doing something once the show is over? Or..?

[dmonkey]

I recorded my first musical last night (a couple of friends played in the orchestra). Felt kind of funny doing a stealth of a musical...definitely a first for me. haha

I used a preamp and set levels during a loud musical opening number, and left the recorder alone. There are some applause passages that are clipped, but that doesn't matter. I plan on boosting levels on certain dialog sections later when I process the files. I also record in 24-bit mode so that helps to keep the noise level at a minimum.

I'd recommend a mic and preamp for you instead of using the internal mics for doing this. From what I've heard, the internal mics are pretty noisy if recording something relatively quiet. Check out Church Audio (on this board) for inexpensive, quality equipment.

[fmaderjr]

I don't think there's anything you could do during the show (save using auto gain control which I don't recommend).

After the show you can boost the level of the dialog with an audio editor. I use Adobe Audition 3.0 but Audacity is supposed to be good and is free. If the volume of the dialog is a lot lower than the music, however, doing this may cause a big increase in audence noise & hiss (although the hiss could be removed with the editor, the crowd noise probably couldn't).

If you want to keep it simple, you could try the auto gain contol and see if it sounds better to you, but it will decrease the quality of the recorded music by compressing the dynamic range.

[eyekanspehl]

Thanks for the responses. Just to clarify, I'm using external mics + battery box. I think I'll try the audio editor route. I guess I kinda figured that's the way I'd have to go, I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't something I was missing.

[jim90501]

Hi Eyekanspehl,
Assuming you can't get a feed from the board (and assuming
the players are mic'ed) then what I've found works best is putting
a mic up at the stage lip. Usually the music is louder than the kids I record,
so this gives me the closest sound I can get. Also gets most of the
crowd noise out of the way (the clapping at the end comes in fine).
Negative is having to put the mic pretty low and sometimes picking
up foot noise (esp if there's any dancing).

I put the mic on a light stand (camera) the edirol in a small pouch.
Capture 24 bit so you have some leeway. I'm using an AT822 mic,
so far very happy with the combination.

thanks
jim cowan