Topic: Time Constrained Newbie Plea!!

[suburbanDK]

a delighted hello to all....
K surprised me (a month early) with an Edirol R-09 that I'll be picking up in Portland Friday,
we'll be taping Sunday, whatta wife!
I'll be busy checking as many posts as possible, but I've GOT to get a few questions in,
just in case I can't find them or the time, so PLEASE forgive me this time :

I've read some positive reviews of the Church STC-11 & 9000/9100 pre, but won't be able to
get them before this weekend (though we're going to another, indoor, show the 18th
and I'm hoping I can get the mics before we leave for Seattle)

We're taping at an outdoor festival;
I assume most bands (rock) are playing in mono, so better to
1) simply set the the R-09 to mono?
2) park in direct line with one of the speaker banks (rather than a more central location)?
-and-
1) record in highest resolution (24bit/48kHz) and reduce to 16/44.1 via Audacity or simply
record in 16/44.1 to begin with??
2)levels? Auto (at least, I think there's auto, I've downloaded the manual)?
Manual, to not adulterate (and where to start out and not accidentally saturate?).

again, I'm sure there's a lot I need that's already on the forum, and I'll be spending a lot
of time here (but I've got to get SOME experiments done this week!);
please forgive my impatience/panic, I want this to work as well as possible this weekend.

thanks a bunch,
subDK

[dorrcoq]

Why would you assume they are playing in mono?

[macroint]

Hope you find what you're looking for and manage to tape something...if only for practice.

[Belexes]

Most bands I know are stereo at the board.  That would mean you may want a center location for taping.  I wouldn't mess with "auto" levels.  I'd adjust the levels manually on the fly.

[suburbanDK]

I assumed mono going to the PA by looking at waveforms of a number of recordings from dimeadozen which seem to be identical L-to-R and (showing my ignorance), I always thought it was frequently stereo to the board and mono to the PA, as it's really difficult to get good stereo separation in most halls; Pink Floyd, Zappa, and some Kinks shows were notable exceptions I've been to.
Don't know what Patti Smith is doing this Sunday in Portland, we'll see....

thanks for the help, I've looked at probably 20 threads so far and missed the R-09 FAQ!!!
Doh!
Just too rushed right now.

subDK

[Brian Skalinder]

Even if the PA is mixed mono, there's still stereo information to be captured:  time differences in sound arrival at the mics from each stack, stereo cues from the acoustics and venue and crowd that create a sense of space, etc.  Whether the R-09 internal mics will effectively capture this stereo information, I don't know.  But I'd record in stereo in case they do.

[firmdragon]

1) set it to stereo
2) if you had external mics you can set your self up right in front of a speaker.  theres a good chance the internal will distort if things are too loud.
3) record in highest and reduce later.
4) manual.  you'll just have to monitor it.

have fun. 

[MSTaper]

Hey suburb, I'm in the same boat. Had the R-09 and have the mics on order. Had a big music festival here so I played with the R-09 with the internal mics and got some surprising results. Not as good as the guys with the pres and the 2K mics  but pleasant for a new guy! I left my R-09 on stereo, and tried to get DFC when I could. I used my camera tripod for the R-09 (I have the expensive case with the tripod mount) and it worked pretty good. The only thing I played with was the mic gain. I always set my own input levels. Sometimes I hit them sometimes I didn't, but honestly EVERYTHING I taped has been listenable! Again, not as good as having external mics (wish I had ordered them sooner: but cool just the same. I guess I'm just easily amused! . But I taped in stereo, as close to center as I could and away from the crowd. I never had a big problem with crowd noise during shows, but to be honest, most people didn't know what the hell I was doing! (Small town, maybe, I don't know). Even my pull from my front pocket at the White Stripes was decent. Do like I did, go out and experiment in different situations, play with the settings and have fun. I'll have to do it again when my mics arrive, but that's fine because there's plenty of bands here at friendly venues. I'm still hesitant to go out of town, but we'll see  Sorry to ramble but I've had a few cold ones tonight rWc35523