Topic: Microphone to supplement my sbd recordings

[shaggylocks]

Here's a fun one-
I own a restaurant that hosts live music every weekend. I've recently started making recordings of our shows using a JB3 to record off the soundboard, and lately I've been playing with the idea of setting up another microphone in the back of the room and running it through the soundboard as well, so that I can get a little bit of the feel of the room on the recordings. Now I recognize that this may potentially be a horrible idea, so I thought I'd try to find people who might know better than I.  My knowledge of recording shows is limited to the operation of my Nomad Jukebox. What sort of microphones should I look into getting? Does this sound like a reasonable idea? I'll appreciate any feedback and reccomendations you might have.
Thanks.
D

[leehookem]

glad you made it!  Welcome aboard. 

What's your budget?

If you have mics you will need a preamp and analog to digital converter as well (Edirol UA5 is a good choice).

[shaggylocks]

Hey, thanks. I've also posted this same message over at phishhook.com, and have gotten a couple responses already: http://www.phishhook.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=5174537#5174537

As far as a budget goes, the cheaper the equipment the better, since the restaurant isn't paying for this, I am. How much my budget is exactly will depend on what kind of mood I'm in when I actually go to make the purchaces, but we can just say now that $500 is a pretty sound top note. Nothing fancy.

I'm also a bit unclear as to why I'd need a preamp. My plan is to run the mic through the soundboard in the same manner as the rest of the mics on stage, and if I use a condensor mic, couldn't I just turn on the phantom power? Maybe I'm thinking of the set-up in the wrong way, but that's the way I idly envisioned it. If that sounds like a bad idea let me know.

[TNJazz]

No need for anything extra at all except a mic or two..

All you need to do is set up one (or two) mics on the side(s) of the stage, facing out towards the crowd.  Doesn't really matter what kind, although I'm sure you've got an extra 57 or 58 lying around after the stage is all set up.  Run it (them) through the snake and make sure the engineer doesn't run those channels through the house, but does send them to the tape out.

Voila.  No need for a pre or any of that stuff.  From your original post it doesn't appear that you want a stand alone audience recording, you just want more room sound in your board mix, so that's the way to do it.

Good luck!
Dirk