Topic: Taping Buskers (Street Musicians) in Pittsburgh

[TAlderson]

For a project for a radio program I'd like to walk around the city I'm in (Pittsburgh) and try to record some street performers. I've got a Tascam DR-07 that I use mainly for recording myself (I'm a music student), and access to other equipment from our radio station (WRCT). We have lots of 57s and 58s, a few omni and cardiod condensers, and a Marantz 661 recorder.

So, my question is, how light/easy can I go without too much sacrifice of sound quality. I will be mostly walking and taking the bus, so I would like to have as little equipment as possible. I read http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=110492.0, but I don't think we have any binaural mics available. Since there's generally a lot of street noise anyway, could I get away with using a 58 or 57 with the DR-07, or even the internals? Or will the internal noise combine with street noise and make everything terrible? If I go with a condenser, should I go omni or cardiod? I don't have too much time before it starts getting too cold for busking, so i want as few trial and error days as possible...

Thanks,

-Tyler

PS: If anyone happens to know good places to find buskers in Pittsburgh, please tell me. I figured the Strip and E Carson, but otherwise it's been hard finding them...

[rhinowing]

Are any of the mics you have small enough to tape/otherwise attach to the DR-07?? (I use hair ties to do this sometimes) I wouldn't want to deal with having to hold multiple pieces of gear, and that will get you better sound quality than the internals...

[TAlderson]

I was hoping to be able to figure out an acceptable level for each performer on the recorder and then put it in my pocket while actually recording them.

-Tyler

[disco]

For a project for a radio program I'd like to walk around the city I'm in (Pittsburgh) and try to record some street performers. I've got a Tascam DR-07 that I use mainly for recording myself (I'm a music student), and access to other equipment from our radio station (WRCT). We have lots of 57s and 58s, a few omni and cardiod condensers, and a Marantz 661 recorder.

So, my question is, how light/easy can I go without too much sacrifice of sound quality. I will be mostly walking and taking the bus, so I would like to have as little equipment as possible. I read http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=110492.0, but I don't think we have any binaural mics available. Since there's generally a lot of street noise anyway, could I get away with using a 58 or 57 with the DR-07, or even the internals? Or will the internal noise combine with street noise and make everything terrible? If I go with a condenser, should I go omni or cardiod? I don't have too much time before it starts getting too cold for busking, so i want as few trial and error days as possible...

Thanks,

-Tyler

PS: If anyone happens to know good places to find buskers in Pittsburgh, please tell me. I figured the Strip and E Carson, but otherwise it's been hard finding them...

as for the cards vs. omnis...if you are in an area with a decent amount of street noise the omni's will pick a lot of that up. The cards will likely pick up much less. Not sure what your mounting options are but I'm betting that wearing the mics will be best.

[travelinbeat]

I was in Spain for a few weeks and I spent a few nights walking the streets of Barcelona with omni's looped around my ears and in affect stealthing the entire night.  Moving through the bars and across the dusty, Vespa and bicycle laden streets, all sounds great now, especially for playback on headphones, where the directionality is really driven home.