Recording my daughter's band concert

[DaveH]

I am planning on recording my daughter's band tonight and wasn't sure how to run the mics. I have a Sony MZ-R91 MD recorder and Giant Squid Omnis but I'm not sure on whether I need to run it mic in or line-in through my Church Audio battery box. I would assume being a school band the volume would be loud enough to run through the BB as opposed to going mic in but would just like to be sure.

[sam]

I record all of my step kids school concerts. I assume this is a spring symphonic or wind ensemble performance. I am not familar with your mics but generally speaking the battery box is the best way to go. I usually tape 7th-8th row mics about 7ft high, this puts me a little above the band. This annoys some but my tapes smoke and the band director always gets a copy and he is happy I can tape where ever I want.

[DaveH]

That's what I was figuring, thanks.

[su6oxone]

Your best bet is to go to rehearsal and test out your gear and see what kind of levels you are getting... that way you can make a killer tape that all the other parents will want...

[nameloc01]

BB>line in

You can always boost it later if need to. A test run is a good idea if they are having rehearsals.

[sam]

If you can't do a rehearsal and they tune on stage use that and set that at -7 and that will give you a starting point. Tape everything even if your daughter is not in it. Burn a copy for the band director if it comes out well. Good luck and only a few months till marching band season.

[John Willett]

It's now April 17th - how did it go?

[DaveH]

It's now April 17th - how did it go?

It went pretty good. This was without a doubt the best recording I've managed to record in my thirteen years of taping. (Mind you most of my shows were taped with a hand held cassette-corder.) Although Giant Squids are budget mics, the recording came out clear and I'm quite happy with it. For a fourth and fifth grade band, they were really impressive. The only downside was the band director between songs was barely audible, but I'd much rather have that problem than a brickwalled band recording.

Now, the only problem I'm having is my CD burner is on its last legs and I have no idea how to transfer from a Sony MZ-R91 to the computer. (I've heard it requires expensive software.) Any suggestions?

[sam]

If you have a decent sound card in your PC you should be able to use Audacity (free) to record and track and then burn you recording to CD. This would be tha least expensive option with your burner on the fritz.

[DaveH]

If you have a decent sound card in your PC you should be able to use Audacity (free) to record and track and then burn you recording to CD. This would be tha least expensive option with your burner on the fritz.

How would I hook up the mini disc recorder to the computer? I've never done this before and it looks pretty confusing. Would I go mic-in on the computer or would this turn the recording mono? I don't have the cord for the MD recorder to run line-out, so it would have to be through the headphones. I'm also not sure about the sound card, I hate to admit it but I'm somewhat computer illiterate.

[su6oxone]

How would I hook up the mini disc recorder to the computer? I've never done this before and it looks pretty confusing. Would I go mic-in on the computer or would this turn the recording mono? I don't have the cord for the MD recorder to run line-out, so it would have to be through the headphones. I'm also not sure about the sound card, I hate to admit it but I'm somewhat computer illiterate.

To record an analog MD source on your computer, you should do the following:

If your computer's soundcard has a line-in 3.5mm jack, which it probably does (the blue one usually), just connect a 1/8" male to male (3.5mm) cable to it from the headphone jack on your MD unit.  Then you hit play on the MD unit and record the audio using whatever audio software you use.  If you have Creative SoundBlaster software, you can use the "what you hear" input setting and record from that (just don't do anything on your computer that makes a sound or that will be recorded too).

[DaveH]

I have the Audacity program and will give that a try. Many thanks for all the help!