What is the most casual way to tape + enjoy the show w/friends?

[ScoobieKW]

1) Put your mics on a stand, and go somewhere else to talk.
2) Hang your mics from the ceiling or a balcony, and go somewhere else to talk.
3) Onstage + SBD Matrix, and go somewhere else to talk.
4) Find someone who hates to talk, give him the rig, and go somewhere else to talk
5) Remember that you paid big money for the music, and don't talk.

4 and 5 work at stealth shows, 1-3 work well when bands allow taping

Thank you for that! I laughed so hard after reading this post.


Priceless

You're welcome. 

One additional piece of advice for hoppedup, there are prebuilt times into a show to talk with your friends.

1. Preshow
2. Setbreak
3. Encore Break
4. After Show

The best part is that pesky band isn't playing so loud you have to shout.

[hoserama]

I do this all the time. It's easy for me.

Two methods so you can talk and drink and be stupid:
1. Show up before anybody else, often times including the band. Take direct outs off everything from the soundboard. Set up some microphones to run through the house system, then pick up the signal at the soundboard. You'll have to scream really loud for it to show up in the recording. Then spend hours at home mixing everything.
2. Run 5 ear monitor feeds into a multitrack recorder. Show up at soundcheck to find all the frequencies, then wire yourself up like a suicide bomber, and never leave your seat--no matter how badly you have to pee. But you can talk all you want!

Or the other way to look at it--the quality of the recording is highly dependent on how much you prioritize it. If you're prioritizing a bar night with your friends, then you'll get a good recording of a bar night with buddies.

[nulldogmas]

I'll mount mics on a nearby wall when possible so that I can be free to talk (or whisper, anyway — I hate people who hold audible conversations during shows, doubly so now that I'm taping), but more and more I resort to an easier solution: typing. When my wife and I go to shows together and I'm recording with head-mounted mics, we just discreetly pass a cellphone back and forth and type any comments we can't hold until the end of the set.

Also, to answer an OP question that I didn't see addressed: Nobody in the crowd ever asks any questions, in my experience. I could be carrying a ten-foot boom mic and wearing a fluorescent vest with "INTERESTED IN TAPING? ASK ME!" on it and I don't think anyone would say a word. (Except for one of my friends invariably asking, "Are you taping this?")

[Chuck]

Weird thread...

I can see how you drew the ire of some folks here. Many of us are very serious about taping. This is a forum devoted to live music recording, so it's a bit strange to read a post from a newcomer that wants to basically half-ass it and get good results.

It is the "hang out with friends at shows or talk while I'm taping" part of your post that drew the negative comments.

Many of us spend lots of our time and money on gear and tickets and don't understand why someone would pay to go to a live performance and talk through it. For us live performances are fleeting moments of joy that we want to capture and preserve for our own enjoyment and for people that were not fortunate enough to be at the event. Talking through a music performance is not only rude, but a waste of your money and annoying for people that are there to hear music.

That said, you can find lots of very good information on how to record live music at this site. You can achieve your goal if you do enough reading here. Just don't be surprised and offended when someone suggests that talking through a musical performance is not in line with the goal of making a good recording.

Anyway, welcome to TapersSection.com.

[perks]

learn sign language

[2manyrocks]

Talking and live recording at the same time are mutually contradictory goals.   

[yltfan]

I'm a little surprised at the black-and-whiteness of some of these comments. Maybe stealth taping and talking are incompatible, but with mics up on a stand, a board feed, some mics on stage, I don't see why I need to not talk. I'm clearly not going to be talking loud, and screaming into my mics, but I can enjoy the show, talk with friends, maybe even dance a little and not affect the recording. With the 24 bit recording, I don't even need to check the levels very much.

Stealthing--a whole 'nuther story.

[Chuck]

The OP's first post:

For example, for my first setup I went with binaural mics that go in my ear, with a cord that can go under my shirt so it'll look like I'm just wearing ear plugs or something. But, what happens when I start getting into higher quality or want to talk to people next to me while the show is going? I'm wondering how my first show will go with this setup.

Sounds like a  taper to me.

[Gutbucket]

Talk during the music when you feel the need / inclination as long as doing so is generally acceptible in the social situation (a bar more so than a theater, both far more than a classical performance hall where even wispering is plain bad form.. just wait for the breaks).  But even when it's socially cool, do so as if the people around you to whom you are not talking were stealth recordists, even if you have no reason to think they would be.  That's simply showing courtesy to everyone in the place who would rather listen cleary to the music without interspersed distracting bits of your conversation, and that's likely everyone there incuding those talking too loudly themselves, except for the person you are addressing.. and sometimes even they may feel the same way! 

Sure, it's all shades of grey and is situation dependent..  but remember that music is an auditory artform, and in a good many situations at least, people show up specifically to listen to the music.  Granted in some situations the reason most people are there may be as much or more for social coctail partly aspects as the music.  But if the situation is mostly about the musical perfomance, please do your best not to impose too much on those around you who are focusing on it and enjoying it. 

People would freak out if a stranger pulled out a flashlight to read a book next to them during the projection of a film in a theater.  How is talking incessantly over the music at a serious music performance any different?  Somehow that social situation is thought of quite differently, but really shouldn't be.  Both compete directly with the art form by polluting it's basic medium and lowering the signal-to-noise ratio.  The social scene at a well attended midnight cult-film is more like a cocktail party atmosphere, and there it's probably cool to read all you want there while people talk about the film and interact in the audience.

[acidjack]

So I want to get into taping, but I also don't want people asking me questions, and I want to be able to hang out with friends at shows or talk while I'm taping.

How do all of you get around that? What are some sleek setups that sound really good without taking your attention away from just having fun at a show too. Or what are some tips for leaving the recorder on its own to do the work while you enjoy the show?

For example, for my first setup I went with binaural mics that go in my ear, with a cord that can go under my shirt so it'll look like I'm just wearing ear plugs or something. But, what happens when I start getting into higher quality or want to talk to people next to me while the show is going? I'm wondering how my first show will go with this setup.

Lots of good advice here. As you'll see, there's a lot of negativity among tapers about "talking". Now, if you want to talk back at a bar or something, that's one thing. If you're going to the show to talk over the music, I think most of us think that's pretty annoying whether your recording is affected or not.

The simple answer is to mount the mics somewhere that they won't pick up a lot of sound of you or anyone else talking. For example, at one venue I go to a lot, I have some mics mounted high up on a post and aimed down at the PA. Place is terrible for talkers, but not my problem anymore. Similarly, a balcony clamp and extension arm are also your friends -- get the mics further from the people, and the less talking you pick up.

If you're wearing the mics, you can either tape, or talk, but not both. Also, omnidirectional mics like yours will pick up the most chatter, no matter where they are mounted.

If you really are just into going to shows and drinking and talking rather than listening to music (and I said "if"; I don't know you), taping may just not be your thing. It's a lot of effort to put into documenting a show that isn't even worth watching in the first place.

[hoserama]

If you really are just into going to shows and drinking and talking rather than listening to music (and I said "if"; I don't know you), taping may just not be your thing. It's a lot of effort to put into documenting a show that isn't even worth watching in the first place.

Best way to phrase it that I've seen thus far.

[nameloc01]

when a band is playing.. I shut my mouth and listen/watch. I don't go to shows with people who are going just "to hang out" or "party"..or whatever. Stealth taping forget about it.. if you cant stand there for 2 hours silently and be totally still I wouldn't even bother. Your only option is get a stand and run an open rig.. and even when I do that, I am pretty much with my gear..listening/watching the show. Unless you have a "babysitter" for your open rig, you need to make a decision whether you want to "go to work" and record a show (this is normally is how you should approach recording a show) ... or go to a show and have care-free fun with your friends.

[Sloan Simpson]

I got the owner of my favorite club to install a mount on the side of the sound booth up sort of high so that I just screw in a steel pipe as an extension and clamp onto that. That way when I want to talk I can go back by the bar or outside to the deck and not have to worry about guarding a stand. I can socialize and still take home a good recording. I don't talk loudly enough to disrupt anyone's listening but it's nice to be able to greet friends who happen by.

Of course you have to work your way into the venue's good graces first, but if you're open taping that's worth doing anyway for a number of reasons.

[twatts]

I got the owner of my favorite club to install a mount on the side of the sound booth up sort of high so that I just screw in a steel pipe as an extension and clamp onto that. That way when I want to talk I can go back by the bar or outside to the deck and not have to worry about guarding a stand. I can socialize and still take home a good recording. I don't talk loudly enough to disrupt anyone's listening but it's nice to be able to greet friends who happen by.

Of course you have to work your way into the venue's good graces first, but if you're open taping that's worth doing anyway for a number of reasons.

Oour local music joint did the same thing...  IN the pix below, you can see the "Taper's Booth" just to the left of the Soundboard Booth (right side of room next to bar)...  There is a steel pole mounted on the booth for clamping mics...  Before the kids were born, I used to hang out behind that booth at the bar and socialize, knowing that no one would go into the booth...  Most people thought it was the soundboard area so they stayed away...



Terry

[hoserama]

Is that 12 Galaxies in SF? Sure looks familiar. I remember taping there and being surprised as all heck about it, plus they had mics already setup. Went nice right into my multitrack.