Topic: Taping my first festival

[Pieteker]

Hi,

I'll be taping my first festival this summer at Beach Festival, Nieuwpoort in Belgium. I plan to use my AT-853s with windscreens to capture some of the acts on the bill. I was wondering if you could share any tips or experiences on getting a good recording, such as ideal location, mic placement, and so on.

Looking forward to your insights!

Thanks,
Pieter

[u2_fly_2]

If possible try to locate yourself close to the soundboard area...and get the mics high up...on a hat or something similar...and try to avoid talkers and screamers if possible...and don´t drink too much unless you know you will have a planned break between the sets...have fun and good luck!

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I like to walk around the best I can to find the "sweet spot" for the sound during an opening band.

Depending on the placement of the soundboard I like to set up directly BEHIND the soundboard if it's close enough to still have decent sound back there. The board area will provide a buffer to talkers in front of you, thus reducing chatter on your recording. I prefer a slightly more distant recording over having people talking near me. Obviously if the soundboard has a covering over it, then it will block the sound, so then no go.

[nulldogmas]

AT-853s with card or omni caps?

[Pieteker]

AT-853s with card or omni caps?

Card.

[Pieteker]

And what about wind noise?
Do I have to put a dead rat over my foam windscreens?

[admkrk]

There is no such thing as too much wind protection outdoors.

[daspyknows]

If possible try to locate yourself close to the soundboard area...and get the mics high up...on a hat or something similar...and try to avoid talkers and screamers if possible...and don´t drink too much unless you know you will have a planned break between the sets...have fun and good luck!

Don't drink to much is the best advice.  Having done festivals in Belgium (Rock Werchter, Cactus and Live /s Live) make sure you bring/sneak in bottled water since aside from Rock Werchter they do not make water easily available and prefer you buy beer.  Where and when is festival?

[fanofjam]

Don't drink to much is the best advice.

YMMV.  I'm a happy drunk, so I have the most fun at shows when I've had too much to drink.  LOL.  Since I'm under random testing for work I can't do weed...so unbridled drinking is one of the reasons I love festivals.  I don't have to worry about moderation and getting home afterwards, or dealing with my wife squawking that I drank too much at the show...she doesn't mind me drinking, it's of course all about getting home safely and not endangering others.  I never have a problem sneaking in my brown liquor into the festy grounds.  And the only challenge is getting my stuff packed after the music stops and getting back to camp without tripping over anything.  I also have the collateral advantage of being drunk enough to sleep fairly soundly that night, which I rarely do at a music festival.  LOL.  Yeah I know it's not a good sleep when you're juiced up, but its sleep nevertheless.

I'll never forget that one time that I should NEVER have gotten behind the wheel after a show and coming home from the venue (not a festival).  It was around 2am on either Friday or Saturday night and I was almost home.  I peaked a hill and off in the distance like a half mile down the road I saw a random sobriety check point.  It was only like 3 or 4 miles short of home.  I've never been so panic stricken in my life, but somehow or another grace was shining down on me because I got waved through with only a driver license check.  Never again.

Anyway, back to festy drinking...the biggest thing for me is to choose which night I'm gonna go big...usually Saturday night because Sunday music is usually kind of mellow.  It gives me all day Sunday to recover for the drive back home either late Sunday or Monday morning.  I don't like going big on Thursday or Friday and feeling like shit the next day...which is usually one of the best festival days, which is almost always Friday or Saturday.

[AbbyTaper]

I took the "don't drink too much" as a warning so that you didn't have to pee all the time.  Getting old sucks! 

[fanofjam]

I took the "don't drink too much" as a warning so that you didn't have to pee all the time.  Getting old sucks! 

Ugh.  So true.  My diatribe above about drinking does indeed need to include that I only attend open taping festivals where I can fly my mics on a stand and forget about them. 

[daspyknows]

I took the "don't drink too much" as a warning so that you didn't have to pee all the time.  Getting old sucks! 

That was my point.  I either drink or tape for that reason.  Given I have been to multiple festivals and never have seen a mic stand I was assuming stealth. 

[fanofjam]

Given I have been to multiple festivals and never have seen a mic stand I was assuming stealth.

I hear that.  In the year that I've been working in Pismo Beach, I haven't seen any mic stands either.  We've talked about it before, but the west coast definitely has a different taper vibe than the east coast.

Back home in Virginia, the golden age seems to be in the rear-view, but there are still some small fests out east that are taper friendly.  Even though it's been a few years since I was last able to attend, there's one festival that I'm still invited to open record every year where the organizer gives me and a few other established tapers a free ticket to open tape with the only provision that I post.  We also get SBD access at this fest.  As Carl Spackler says...'so I've got that going for me'.

[daspyknows]

I just run    at festivals.  Don't even own a stand.  Thus not wanting to drink and need to pee.

[Pieteker]

Here's an aerial view of the festival site. Where do you think I should position myself to get a good recording?

https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZStqMZ8OokYMIgkEQ5eLCHsacOmVmus99V