Punk Club Soundboard Feed

[Patrick]

I am tapping into the soundboard at my city's local punk rock club (Tremont music hall in charlotte, btw.)

My question is:  Unfortunately i am running minidisc for the moment.  Should i be worried about the signal being too strong for my minidisc, resulting in clipping?  I have a line mixer from rat shack here that I don't use, could i run the sbbd signal through that, and then into my mini to watch levels?

I am just worried that my show will turn out in a big distorted mess. 

Any help is appreciated!

[hexyjones]

If your dealing with just a few venues...try to take a look at the mixing board...or ask the sound guy...

Sometimes there is a volume control or fader for the SBD output...

If the board has RCA outs... they are probably ok and geared for commercial recording gear...tape decks etc...

If you have to use a 1/4 out...those are a bit hotter and might/probably overload...

Try any of that before you resort to the Radio Shack thing...maybe the newer ones are bit more hi-fi

[Patrick]

Ok, i talked to the soundguy.  He said that I would patch out of his eq or compressor.  He says that he doesn't have but two outputs on the main mixing board, and obviously, those are reserved for left/right signals to the power amp.

He said that the compressors and eq's have XRL outs.  Is this bad?  Should I just try to find som kind of outboard gear in that place with RCA jacks?

Here is the gear setup, as described by the website of the place (www.tremontmusichal.com)

1 RANE GE60 STEREO EQ
1 DBX 166 STEREO COMPRESSOR/LIMITER
2 BEHRINGER STEREO COMRESSOR/LIMITER (Composer)
1 BEHRINGER STEREO COMRESSOR/LIMITER (Autocom)
1 BEHRINGER QUAD COMRESSOR/LIMITER (Multicom)
2 BEHRINGER QUAD NOISEGATE (Quadgate)
1 LEXICON PCM60 FX PROCESSOR


Thanks for the help, but other suggestions would be appreciated!

[Tony B]

Attenuater cable? That might solve your problem right there. I do know that the bulk of XLR feeds from the board can be uber hot.

[hexyjones]

spring for something like this...it will save you a lot of headaches, and be potentially useful taping anywhere....

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SMix/

note: XLR inputs / RCA out...

[pfife]

If its a small club, I think you are going to have more issues than just clipping... the mix a soundguy does for a room is not always the best mix for a tape off the soundboard... and this is especially the case for smaller clubs.   You are likely to get recordings with loud vocals, and everything else low, because all of the other instruments have a louder stage volume, so they don't need to be as loud in the mixer... but that won't be reflected in your tape.

I hope it works out for you.  I just have not had very good luck in the past with SBD in small clubs, but that could be something I am doing wrong...

[bhtoque]

If its a small club, I think you are going to have more issues than just clipping... the mix a soundguy does for a room is not always the best mix for a tape off the soundboard... and this is especially the case for smaller clubs.   You are likely to get recordings with loud vocals, and everything else low, because all of the other instruments have a louder stage volume, so they don't need to be as loud in the mixer... but that won't be reflected in your tape.

I hope it works out for you.  I just have not had very good luck in the past with SBD in small clubs, but that could be something I am doing wrong...

You are right on.

I'd  check with the sound guy and see what he is running through the board. I'd guess the bass and some of the drums might not be mic'd at all if the room is small enough.  Most likely you'd get better results with mics.

JAson

[hexyjones]

If its a small club, I think you are going to have more issues than just clipping... the mix a soundguy does for a room is not always the best mix for a tape off the soundboard... and this is especially the case for smaller clubs.   You are likely to get recordings with loud vocals, and everything else low, because all of the other instruments have a louder stage volume, so they don't need to be as loud in the mixer... but that won't be reflected in your tape.

I hope it works out for you.  I just have not had very good luck in the past with SBD in small clubs, but that could be something I am doing wrong...

Excellent points - especially with LOUD guitar players...they will always be low or not even present in the mix...

So try this:

Since you seem to have access to the soundman...ask him if he has an extra monitor or AUX send on the SBD...

If so - he can run you a sperate mix just for recording...it will probably be mono...but at least you can control the level of each insturment in the mix...we did this for an ARU show at PennState - long time ago...it was one of the best boards I've made...

[Scuba Jeremy]

If its a small club, I think you are going to have more issues than just clipping... the mix a soundguy does for a room is not always the best mix for a tape off the soundboard... and this is especially the case for smaller clubs.   You are likely to get recordings with loud vocals, and everything else low, because all of the other instruments have a louder stage volume, so they don't need to be as loud in the mixer... but that won't be reflected in your tape.

I hope it works out for you.  I just have not had very good luck in the past with SBD in small clubs, but that could be something I am doing wrong...

Excellent points - especially with LOUD guitar players...they will always be low or not even present in the mix...

So try this:

Since you seem to have access to the soundman...ask him if he has an extra monitor or AUX send on the SBD...

If so - he can run you a sperate mix just for recording...it will probably be mono...but at least you can control the level of each insturment in the mix...we did this for an ARU show at PennState - long time ago...it was one of the best boards I've made...

I've been doing this with the band I've been archiving for a few weeks now. Results have been excellent. Yeah, the mix was mono coming off the board, but I ran two ambient mics from either side of the stage, which helped to produce a stereo effect, as well as bring in the drums, which were not mic'ed or mixed through the board. The mixing was done with the board feed (mono) doubled to the RCA inputs on the back of my UA-5, and the two MC012s running into the XLRs on the front of the UA5, shaken and mixed to taste. Very yummy tapes with this method.

These are some of the earlier recordings with this band using this method. We've been better about EQ'ing since.

http://www.scubajeremy.net/StellarRoad/

[InfiniteOhms]

If its a small club, I think you are going to have more issues than just clipping... the mix a soundguy does for a room is not always the best mix for a tape off the soundboard... and this is especially the case for smaller clubs.   You are likely to get recordings with loud vocals, and everything else low, because all of the other instruments have a louder stage volume, so they don't need to be as loud in the mixer... but that won't be reflected in your tape.

I hope it works out for you.  I just have not had very good luck in the past with SBD in small clubs, but that could be something I am doing wrong...

Excellent points - especially with LOUD guitar players...they will always be low or not even present in the mix...

So try this:

Since you seem to have access to the soundman...ask him if he has an extra monitor or AUX send on the SBD...

If so - he can run you a sperate mix just for recording...it will probably be mono...but at least you can control the level of each insturment in the mix...we did this for an ARU show at PennState - long time ago...it was one of the best boards I've made...

This is definately the way to go with a small club SBD if you can swing it. Learning the sound guy's name goes a long way (in my experiance).

[mikeincharleston]

A:  who are you taping?  i live in nc and just wondering who you are taping...

B:  Tremont isn't really a small club.  i think it supposed to hold 1000, doesn't have the greatest sound, but i think it would be a better mix than a real small club.

mike

[rokpunk]

split the main outs, send his to his comp/EQ, and yours to your tape deck. problem solved.

[hexyjones]

split the main outs, send his to his comp/EQ, and yours to your tape deck. problem solved.

hah - problem not solved...not too many sound techs would let that situation fly...

...nor would it sound as nice as a "for tape" mix...

plus - he already stated he would have to come out of the compressor or eq...

[Patrick]

Mike In Boone-- I taped scapegoat (sgoat.com).  A hardcore band from Charlotte.  I agree that Tremont is no small club, however, this show that I attended is taking place in the smaller, 300 seat stage called the Casbah.

For everyone else, I tried splitting the main outs from the EQ, and this caused problems with the left stack of main speakers.  For some reason, (due to shitty equipment, probably) whenever i split the outs, the left stack would cut out.

...So I screwed the SBD idea, and just used mics like God intended me to do!   

...and the recording came out great!

Thanks for everyones help!

[taperkat]

what i used to do (Something Corporate, Lucky Boys Confusion, Riddlin Kids, etc) was to try to patch out of the DCN feed if the club had it. (Granada Theatre and Bottleneck in Lawrence, Ranch Bowl in Omaha I helped run and mix, Blue Note in Columbia, Mississippi Nights in St Louis, a few others that I can think of... etc). Usually they either have a built in DAT that they'd let me use, or RCA outs from either their board or their mixer, depending.