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Recording Equipment


joeyz

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I have been wanting to do some live recordings. I sometimes act as a sound tech at the live shows I plan to record.. so I have full access to the soundboard. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what type of recording equipment would be best suited to do recording of this type. I am looking for best quality and sound possible. Anyone know anything about this?

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Thanks Ummer! I also wanted to know if anyone knows the lowdown on cassette tape vs. digital recording... pros / cons etc. Can both mediums be converted into wave files on a computer with the proper software?

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Check out Apple's Garage Band. I can put you in touch with a friend of mine who knows-PM me. Also, you might want to contact one of the grateful dead--that was their deal. Once when I was in Washington at one of their concerts, the mixers invited me up on their platform to watch what they did--i think they are open to sharing the information...

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Also, you might want to contact one of the grateful dead--that was their deal.

Whenever you get me that number I'll be more than happy to give them a call :lol:

Where did that thread get moved to .. the one about Apple's Garage Band? I can't seem to find it..........

Edited by joeyz
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what kind of a soundboard are we talking about? A 64 or 128 channel?The best way to record a live is DAT tape or an 8channel tape. An 8 channel tape is a tape like the old VCR used to have. The best way to record a live or any show is a DAT tape.

A dat tape is a digital cassette.

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the best way to record on a soundboard like that or any board is DAT. If you don't have a dat recorder then a 8 channel tape works. If you don't have that then you guys should buy one of those lol! A DAT tape records up to 4 hours of music and has always been around. It's not popular to the average user cause it's only used in pro studios which I worked in.

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It could work but you guys should have someone handle the board that knows what he's doing. Pluging the DAt in the output of the board without actually setting the channels right would give you terrible results. You have to know how much sound a guitar, the vocals, the drum, the bass and the rest of the instruments get. I kinda missed those days when I used to fuck up with the recordings and the band was always starting all over again. After you fuck up a few times, then you'll get the hand of it. Good luck man!

Damn! DAt recorders are very cheap nowadays. I remember those things being very expensive. Good luck!

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It could work but you guys should have someone handle the board that knows what he's doing. Pluging the DAt in the output of the board without actually setting the channels right would give you terrible results. You have to know how much sound a guitar, the vocals, the drum, the bass and the rest of the instruments get. I kinda missed those days when I used to fuck up with the recordings and the band was always starting all over again. After you fuck up a few times, then you'll get the hand of it. Good luck man!

Damn! DAt recorders are very cheap nowadays. I remember those things being very expensive. Good luck!

we only have two mics and two guitars to deal with... seeing that it's an acoustic act... so maybe that will be easier to handle ... at least easier than trying to juggle all that other stuff....

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they still do. "Old" types of recording or playing will always excist. Believe it or not, a record (LP) plays better the high freguencies than cds do. That's why they made those cool digital LP recorders

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I ordered a DAT recorder off of Ebay for a good price. Thanks for the suggestion Method77...everyone else that I talked to that seem to know anything about the subject agreed that DAT is the way to go for live recordings.... in the meantime I got a new MDLP to play with... I recorded with this little thing for the first time last night and the sound quality is amazing... plus it comes with software that allows you to upload directly into a computer via USB... I may have to put that DAT recorder in the closet when it arrives :lol: ... I can't imagine that it sounds better than what this Mini Disk player can do.... Method do you know anything about these? I have a Sony MZ-N510 MDLP.

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they are both digital recorders so the sound can't be different. MD is ok too but DAT can record for many hours. I don't remember how lond a md can record

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with the right software and cables could I copy a DAT recording to my computer in wav or mp3 form?

It sounds like you and method have access to more professional equipment than I do, but I have a cool little setup I put together a couple years ago. I compose electronic/loop based stuff mostly that is all "internal" so to speak, but I also have a keyboard, drum machine, sampler, bass, electric, acoustic, microphones (used to play in live bands a few years back) and I interface with my computer using a Creative LiveDrive. You need to buy their "mini-midi" conversion plug from the Creative website for midi devices, as no one else seems to use them or stock them (the local Daddy's Junky Music staff gave me quite the wtf look when I tried to get one there) but there's lots of other input, regular 1/4" stereo input, left/right rca inputs, even optical inputs. I'm sure that just about anything you might have could be connected to your computer with that.

Creative has some newer products out, but I recall a discussion in a ZP tech thread there might be some issue with the newer stuff and recording and proprietorship/piracy--I don't know how significant it really is. I'm hapy wit the setup I have at present and have no $$$ to go upgrading anyway. But like the DAT recorder, a livedrive at this point would probably not set one back too much, there must be used ones out on internet/ebay. Then its just a matter of the recording software in you computer. I've mostly used Acid and Soundforge, but there's other stuff out there more complex and maybe better suited for what you are doing. Again it sounds like Method might have some better leads on professional grade software. But if you're a DIY like me the LiveDrive has been a great little workhorse of an interface.

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(the local Daddy's Junky Music staff gave me quite the wtf look when I tried to get one there)

:rotfl: yeah I bet they did :lol:

Does this "Creative LiveDrive" come with all of those imputs or do they only come with one of the mentioned imputs (regular 1/4" stereo input, left/right rca inputs, even optical inputs)? Can you use this piece of equipment to convert sterio sound to MP3? I am afraid that I have run into the problem you mentioned about the issue with the newer stuff and recording and proprietorship/piracy. The software that I got with the mini disk recorder won't let me "check in" the recorded songs on my computer.. It gives me an error message..(an error has occured cannot check-in).. I need to find some way around that so I can get the mini disk recording on regular CD. Can I just download some type of software that will upload the music... or is the block on the MD player itself? As of right now I can't do anything with it except play it on the mp3 player. I may have to just use my car tape connection and dub it on a regular audio tape.

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they are both digital recorders so the sound can't be different. MD is ok too but DAT can record for many hours. I don't remember how lond a md can record

80 mins for regular digital audio.. but on LP2(160min) and LP4(320min) --> those versions can't be played on anything other than a mini disk player.

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The software that I got with the mini disk recorder won't let me "check in" the recorded songs on my computer.. It gives me an error message..(an error has occured cannot check-in)
i never had to upload the music on my pc but I'm sure there is a way around it. Search google or hydrogenaudio forums
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I can't seem to post any questions on the HydrogenAudio site.. do they disable all of the functions for newbies?.. I looked through some of the threads but I couldn't find anything on this specific question....

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