Recording Bands Shirt Mics Or Pa Method

[Mr Sim]

I curious what is the most desirable way of recording your band or afriends band ect. do you simply pin a mic to your shirt and hope you are standing in a good spot or do you see it being more logical to receive yur signal from the outputs on a PA

[dex Otaku]

Give the choice, I usually go from the PA. I don't particularly like stealth recordings of performances amplified via PA, to be honest.

This is keeping in mind that I usually have access to the PA and usually know the person running it [if it's not me].

In the past I have split the Mackie PA that generally gets shuttled around here by using its bussing system.

Here's how I generally do this:

* assign all the mic and instrument channels to bus 1/2 and 3/4

* assign bus 1/2 to the main mix output

* assign a pair of ambient mics to two spare channels on the mixer, and assign those to bus 3/4 only

* take the direct bus 3/4 outputs and plug them straight into the line-in of [your] recorder

The end result, though this requires careful balancing, is that you can do a stereo or mono mix on the PA, and the same signals, mixed with a bit of the ambient mics, go to the recorder - giving you a balance of the PA and the ambient mics.

This usually works quite well, though it can be difficult to achieve a good balance with the ambient mics unless you have good isolating headphones to monitor with and a chance to try things out during the sound check before the show.

My stealth recording is done with earworn SP-TFB-2 microphones, so placement is not usually an issue.

I have, however, made ad hoc stands for these mics in the past to simplify recording when I'm at a venue where I can get away with leaving the equipment running unattended.

[Reactive]

I curious what is the most desirable way of recording your band or afriends band ect. do you simply pin a mic to your shirt and hope you are standing in a good spot or do you see it being more logical to receive yur signal from the outputs on a PA

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I would opt for the microphone method, my main reason would be to capture the live performance sound of the band. This of course would presume only using a MD with a set of mic's and a decent pre-amp.

I was recently given a CD of a live performance DJ set. It sort of sucked, because you had no idea that it was being played live. The person recording simply ran the MD directly from the line outs. Some of my best recordings have been a combination of both, ie a MD plugged into the P.A line outs, and a seperate MD with microphones. A multi-track editor such as Cool Edit allows for the finishing touches. This creates a phenominal sounding final CD. I highly recommend trying this if you have the opportunity.

[javertim]

I'd choose "mic method," primarily because I love ambience. If it's a live recording, keep it sounding "live," not akin to studio-produced sound. A live experience is something very special, and if you have the recording capacity to beautifully capture that experience, then I think that's the best way to go, period.

[jadesmar]

I recommend against using the live from the board feed for quieter shows.

The amplifiers and drum kit have a presence in the room via their stage volume. If the band is playing in smaller rooms, this becomes particularly noticeable.

The PA, in smaller rooms, is used to balance out the stage volumes so that the audience gets the best sound. In worst case, the drums would be gone (except what is feeding through the mics), and you would get mostly acoustic guitar, bass guitar and vocals via the PA feed.

For larger shows, generally nothing from the stage is heard by the audience execpt via microphone. In such a case, the PA feed should be fine. You may find that you pick up only the audience sound that is carried by the vocal microphones.