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Been following the thread and learning a lot. It makes me angry because my stupid broadcasting program didn't teach us a lot of things that seem pretty basic to me and I did some pretty goofy stuff that would probably make you guys groan when recording voiceovers and the like. Anyway...all of the Targets I've been to lately have the basic M-Audio Fast Track on clearance for 69 (tee he) dollars. 30 below Guitar Center/Musician's friend if anyone is thinking of picking one up, I just did. Seems nice enough. Though the manual says it could cause cancer. Oh well. Edit: Holy smokes. Finally got this thing working (in Audition: Edit --> Audio Hardware Setup. Took me about ten minutes to find.) Sounds great. I had always thought that some of the noise problems I had when recording voiceovers was from my cheap rear end hell microphone (though I was at least running it through a cheapo mixer with a preamp) but it seems obvious now that it was using the line-in on my on-board soundcard. I sound clear as a bell now! Definitely pick one of these up if you've been a 'tard like me and running stuff right into your onboard or soundcard. Lovin' it! Not Memorable fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Apr 19, 2007 |
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Apr 18, 2007 23:01
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dalp posted:My friends and I would like to record a rap album this summer. So basically we want to be able to do two things: Read the thread, maybe? You'll need an audio interface to record to your computer with. Get one with at least as many inputs as you would plan to record simultaneously. And I'm guessing most people in here are going to recommend FL Studio for music/beat production if you want cheap and beginner oriented. There are tons of tutorials online. Shouldn't be too complicated if all you're recording is vocals.
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May 20, 2007 19:32
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I could use a little advice. I've been trying to wrap my head around the best approach to this for a while now and I'm just not sure what to do. I shoot video of bands. Lots of video of bands. Mostly at small to medium sized clubs, but sometimes 3,000+ person dancehalls as well. We've just been kind of winging it for now, relying on a combination of high-quality camera-mounted shotgun mics and using a wireless transmitter and receiver to send the final mix output from the house board to one of our cameras. It works okay 80% of the time at small venues and hasn't worked well yet at a big venue. I want to up the quality of our recordings. If you watch this video you can see the main problem we run into when recording the final mix from the board - http://rockiowa.blip.tv/file/1319428/ - a lot of the time, one source is really out of whack to accommodate for the venue/system. In this case it's the vocals. The vocals didn't sound nearly as loud, clipped, or disproportionate to our naked ears in the venue, but it really comes out on the video. And recording in that way the cake is already baked so there isn't a lot we can do to fix it. I'm definitely more of a video guy than an audio guy but I've noticed that just about every board we've encountered has outs for every in, so I got to thinking about multi-track recording. Would this be a good approach to recording good audio in a live-performance situation where we do not have any control over the house mix? I'm liking the look and description of this: http://www.guitarcenter.com/MOTU-828mk3-FireWire-Audio-Interface-104825120-i1389547.gc Motu 828mk3. Would that have enough inputs to cover what we want to do? I'm thinking of bringing that along with a laptop to record multi-track, but also send the main output stereo mix to one of our cameras for audio/video sync, and/or for the final version if we can control the levels decently enough during the performance. Short version: I'm recording live-performance audio for video in situations where we are at the mercy of the house mix. What is the best approach to getting good audio? Bonus points if it involves a solution where I can send a good mix live to one of our cameras and save time syncing and fixing stuff.
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Nov 29, 2008 19:13
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wixard posted:Live recording We had to set and forget at that show because it was all the people we had. We were actually running four cameras with three people. We don't get paid for this poo poo so hey. Okay, say I scratch multi-track out of my brain and go with the method you suggested. How, if at all, do I compensate for the vocals-heavy boardmix? Sometimes it's not that bad but sometimes the vocals are just overwhelmingly louder than the rest of the mix. Also, any tips/tricks on getting more "oomph" recording in that method? I don't mind learning more about audio and applying some processing, but stuff recorded at live-shows that we've done so far often comes across a little thin.
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Dec 1, 2008 01:08
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Okay, possibly stupid question as I'm scouting out these smaller interfaces. How can you tell how many independent channels you can record simultaneously? Take this guy for example: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Focusrite-Saffire-LE-6-In-8-Out-FireWire-Interface-240407-i1172919.gc Am I correct in assuming that independently numbered equals a channel? Like, looking at the front, I can have audio coming in from either the XLR channel 1 or the 1/4" channel 1, but not at the same time? Can I plug a mic into channel 1, channel 2, and the board into channels 3 and 4 on the back and record all of those independently and simultaneously in my DAW? I have a little M-Audio FastTrack on my desk just as a soundcard and for recording quickie voiceover stuff and even though there are two inputs it's a physical limitation that prevents me from connecting more than one source at a time (combo-jack), so I don't really know how to determine how many actual tracks you can record at once when there are multiple options. This guy: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Lexicon-Lambda-USB-Desktop-Studio-103725602-i1126258.gc technically has five inputs (2 xlr, 2 line, one instrument) but I'm guessing that only sends 2 channels as they are numbered the same? Not Memorable fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Dec 1, 2008 |
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Dec 1, 2008 05:47
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saint gerald posted:Not sure if this fits here, but I'll give it a go. Ugh, the zoom is almost too cheaply made in my opinion, unless you find a great deal used I'm not sure you're getting away under $100.
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Mar 27, 2009 18:39
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saint gerald posted:Bear in mind I'm not looking for broadcast quality, in case I didn't make that clear -- just a step up from those lovely microtape recorders. I'm talking construction, not quality. The quality on the zoom is great for what it is, it just feels like a cheap toy to me. I think it's a great device for the price, I'm just saying that for much less than that and they will just get more and more gimmicky.
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Mar 27, 2009 19:29
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Anyone have first-hand knowledge of a rackmount cassette (yes, plain old cassette tape) recorder that is not complete junk? Most of the models I can find are from weird brands I can't find any information on. I'm also trying to find a solution to roll for at least 80 minutes if not 120 minutes continuously on cassette tape. Any dual-well recorders that will automatically pick up recording on the second well when the first one runs out of tape? This does not necessarily have to be a rackmounted solution but it would be a plus.
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Apr 9, 2009 15:46
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RivensBitch posted:Cassette recorders are finally disappearing, at least on the newly manufactured side of things. I know firsthand that Denon and Marantz have discontinued all of their players/recorders, and there are no plans to release new models. Dang. I'd love to not have to use cassettes but that's what the client wants. Maybe I can talk them into CD's eventually.
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Apr 9, 2009 19:46
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mr_package posted:Yeah no poo poo-- what is he doing that requires cassette? Why not just use a solid state recorder of some sort? 4GB (not even expensive these days) is 6 hours @ 44.1khz/16-bit It's recording, but it's not music. We're doing video depositions for law firms. The court reporters all use cassettes and they want a copy immediately after the deposition to take back and use to finalize their transcriptions.
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Apr 10, 2009 02:43
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wixard posted:I was going to guess transcribers. They're the only time I've ever had to deal with cassettes because they have their setup with the foot pedals and all while they type and they see no reason to change it. Unfortunately they do still sell them. It's so ridiculous. I have my $8,000 HD camera hooked up to a VCR and a cassette deck. Also they insist on faxing everything.
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Apr 10, 2009 04:06
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Queen Lakshmi Bai posted:Are there any suggestions for a durable road mic? I was suggested a Shure KSM141 earlier but I'm not sure if it will stand up to field recording and I don't want to have my mic break on me. I will be using this with a Zoom H4n and mostly for interviewing, though I might end up doing some instrumental recording. I was thinking about a rugged dynamic mic like the Shure SM63. Any thoughts? Are there condenser mics that will stand up well to travel? What do you do with your condensers, sit on them? They're more sensitive to being dropped and poo poo, sure, but if you put them back in the case or pack 'em up in foam or whatever most condensers are pretty durable unless you're getting ridiculously high end studio-oriented stuff. What kind of interviewing are you doing? Looks like that recorder has two XLR's in, if it's just you interviewing another person why not try two lavalier microphones?
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May 5, 2009 17:29
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Queen Lakshmi Bai posted:I've thought about lavaliers (the AT899 sounded really good to me), but I think those would have really limited long-term utility and a dynamic or condenser might be a better investment. If a thin-diaphragm condenser mic will stand up to travel that's great, I just heard they were notoriously fragile. They are more fragile than dynamics, sure, but they aren't fine china. Take care of your poo poo and the'll be fine. If you're interviewing people a tiny lavalier you can wrap up in a padded bag seems a lot more convenient than a stick mic you have to put on a stand and hope the person talks right into (if you don't have mobile monitoring for them they won't know if they're on mic or not).
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May 5, 2009 19:34
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Three Red Lights posted:I've always heard you should use a condenser mic for vocals but why is this? I'm having a pain getting a good vocal track and I'm wondering whats so criminal about a dynamic mic. More sensitive in general, more nuance, etc i.e. greater frequency response. Obviously dynamic mics reproduce vocals just fine or no one would ever use them live. A nice dynamic will sound better than a shitbox off-brand condenser, just get the best mic you can afford, but yeah, most recording studios use condenser mics for that reason. Also a phantom-powered condenser generally outputs a stronger signal than a dynamic requiring less amplification/processing.
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Jun 2, 2009 18:47
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beadgc posted:Just so I'm not misunderstanding anything, since I'm pretty new at this recording business, when you say monitoring, you mean listening to your recorded tracks/mixes? Make sure and check this thread if you haven't: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3056150&pagenumber=254#pti35 $1500 is a bigger budget than most cats are spending on their builds. BUT if you look at building a 900-1000 "normal" system and spend the rest of your budget on premium stuff for a nice solid quiet case, silent fans, passive CPU coolers, etc, you'd have a very solid and very quiet machine.
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Nov 9, 2009 23:31
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Have a crazy question and am wondering if anybody has a recommendation. I'm looking to record as much continuous audio as is humanly possible, uninterrupted, without completely breaking the bank. It's kind of a crapshoot looking at specs on digital recorders as oftentimes they'll boast, say, 500 hours continuous recording, but then not have AC power as an option and only run 12 hours on battery. So my wishlist: Digital recording (real-time import for editing is not an option with this project) Extremely long recording time, uninterrupted. A week or more would be great. Line-in or mic unless it has great on-board mics already. AC power as an option. At worst, DC power packs that would give a day or two of continuous recording time. Would recording to a laptop make sense in this situation? I'd be worried about reliability. I've recorded for several hours uninterrupted before, but I'd hate to get a BSOD and lose the file 6 days in.
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Jan 6, 2010 00:45
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h_double posted:Hmm, you might think about writing your own little recording app that would stream the incoming audio to disk, and switch files every couple of hours. You probably don't want one monster 50GB+ file, because then copying/backups/manipulating the file would be a huge headache. Plus, by having lots of small files you don't have to worry as much about data loss in case of a system crash. Hmm. Interesting thought. Not my area of expertise but I have some programmer friends that could probably rip something off pretty quickly. Thanks for the thought. Edit: If folks have other thoughts keep in mind that while quality is important I'm not trying to record an epic 500 hour long song in one take or anything, I just want to capture the ambient sound in a location. "Voice" quality is fine.
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Jan 6, 2010 02:27
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DeathBySpoon posted:If you have a stable laptop setup (which shouldn't be hard to achieve, a fresh XP install should do the trick just fine) then REAPER supports continuous recording with file switching, just as was recommended. You can specify the file quality, how often it swaps to new files, etc. Coolness, thanks. I actually have a spare and quite stable laptop so that would be perfect. Plus, looks like you can try it out with a full version for free. Sweet!
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Jan 8, 2010 19:47
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RivensBitch posted:You know I was so anti-mac for the longest time even though I'd used them in studios and at school, mainly because of the price point. I just didn't see the justification when I could build a PC for a lot cheaper. They should make an ad out of your post. I've been having a lot of PC frustration on the video production side and I'm inching ever closer to a MBP for my next compy.
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Jun 10, 2010 23:10
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