Live Stereo Recording for use with video

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:38 pm

Hey i did a search on here but i didn't find anything, i was wondering what my best and most portable option would be for live recording.

i'm really considering one of the nicer pocket stereo recorders, i prefer the sound of live music that is stereo miced as opposed to coming off the board, i've just gotten some pretty good recording with my old 16 track and two sd akg mics ran in stereo. but thats tooo much stuff to lug around when i've also got to lug around my video stuff, i've even considered using my macbook and rackin up my 828mkII that i don't use much and run the two same mics in stereo, but that's just soooo much stuff i've got to hook up, carry, worry about getting stolen... when all i need is just a small stereo recorder with good quality recording, preferably with 24bit 48k specs, just seems like have the extra bits would help with various recording platforms, to quiet dynamic performances to super crazy metal shows.

i looked online and there seems to be alot of them, so i'm just seen what people have tried, and what has seemed to work. i mean i could just pick something with specs that i need, but what the heck, what if it sucks, or another one with similar specs works better and i'm stuck with the one that doesn't do what i want... well you know what i mean. too many of the same thing these days, its driving me nuckin futs....

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:44 pm

I use an Edirol UA-25 and my laptop.
Cheap and it has not let me down.

Probably not the greatest if you need boat loads of clean gain, as I can hear noise when you push the limits... But used reasonably I cannot fault it.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:53 pm

honestly, all i really really care about is that i can get the sound attenuated so that for live music playing through blaring speakers its not all clipping and garbally... you know what i'm sayin, like through the mic in my camcorder, which i know its not designed to handle that kind of spl, but thats exactly why i'm going to be getting a portable recording device.

i actually did hook up a portable peavy mixer straight up to my camcorder through its mic/line input, with my two sd condensers, but i got a lot of hiss, and it still was a lot of stuff i had to set up, but the benefit to that was, the audio and video are recorded together, so it wouldn't be hard at all to line the audio up, and i could easily just pull the audio out and eq it and master it and all that jazzy stuff in dp and then through it back in.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:13 pm

Tape some fluff over your camcorders mic hole...

Sound and video are two different beasts... Use a different type of whip for each.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:20 pm

how so, i'm just getting into video, i've been multitracking for a couple years now in my studio. but fig i'd try out some simple video stuff on the side, see what its like.

i'm gonna use this for both regular live stereo recording and for when i'm doing video. i'll never use it for personal "song writing" or anything of that nature.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:26 pm

Can you record the audio separately and later sync the video to it? I do audio work for the odd show and that what we do. A simple clack board works well to sync the scene later. But with a wave editor in most video editing software its no biggie to sync up the sound.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:46 pm

well it'll be for live indie/rock/metal/etc shows, and if it comes out good, i want to start doing live jazz/orchestra style shows too. and i want it to be distortion free. obviously i'm reliant on how well the sound is in the club/venue/theater but i just want a good clear sound. no hiss and no distortion. background ambiance and people talking are all fine, just so many choices, i looked at a "zoom h4" small, affordable, can record in the rates i'm after. anyone mess around with it?

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:39 am

I have, it works well IMO. however be gentle with it, not very rugged.

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