Rich_S
Member
My high school junior (who wants to compose video-game music someday) has composed a piece which her choir director has agreed to perform at their spring "pops" concert next week with my daughter conducting. Am I proud? Insanely so.
She was asking me tonight if, instead of the usual cellphone recording, I would video tape it on our camcorder (slightly elderly, 8mm digital tape). Of course I will, though somehow I think the camcorder's built-in mic probably isn't much better than today's average iPhone. But the camcorder has a tripod socket, so that's a point in its favor.
Anyway, that got me thinking about recording the performance. I don't want to be intrusive, or get involved with rehearsals in advance, but I could get away with sticking some mics out front and recording it with my laptop. To be honest, I've done almost NO actually recording with the Reaper rig; I just use it for mixing old cassette 4-tracks.
This will be a fairly typical high school choir, maybe 60 kids arrayed in the usual arc, four or five rows deep. Important technical detail: this concert will be out-of-doors (unless it gets moved inside at the last minute due to rain, which is what almost always happens).
So, by virtue of the fact that it's what I already have, it will be Reaper, Windows laptop, Scarlett 2i2 (or 2i4, we have both) and then... microphones. I'm assuming a stereo pair is the easiest and least obtrusive, but the only mics I have a "pair" of are Sennheiser e840's (which came as a pair because they were 2-for-1 when MF closed them out a few years ago). Beside those, all I have are a single SM58 and a single SM57. Given that, I see three alternatives:
Keep in mind that I'm out of town on business this week, so whatever method I choose, I'll need to pull it together fast. I'll basically have two days next week to beg/borrow/steal (and preferably not buy) the gear I need (if any) and patch it all together in the studio/family room for a trail run before taking it (literally) to the field.
All advice and suggestions welcome.
She was asking me tonight if, instead of the usual cellphone recording, I would video tape it on our camcorder (slightly elderly, 8mm digital tape). Of course I will, though somehow I think the camcorder's built-in mic probably isn't much better than today's average iPhone. But the camcorder has a tripod socket, so that's a point in its favor.
Anyway, that got me thinking about recording the performance. I don't want to be intrusive, or get involved with rehearsals in advance, but I could get away with sticking some mics out front and recording it with my laptop. To be honest, I've done almost NO actually recording with the Reaper rig; I just use it for mixing old cassette 4-tracks.
This will be a fairly typical high school choir, maybe 60 kids arrayed in the usual arc, four or five rows deep. Important technical detail: this concert will be out-of-doors (unless it gets moved inside at the last minute due to rain, which is what almost always happens).
So, by virtue of the fact that it's what I already have, it will be Reaper, Windows laptop, Scarlett 2i2 (or 2i4, we have both) and then... microphones. I'm assuming a stereo pair is the easiest and least obtrusive, but the only mics I have a "pair" of are Sennheiser e840's (which came as a pair because they were 2-for-1 when MF closed them out a few years ago). Beside those, all I have are a single SM58 and a single SM57. Given that, I see three alternatives:
- Use the e840's; they're "good enough" and their built-in windscreens might come in handy outside.
- Talk to my neighbor who teaches audio engineering at the local college, and see if he has a better pair of mics (i.e. condensers) in his personal locker, or can borrow something from school
- Don't bother; just stick with the camcorder (which will be there and running whether I bring an audio setup or not).
Keep in mind that I'm out of town on business this week, so whatever method I choose, I'll need to pull it together fast. I'll basically have two days next week to beg/borrow/steal (and preferably not buy) the gear I need (if any) and patch it all together in the studio/family room for a trail run before taking it (literally) to the field.
All advice and suggestions welcome.
Last edited: