Hello, i want to be able to record a live cd and/or a live video. I want to record the video and audio separate, and the sync the audio up with the video later. what device or equipment do i need to be able to capture the sound straight from the mixing board. A camera crew, years ago, recorded my band and instead of using the camera's mic to record the sound, they plugged something into the mixing board and got a perfect mix of my band that they then used to sync up to the video. sounded beautiful. how would i do this? thanks so much.
How to capture perfect live sound through mixing board?
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TalismanRich
Well-known member
I've done this in the past with a Zoom R24, using mics to record the drums, bass and guitars, and then pulling the vocal track directly from a Yamaha Mx12/4 mixer. If I needed more channels, I could sync two R24s for 16 individual tracks. I then mixed the song in Reaper, and replaced the audio track from video in Cyberlink PowerDirector. It takes a few minutes to manually sync up the two, but once it was done things hold steady for quite a while. If it loses sync after 10 or 15 minutes, I just make a cut in the audio, and then resync. Most of the time, I just ended up doing individual songs, so there's not enough time for the audio to drift. Most times, I watch high hat or cymbal strikes to make sure things are good. If I have something like a single snare hit, I can sync the two audio tracks to that, then delete the original camera track.
Depending on the mixing board, you might be able to feed a multitrack recording directly to a DAW on a laptop. Something like the QSC Touchmix16, Tascam LiveTrack or Zoom L series work like that.
I would recommend borrowing a couple of cameras if needed, so you can have several angles. A single shot from a stationary camera can be boring. Two stationary and one roaming camera will cover a lot more ground and gives you the possibility of making it look more "alive".
Depending on the mixing board, you might be able to feed a multitrack recording directly to a DAW on a laptop. Something like the QSC Touchmix16, Tascam LiveTrack or Zoom L series work like that.
I would recommend borrowing a couple of cameras if needed, so you can have several angles. A single shot from a stationary camera can be boring. Two stationary and one roaming camera will cover a lot more ground and gives you the possibility of making it look more "alive".
rob aylestone
Moderator
You have a number of ways to do this, all with different chances of success.
The Yamaha MX12/4 is a nice, but small mixer, so the snag is simply that it suggests the venue is small, and with only 12 inputs - you have a small snag. There is a pair of connectors that give you a parallel feed of the output - so you can record the stereo mix to a zoom, or any other recorder then sync it with the cameras audio and you have a decent quality result. The snag is that 12 inputs means not everything will be going through the mixer. If the stage is small and the band loud, then even if you have a mic on the bass and guitar, it's quite likely that the PA mixer faders for these will be firmly off, because they are already too loud. In big venues, the bass and guitar get heard by most punters from the PA, not direct from the amps. What people hear in smaller rooms is the sum of everything - the drums, guitar and bass will almost certainly have amplifiers, so the PA just has to get the vocals and anything without amps up to the performance volume. Recording the output of the mixer has these missing so will sound odd. For a folk band where everything is miked up because everything is quiet - the mixer out will be close to the right balance. With a rock band, absolutely NOT! With a sophisticated digital desk - even modest ones, you can hang a laptop onto them with a USB cable and record everything connected to the mixer and sort it out at home/at work. You might need to even pop out a couple of mics for the audience cheering if you want it to sound really good.
there is a different way - most mixers have bus sends available as preface sends. If these are present and unused you could do a mix from these, independent of the PA mix. So you could pop up a drum overhead and put a mic on the bass and guitar and leave those faders off, but use them for the recording. The problem here is simply the mix. If the room is noisy, somebody needs some sealed headphones and needs to do the mix live.
Sounds complicated and to be frank - it is. Recording a mixer out can give really good clarity, but the mix is always compromised in smaller venues.
The Yamaha MX12/4 is a nice, but small mixer, so the snag is simply that it suggests the venue is small, and with only 12 inputs - you have a small snag. There is a pair of connectors that give you a parallel feed of the output - so you can record the stereo mix to a zoom, or any other recorder then sync it with the cameras audio and you have a decent quality result. The snag is that 12 inputs means not everything will be going through the mixer. If the stage is small and the band loud, then even if you have a mic on the bass and guitar, it's quite likely that the PA mixer faders for these will be firmly off, because they are already too loud. In big venues, the bass and guitar get heard by most punters from the PA, not direct from the amps. What people hear in smaller rooms is the sum of everything - the drums, guitar and bass will almost certainly have amplifiers, so the PA just has to get the vocals and anything without amps up to the performance volume. Recording the output of the mixer has these missing so will sound odd. For a folk band where everything is miked up because everything is quiet - the mixer out will be close to the right balance. With a rock band, absolutely NOT! With a sophisticated digital desk - even modest ones, you can hang a laptop onto them with a USB cable and record everything connected to the mixer and sort it out at home/at work. You might need to even pop out a couple of mics for the audience cheering if you want it to sound really good.
there is a different way - most mixers have bus sends available as preface sends. If these are present and unused you could do a mix from these, independent of the PA mix. So you could pop up a drum overhead and put a mic on the bass and guitar and leave those faders off, but use them for the recording. The problem here is simply the mix. If the room is noisy, somebody needs some sealed headphones and needs to do the mix live.
Sounds complicated and to be frank - it is. Recording a mixer out can give really good clarity, but the mix is always compromised in smaller venues.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
The simple way, dependent on good live sound: Zoom H5 placed at the lip of center stage to capture drums and amps, with the board mix going into the line inputs.
The complex way, a lot of work: Full XLR split to my own console (though you could just use a rack of preamps), then to my HD24 multitrack recorder.
Easier multitrack: Digital live console feeding inputs to a laptop via USB. Some consoles can even record multitrack to a USB or SD card.
The complex way, a lot of work: Full XLR split to my own console (though you could just use a rack of preamps), then to my HD24 multitrack recorder.
Easier multitrack: Digital live console feeding inputs to a laptop via USB. Some consoles can even record multitrack to a USB or SD card.
keith.rogers
Well-known member
Depends on the mixing board. What do you have, or are you going to go somewhere and use the house mixer?
As others said, there's a lot of different ways to skin this cat, and it depends a great deal on the location, the board, and how much you can insert yourself into the action.
Some digital mixers these days have a way to simply plug in a USB stick or SD card and capture all the tracks, or some of the big ones these days have a USB out that carries all the channels. I had up to 32 channels off the stage monitor mix about a year and a half ago (only needed half that) - recorded direct into an old MacBook Pro.
The more tracks you can capture direct the better the chance you'll actually be able to "mix" vs. just "master" what you capture. Make sure to record audio with the camera or set up a digital recorder to get the room/ambience to include that. I feel that live performance videos need some of the "crowd noise" to have the right feel.
Good luck.
As others said, there's a lot of different ways to skin this cat, and it depends a great deal on the location, the board, and how much you can insert yourself into the action.
Some digital mixers these days have a way to simply plug in a USB stick or SD card and capture all the tracks, or some of the big ones these days have a USB out that carries all the channels. I had up to 32 channels off the stage monitor mix about a year and a half ago (only needed half that) - recorded direct into an old MacBook Pro.
The more tracks you can capture direct the better the chance you'll actually be able to "mix" vs. just "master" what you capture. Make sure to record audio with the camera or set up a digital recorder to get the room/ambience to include that. I feel that live performance videos need some of the "crowd noise" to have the right feel.
Good luck.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
I used the MX12/4 to feed the vocals to an RMX1450 and a pair of Carvin PM15. With 4 output groups, I could feed them to one bus for recording. We never got to the point of micing instruments, and no, we never played any big venues. Like I said, I can feed the vocals to one channel of the R24, leaving 7 channels for drums, bass and a couple of guitars. Had the need arisen, I would probably have picked up a used R16 and slaved it to the R24. That would give me 15 channels for instruments, which should have covered everything.
The last 5 years have just been jam session type stuff.
I miss the days when we had an organist, brass section, two guitars, bass and drums! Of course there was NO home recording gear back then!