recording from band's mixing board

guitarzan

New member
hey, everyone. I'm new to the site, but not to music. My band is ready to start recording, and I want to try my hand at it without going into the studio. this site is cool and helps alot, but, I get the feeling that I'm ignorant about a lot of things and need a crash course badly!!
so...
after looking over the site, I think I want to try the hi-fi VHS recording system to start with. my main questions are:
a) can I use my peavey 16 channel mixing console and go directly into a VHS recorder? If so, does anyone know the best way to do this? or...
b) do I still need to invest in a 4-track (roland, tascam,etc.) and if I do that, would I still need to use the console?
c) is there anyone out there that I could explain what equipment I have and then maybe they could just tell me what I need to get started!
d) last question. If we were to record to vhs, can we then run the whole thing thru the computer and tweek the sound to make it digital, or just to burn cds?

all help and advice will be greatly appreciated!
 
You can use a VHS deck to make a stereo mix, but you cannot record the tracks seperately that way, so you have to have everyone playing at once -- you won;'t be able to overdub -- and you have to do your mix on the fly -- no way to go back and correct anything afterwards.

A four-track would give you the ability to put different parts on different tracks and mix them later. Most of the stand-alones have their own built-in mixer section so you wouldn't necessarily need the Peavy.

You can answer this yourself if you just do a bit of reseach and reading. I think here your best bet is to ask more pointed, specific questions -- the "tell me what to do" questions can get a bit overwhelming.

Finally, sure, once you had a stereo mix on a VHS you could record that onto any soundcard-equipped/CD-R- equipped computer and make CDs, MP3s, whatever.
 
You should be able to use sub outs from the mixer, one
for left, one for right, and mix the instruments to either
sub and record from there. Everthing else AlChuck mentioned is good advice.
 
thanks, guys. good advice. I looked around and found other areas that as you said, answered most of my questions.
 
Hey guitarzan, do you have a jungle band?.....hehe Sorry couldn't resist that one. That's an old tune you know by Ray Stevens.....

(oopps, I'm showin my age....)
 
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