How to record a Live band ?

[JamesD]

If i have mics etc all set up.. how do i get the mics to send the singal into the laptop to logic ?

as in do i need a patch pay ? or a sound card ? etc ?

any help would be great thanks

 

[dodgeaspen]

Well I don't do digital but, assuming you already have a sound card you will need an interface if you are not using a mixer to accommodate multiple mics.

 

[suprstar]

the cheapest and lowest sound quality would be to run your mixer 2 channel stereo mix to your PC's soundcard line-in. You can't adjust anything later, but with a little trial and error you can get it onto a cd. Wouldn't be pretty, but it'd be.

Spend $500 on a MOTU / Presonus 8 channel fire wire interface, and you could ditch the sound card with its 28 cent AD converters, and record 8 distinct tracks. 8 channels is pretty tight for a whole band, ie 4 on drums, 2 guitars, a bass, and vox. If you get 16 channels, you can get more drum tracks, get a di and a mic on all the bass/guitars, have a few vox, a room mic, etc..

So, you could do it for practically free, or you could spend a ton of $. Whats your budget and requirements?

 

[Dani Pace]

If you (or whoever is running the mixer) are used to mixing live sound the simple thing to do is use the line outs from the mixer (you'll need the right cables or adapters) to the line ins on your soundcard. You will have to get the mix right to start with as you wont be able to tweak anything afterwards and it may be a bit noisy. Set the pan controls where you want them before you start recording and be ready to ride the faders so you don't get any clipping. The result may be pretty lo fi but quite possibly usefull for referance recordings and maybe for demos.

 

[Jim Lad]

And then there's the stand alone recorders, many of which will also serve as a mixer.
What's your budget?