Makeshift/Portable Recording Studio

[hellohopes]

Hello, apologies for doing two threads but my last thread was not specific, and I have a new specification now...

I would really appreciate if somebody could help me on the following.

I would like to record singing from anywhere (I will be travelling to different sets) with a quality that could match that of a recording studio. In other words, I need to make my own portable recording studio.

I will be in a large space, like a hall... and I will want to record a singer's vocals, whilst having headphones where she can listen to her own voice AND the backing track... and preferably a few other sets of headphones that can be listening to the same.

I do not need a recording studio environment, as it's fine to have the acoustics of the hall.

I just need to know what equipment and software I need to do this. For example, is there a port between the computer and microphone where all of this can be plugged in?

As much help and detail as possible would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

 

[miroslav]

There are a variety of gear combinations that can be fairly portable....it's really a question of how deep you want to go and what kind of budget you have.

Also...I hate to say it, but you seem not even sure how/where to hook things up....so are you really ready to record people in live/remote environments?
I mean....it's not just a question of getting the equipment hooked up. Recording in a studio environemnt can be challanging at times, even for people with experience...but going live/remote adds another level of complexity and recording understanding one must have.

Have you ever done any recording?

 

[hellohopes]

My budget isn't huge, lets say under £500.

I've been running my business for about a year, which is a production company that films musical theatre performances. Until now we've been recording in a studio and I've had a studio engineer. But at our new base we don't have access to a recording studio.

I was hoping that I could record their voices on-set, and hand over to somebody for post-production to work on mixing and syncing and getting it all up to scratch. Forgive me if this sounds ignorant, but I really just need to get their voices on a standalone track, ready to be mixed later. I was originally planning to do this with a regular boom-mic setup, but I'd like them to be able to hear their own voice in the headphones like a regular recording studio set-up.

I understand these things are not simple but rest assured I am a quick learner and if need be I can recruit somebody to come and do the job until I pick it up myself.

 

[miroslav]

Well...you may want to just look at some smaller standalone digital recorders that will have say....2-4 mic/line outputs, and basic headphone mixing/output to a couple of sets.

I think if you are just going to record a single voice, and you only need two sets of headphones, you won't have to get too crazy with gear...and the b udget you have should be ample enough to get a recorded and even the mics/headphones and cable.

Then just transfer the digital audio file to whatever system the mixing will be done on.
If you are working with a studio and engineer for that final mixing, you might discuss it with them, that way you will be sure that everytihng is compatible, but with digital audio gear, it's not rare to find compatibility issues from one box to another, since it all ends up as electronic media.

This is just an idea of the kind of gear you could use:

Tascam DP-004 Digital 4-Track Recorder Buy Online at GigaSonic.com

The only think you might need a smaller headphone box if you want more personalized cue mix control...otherwsie a simple "Y" split to two sets of headphones would also work.

 

[hellohopes]

The only think you might need a smaller headphone box if you want more personalized cue mix control...otherwsie a simple "Y" split to two sets of headphones would also work.

Brilliant, thank you!

If I were to have four singers all together though I would need more than two headphone sets, is that still possible with this Recorder?

 

[miroslav]

You might want a small headphone amp...something like this:

Rane HC-6 Headphone Amplifier

...which would allow you to feed multiple headphones, each with different levels, so the singers can have their preference.

You then feed the headphone distro box from your recorder.