New to Recording

[cmajury]

Hi my name is Chris,

Im new to recording but have been doing sound for Church/School for four years now...I am wondering what Church needs to get to be able to Produce Quality recordings

At the minute, we have a 6 channel Spirit mixer by Soundcraft (built in amplifier and effects pannel) and to record the band, I am using a Grundig MD50 Minidisc recorder...with this you can't seperate tracks.

Can anyone give me advice on what i should be doing...At the minute, I set up the main mix and plug the minidisc recorder into the monitor headphone socket...is there anywhere else is should be that would work better?

Then when it is on minidisc, I come home an transfer it to the computer where i normalise it with Soundforge. It still doesn't come out as being very high quality...I would be greatful for any advice anyone may have on either equipment i should get or anything else i should be doing (I have been reading homerecording.com but I dont have the facilities to mix down...any suggestions on what i should do?)

Thanks in anticipation

Chris (email me at c.majury@ntlworld.com)

 

[ssscientist]

Without spending more money than you probably want to spend, your options are quite limited.

You don't say what exactly the problem is with the resulting audio, but I assume it's just generally poor sound coupled with some distortion issues. You could get it to sound better by making sure the feed you're taking from the board is a good sounding, well balanced one but that would probably mean adjusting levels that would be unwise to adjust --- like bringing down the vocal to the point where the singer could no longer hear thru the speakers...

You're never going to get a really professional sounding recording with the tools at hand, but you will be able to document the band and listen objectively to your material - two very worthwhile things in my estimation.

 

[cmajury]

thanks for that...well then...how much money would it cost to bring it up to any good standard of recording?

The one at the minute isnt bad...I just want it to sound more professional...although it still sounds good...i already have audio recorded...but I want it to sound better

 

[mshilarious]

Then when it is on minidisc, I come home an transfer it to the computer where i normalise it with Soundforge.

How much is the gain change when you normalize? That could be a source of lo-fi sound; you need to get the level hotter to the minidisc so you don't need to normalize (much). That will probably require some trial and error. Figure out where you need to set the board so the signal to the minidisc is hot but not clipping.

Also the headphone out isn't the best place for a send, but I don't know that mixer so perhaps someone else will suggest the correct option.

 

[cmajury]

Depends on the dif tracks...i record it live at church so it really depends what is going on at the time...normally its good but sometimes it needs the volume incresed by 6dB and other times its just trying to bring the tracks to the same levels!

I don't normally pan any of the instruments which leaves the mix sounding flat...is there any particular way it should be done or is it just trial and error?

The general question now...which effects should i apply to the mix? Normally i add a bit of reverb but i have no idea wot to set the delay time or nething to...can anyone suggest what else i should add?

Thanks again

Chris

 

[Imaduck]

If you're going from the headphone out, then that is probably causing a large amount of distortion. Look for something labled "line out" or "master out" on your board and use that. You may have to get a few adapters to make this work.

If you or your church has a computer, I'd suggest using that and getting cakewalk or a similar, relatively inexpensive program. This will give you a whole lot more versatility in your recording. Once you go to multitrack recording, if you have a lot of patience, you can make anything sound acceptable.

Well, usually.... Anyway, hope that helps.