Recording a live performance. Advice Please.

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EggWaterPalace

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I hate that this is my first post on the forums but I am having a terrible time using the search function from my phone (on the road).

My band is playing a show in a few weeks that we would REALLY like to record for a live add-on to our album coming soon. I am taking charge of this since we don't have the money to pay a technician to come do it for us and I feel like it shouldn't be THAT hard. Not to mention anything I learn, I can apply to situations later on.

We have an older Yamaha EMX5000 mixer that we use to run sound to our PA speakers at smaller gigs. We have the capability to mic all of our equipment and run the sound through this board so I was wondering if there was an effective way to capture this sound on my computer (or a digital SD recorder?) to have a decent sounding recording of that show. I also have 2 condenser mics that I can use in the audience to give it a "live" feel. How do I go about this? I use Pro Tools to record my acoustic stuff at home but its through a USB mic.

I thought maybe I could get a small 4ch mixer with a USB port and use that as an interface for the line out from the mixer, the 2 condenser mics, and my laptop. Is this completely stupid? I realize I won't be able to change the levels of anything once it is coming out of the mixer and it won't sound quite "right" since it will be mixed for the show, not recording. I was hoping the two audience mics would compensate for that?

If I sound completely clueless as to how this actually works, its because I am. I just recently started becoming interested in what goes on at sound check and figuring out how to mix sound for our shows. Any direction would be very much appreciated and thanks for sticking through this post.
 
300 views and no replies? I guess this is looking pretty bleak, haha.
 
It's almost certain you won't get a result you'll be happy with using your methods. Yes, the audience mics could help offset the deficiencies of the live mix, but you still need someone to monitor what's being recorded and make adjustments, and even then the result is not likely to be releasable.

If you could record the audience mics separately from the board feed then you might have a shot at a tolerable mix, assuming the live mix sounded right in the room.

The best option is to record every input separately and mix it in a controlled environment. That takes specialized gear and knowledge.
 
Thanks for the word of advice! Yeah I definitely do not have a way to record each input separately. I may just try it out and see what happens. It can't hurt for spending hardly any extra money.
 
If you gig a lot and do your submixer thing every night you might eventually get a good recording of a song or two. There are so many variables that it's just really unlikely you'll get something good the first time out. I would be a useful way to review your performance. Nothing makes you play better quickly than listening to recordings soon after a gig.
 
What city are you in? Perhaps you could get a recomendation for someone that is experienced in this sort of thing and just pay someone to do it?

Even if you have all the right gear, it takes some time to learn to do it right, and you will screw up a few recordings before you get there.

If you must do it yourself with limited gear (no full multitrack), the ability to mix a decent stereo pair out front with the board feed and make adjustments might work, as Boulder guy said. You'll need at least a 4 track device though.

If the live sound is mixed really well and the room sounds good, you might get lucky with a bootleg style recording - a pair of mics out front somewhere.
 
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