thickfreakness said:
I want to start recording my band's concerts to make a live CD. What is the best way to approach this? Should I direct out of the soundboard or setup a condensor mic?
Some advice would be nice!
If your website's anything to go by, you're quite a raw sound (no keys, little or no backing vox, veiled drum sound - sounds OK though!), and if there are only two of you (as appears to be the case), I'd go with a portable setup using a small 8-track and use splitters and DI's.
Here's a nice looking machine for your purpose, since it has 8 XLR inputs:
http://cachemi.zzounds.com/media/qu..._oblique-4ebab11c4ac45a80c63b84c6e15b9c57.jpg
Assuming you always play in the same position on stage, make up specific cables for each purpose, i.e., of exact lengths to mazimize portability. Shorter cables don't get tangled so easily, and are quickly set up and packed away.
You'll need a simple splitter, like an ART or something, to run your vocal to the recorder without interrupting the feed to the venue mixer. A DI box for the bass - Sansamp BassDriver is a bit pricey, but an excellent tool for direct recording. Throw a venue mic up in front of your guitar cab.
An interesting alternative, which could yield stellar results would be to simply direct record the guitar and bass to the recorder and 're-amp' them later. This would give you perfect isolation and with a bit of time on your hands could sound just excellent.
Drums, you could just throw up two or three venue mics (even if they are SM58s). Again, your sound doesn't demand a multi-mic'd kit.
Anything would be better than audience mics, and while the above may be a bit more complicated to begin with, once you get the hang of it, you'll be on your way to having a backlog of pretty decent, even excellent live recordings.
With the fairly minimalist arrangements, the above scenario would work, I think.
