Recording my live comedy

  • Thread starter Thread starter omnomnom
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Those are all short cables, and none are balanced. You don't want to run unbalanced more that 7 meters or so.

You're going to need a couple of long balanced cables so you can place the recorder more freely. A pair of mic cables might do it depending on whether the H4n can handle line level into its XLR inputs. If the XLRs can't handle line level then maybe you'll have to use the TRS (balanced 6.35mm) inputs. In that case I would have a pair of 10 or 15 meter XLR-F to TRS cables. Along with those I would consider something like this:

ART Pro Audio

Add a selection of cables like you listed plus a couple of others and you can interface with just about anything.

There's also the other method of putting the recorder at the stage end of things and splitting the mic cable directly into the recorder. That would require an XLR splitter and an extra XLR cable. Other than having to arrange to disconnect the mic cable from the mic and connect the splitter it's simpler than having the mic at the desk end. And you'll probably get more separation between you and the audience which might sound better or give you more control in editing.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
There's also the other method of putting the recorder at the stage end of things and splitting the mic cable directly into the recorder. That would require an XLR splitter and an extra XLR cable. Other than having to arrange to disconnect the mic cable from the mic and connect the splitter it's simpler than having the mic at the desk end. And you'll probably get more separation between you and the audience which might sound better or give you more control in editing.
Click to expand...

That actually sounds like a MUCH better way of doing things. Two questions for you bouldersoundguy. 1) What length XLR cable would you recommend? 2) What kind of splitter? I've googled them and my choices are 1 x male 2 x female or 2 x female 1 x male. I'm guessing that relates to whether the pins on the inside of the plug go in or out? Which would be best? Or does it not matter?
 
On XLR cables, the pins always point away from the source and towards the mixer. So you would need a splitter with 1 female and 2 male XLR.
 
And you can still use that method with the recorder nearer the desk by putting the splitter at the desk's input.
 
Thanks guys!

So I need a 1 female 2 male XLR splitter. What length of XLR cable do you recommend?
 
The length depends entirely on how large the typical stage you play on is and where you want to locate the recorder. However, you can always coil spare cable but you can't stretch it so allow for extra on what you think you might need. Bouldersound guy suggested 10-15 metres and that sounds reasonable to me.
 
Get a couple 20 ft cables. You can always just hook them together to make a longer run.
 
Got myself a 15 ft cable, an XLR splitter and a handy leather travel bag to carry everything in.

Massive thanks to everyone who's helped me out so far. :thumbs up:
 
If you can get access to the mic just before the show you can plug it straight into the recorder and do a level check. Set the gain so, with your lips on the grill, the loudest sound you can make with your voice is around -12dBFS on the meter.
 
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