Reording Concert Bands

[PilotGav]

I have the opportunity to record a day of high school band performances at a local mall. These performances may include:

- Concert Bands
- Jazz Bands
- Orchestra
- Vocal Ensemble

I'm looking for advice on equipment and technique, with the following concerns:

Equipment
I use Sonar 1.3.1 in the home studio, but don't trust it for a full day of live recording offsite. Should I rent an ADAT or something?

What microphones to use (type, not brand) and how to place them in general for the best sound with the following concerns:

- Ambient noise in the mall
- Micing soloists
- Good direct balanced sound

If I did rent equipment to record on, what is recommended, and how should I set it up? Should I look for an all in one DAW type unit, or go with the above mentioned ADAT and a mixer?

I’d like to be able to export the raw files into Sonar back in the studio.

Looking forward to dome greet responses! Any information you can add would be appreciated.

Gavin

 

[offbeatguy]

I can pretty much guarantee that you'll have lots of ambient noise, anything from screaming kids, noisy grocery carts and depending on the exact location in the mall...the food preparation noises in the food court!.
If you can live with that, I would probably get a good pair of condeser mics and place them about 4-6 feet behind the conductor and about 8-10 feet high. I personally would just record to two tracks..this should work really well for the concert bands and choirs. Anything with solos will depend on how well the groups can balance themselves.

This may be a little less sophisticated than you wanted, but for a variety of reasons, like for copyright and mechanical licencing purposes you're only making reference copies for the school teachers ...right. ... and you're in a high traffic venue that may have a lot of kids and seniors......the less cables you've got running across the floor, the happier mall management and the fire inspectors will be and there will be a lot less gaffers tape to peel off the cables and power cords at the end of the day.

Mike