Recording Audio inside rock club
 

I' just bought an EX-1 and I have my first gig scheduled in two weeks. I'll be recording the music acts at a rock club.

The guy who set me up with this job did it in the past. He used to just put the camera on a tripod next to the audio tech's mixer and plug an xlr from that mixer directly into the camera. Afterward, he'd go shoot insert shots that he'd then edit together for the final product which would make it look like a multi-cam shoot. The only problem is that the best shots are the close ups, but he could never show mouths moving or anything that would give away that they weren't shot along with the song. The only shot that would sync up is the master, but the camera was so far away that sync didn't matter with that shot.

I was thinking, as an alternate plan, was to get an audio recorder to hook directly into the mixer and then I could get closeups of the musicians playing that I could then sync up with the audio recorded on the separate recorder. Then, at the end, I could pop the camera on a tripod for a wide shot that I could edit in later.

Does this sound like a good idea? Also, what sound recorders would you recommend? Do I need something heavy duty like the Tascam DR100 or can I go with something cheaper? If the Tascam will be useful/better in the long run, I'd go for that or something else if you have any suggestions.

I'm excited and want to do the best I can even though it's a small job. Thanks in advance.

The idea of recording from the desk is a good one, and yes you could use a separate recorder. What I do is have a wireless belt transmitter connected on the desk and have it transmit the audio to the camera allowing me to move around.

It really depends on what you need to produce though, if you're likely to need to show full songs then it's nice to have a locked off wide shot running throughout incase you stop recording at the wrong time when filming that babe in the audience and lose part of the audio :)

I would use at least 4 tracks. House mix left/right or vocals/instruments split. Better yet, use the aux. sends on the house mixer to tweak your own board mix. The house mix, by itself, could be mostly vocals.. with some drums if your lucky.
Then a stationary stereo pair to pick up the 'live' sound and audience. In post you can mix some and advance or retard the live mics a few milliseconds to tighter or loosen the sound as desired.

You need two cameras for thsi type of gig .... or

Record audio to a Zoom H4N - record to four tracks with 2 external mics and the recorders own mics - this can also take the line in form the desk instead - either way, this frees up camera so you can get close ups of the band without using a second camera.

It will be the best $300 you spend.

there are two approaches:

1 - record the stereo mix out of the board into a recorder, laptop, etc., then just sync up the audio by hand in post.

2 - record multiple channels (more than two) either from the subgroups (if the FOH engineer is mixing everything through the subgroups) or directly from the individual channels (good boards should have direct outs on the channels and the subgroups). The latter will of course probably require at least 16 tracks. The downside of the multiple channels approach is that when you're done you may have to mix the show again yourself.

Also, with either approach, if you have an extra channel or two, it is always nice to mic the crowd to get some of the ambience- you can add this in later selectively to help translate the energy of the room.

Recording
 

Bradford,

I do this 3-4 times a week. I have acquired gear over the yearss o it now is never a problem. I have a SHure Monitot Mixer setup. It is what artists use for in ear monitoring. I plug the board audio into the transmitter. I set my camera up near the stage. I then hook the bodypack receiver into my Z-1 and then I also bring a shotgun and put it into my other input. Both channels go seperately to tape. This way, while I am up front and house left of the stage, I can get great shots of the gutars work as well as vocals and everything elsee. The trick is to stay on a tripod there and make slow moves in and out.

Jeff