terribly loud live recordings, where to put the mic

[fuzzking]

hey i'm thinking of taping our next show with one of these handy zoom portables, but i have no clue where to put it, how far from the stage, etc.

won't take the pa stereo out, as we're always only doing vocs and maybe the bd via the pa ... i thought of putting the thing behind the foh guy's head, on top of the drinks cupboard, any ideas, tips, etc?

[ugly casanova]

walk around at the soundcheck and try to find the best sound. try to reduce too much bass and too much crash from the drumset to get best results.
thats what i'd recommend.

[fuzzking]

problem is, i have no radio guitar or headset. 

maybe best to ask a friend with some good hears to do it?

[ugly casanova]

do test recordings or have a friend change positions while you play

[fuzzking]

hm somewhat complicated, this whole matter. 

[chrisjedijane]

Your best bet is probably putting it at FOH. That way you'll get what the soundguy is hearing. Better still would be to record the room sound from FOH and also take a feed from the desk, and mix them.

[fuzzking]

yeah FOH! 

mixing the stuff together: i was thinking about that too. i'll see how much of a setup hassle it'll be.

i'll do sound for friends of mine in the same club this thursday, maybe the perfect occasion to do a test.

[tonyw]

I use a Zoom H2 for everything live and found for lowish volume gigs i set up behind us on the middle mic gain setting works well.
Played a big show on this setting and its distorted and that was with it just picking up the monitors with the Zoom on a chair behind me.
In hindsight i should have adjusted my mic input and also used the lo gain setting and then bought the volume back up in the edit later if it was too low

Love my H2



I have some live songs recorded on the Zoom online pm me if you want a listen

[NBarnes21]

As mentioned, stick it at FOH.  If the sound guy's any good he'll be adjusting the levels to the room and you oughta get a decent mix.  My band did the very same thing on tour (Zoom H2 and all) and got pretty decent results, we'd post a song to our blog nightly.  We did import it into Logic every night and EQ it and add a bit of compression too which helped a lot.  BTW, don't use the recorder's built in compression, it sucks ass and you're stuck with it.

[fuzzking]

we have cancelled the gig, haha.

I use a Zoom H2 for everything live and found for lowish volume gigs i set up behind us on the middle mic gain setting works well.
Played a big show on this setting and its distorted and that was with it just picking up the monitors with the Zoom on a chair behind me.
In hindsight i should have adjusted my mic input and also used the lo gain setting and then bought the volume back up in the edit later if it was too low

Love my H2



I have some live songs recorded on the Zoom online pm me if you want a listen

yeah that's the trouble with the digital stuff. alwasy better to leave some decent headroom when recording.

and thanks for the offer, but i already heard some recordings a friend made with the thing - quite decent, innit?

As mentioned, stick it at FOH.  If the sound guy's any good he'll be adjusting the levels to the room and you oughta get a decent mix.  My band did the very same thing on tour (Zoom H2 and all) and got pretty decent results, we'd post a song to our blog nightly.  We did import it into Logic every night and EQ it and add a bit of compression too which helped a lot.  BTW, don't use the recorder's built in compression, it sucks ass and you're stuck with it.

i will def. try an H2 at FOH next time... i can borrow these from the sound guy at school.

i would have imagined the built-in compression is no too great... i mean, if you don't know what you're doing, stay the hell away from compression, to not even think of letting some chip decide what's best for the signal. or use the built-in autocompression and judge rsults by listening to some built-in mini speaker, haha

[tonyw]

I dont use anything but the record function pretty much
you can edit with some decent compression later if need be.
Its great as a press record and forget unit.

The reason i have it onstage with me is i have heard of 3 of these walk from the front of house so far.

[eggwheat]

As has been said before..always walk around the venue and listen for the best spot. FOH isnt always the best spot believe me. However a lot of time it is the most practical. Your ears are the key!

[fuzzking]

the ears... of course 

i think FOH would be kind of a safe and easy spot for placement... i sure don't feel like putting the thing on a stand somewhere in the room where each and every idiot could grab it.


by the way, last saturday i did on location sound for a student movie, and i really missed something to do quick and easy recordings of sounds with that would come in handy in the studio, like variopus sounds of the engine of the sports car we used, and atmospheres ... they brought in a baby fox that had a short appearance in the movie, and it made the craziest sounds when the camera was not running. i always had to urge the camera guy to let the cam run for a few more seconds because i needed to record this and that, but he was always busy preparing the next shot and stuff. next time i'll bring a zoom along and do the extra recordings on the fly.