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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats. |
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In Reply to: Live Recording for the Novice - Help Needed posted by 3Fates on October 19, 2006 at 14:51:59:
You can do great recordings by plugging your microphones directly into your recorder but this does limit the type of mic you can use. Some require power to operate and so it depends on if your mic inputs have what's called plug-in power. Probably not but find a manual to know for sure.
A mic preamp is a gain device that, just like a regular preamp, raises the level to a normal input level. It usually has a volume control and many include the power to operate an electric mic.
The money for a pair of mics can be very little but of course, the cheaper ones have more trade-offs. Unfortunately, the instruments you mentioned are some of the hardest to record well. Typical trade-offs;
1) Frequency roll off=violin harmonics go right through the ceiling but you can still get a perfect acceptable mic for not too much
2) Dynamics=piano, they don't call it a piano forte for nothing, this is going to require a mic with really good headroom to keep from distorting. Placement of this mic is really important because if it is far enough away the chances of distorting will be reduced, but if it is too far, the recording will lack presence and may pick up too much room ambience ( reverb ) and sound distant.
I use tiny electric mics with a little battery box to power them to record mostly live jazz concerts. People are shocked when they listen to the recordings I make . I spent about $250 for the mic's and the battery box but they are set up for plugging into something like the Minidisc recorder I have. You'll probably need a 1/4" plug termination which you can get done at most of the places you buy mic's.
Start simple! See if you enjoy recording or if it is useful before you really get into it. If I were you, I'd get some advice from a retailer such as Sweetwater.com which has a huge variety of mic's and see what they say. Tell them what you want to record, and what your going to use. They are very helpful. Get them to recommend several mic's in the lower price range. Then, go to your local Guitar Center or another pro sound retailer and rent some for a couple of weeks and give them a try. Make sure that they have the termination you need and don't need allot of gain to max out your VU's. Before you record, go to TapersSection.com and check out the mic/recording FAQ's. These are folks that have a long history of recording live concerts (Grateful Dead) on a shoestring and beyond. They don't get technical and it's mostly practical advice you'll find here.
If you do it even close to right, I think you'll be shocked how good a recording can be before all the compression, eq'ing, and general messing with that recording companies do.
Have fun!
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Follow Ups
- Re: Live Recording for the Novice - Help Needed - ironbut 17:26:59 10/19/06 (2)
- Hiding Mics in your Hat ? - 3Fates 05:39:52 10/20/06 (1)
- Re: Hiding Mics in your Hat ? - ironbut 17:18:11 10/20/06 (0)
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