I need an affordable way to record direct from the mixing desk!

[Tim Sewell]

This was A6600 on the wides and FS7 on the CUs. Sound was from a wireless shotgun into the FS7 - as you can hear - it clips at the loudest moments and as I was concentrating on operating I didn't have the bandwidth to ride the levels - so any suggestions from the hive mond?

[bjohn]

Recording from the mixing desk can work, but it depends on what you're recording. In many smaller venues, not all instruments go through the mixer. For example, drums may not need to be amplified, so there won't be any mics on them. An electric bass or electric guitar player may bring their own amp and not run it through the mixer. I'm doing sound for a jazz quartet tonight where the only things going through the mixer are the vocalist and possibly the keyboard player.

In situations like that, recording from the mixer will only give you part of the sound. The other complication is that the engineer is not mixing for your recording; he or she is mixing for the room. The ideal would be to record the ISOs (the individual channels), not the mix, and do your own mix in post. Some digital mixers have the capability of outputting each channel, and you could use something like the Sound Devices MixPre 10 to record those individual channels. All of that depends on whether the engineer is willing, and often they're not because they already have enough to do and to think about without having to set this up on their end.

If all the instruments are going into the mixer and you're willing to live with the room mix, you have plenty of options for recording from the mixer: any two-channel recorder will do the job, from Zoom, Sound Devices, or others. Most mixers have multiple outs and you just have to talk to the engineer to see if he/she is willing to route the main mix to another output for you to record from. You could even record from a spare headphone output if the mixer has one.

For on-camera recording you could use any of the small camera-mountable recorders with 32-bit float, where you don't need to worry about clipping.

[Tim Sewell]

Good points - thanks! If recording from the desk I'd expect to record an ambient mix as well as you want a bit of crowd noise anyway to keep the live feel. I think you're right in tems of a 32 bit solution for this.

[bjohn]

I forgot to mention that many digital mixers nowadays can record directly to a USB key or an SSD; I use the QSC Touchmix, which can do this. And as a bonus, it records the individual channels so you can remix in post. Not all mixers can do this, though, so it's not something you can count on being available.

[bjohn]

The ideal (for me) if you can't record from the mixer is to put a separate sound recorder and mics on a stand at the back of the hall or somewhere else where they won't be disturbed or bumped into. When you use a camera-mounted mic, the sound changes as you move around, which can be distracting for viewers and disrupt continuity. (If your camera is on a tripod then no worries).

[newfoundmass]

I use a Tascam Portacapture X8 to record from the mixer in 32-bit float to one track and then have a stereo mic with a long XLR cord placed somewhere it won't be disturbed going into another track. When the mix doesn't have all the instruments it's not ideal, because it can pick up too much audience noise, but it's better than nothing. Thankfully most venues I've filmed in have all the instruments mic'd.

For instruments that aren't in the mix you might even be able to set up a second recorder and mic them yourself?

[Tim Sewell]

8 hours ago, bjohn said:

I forgot to mention that many digital mixers nowadays can record directly to a USB key or an SSD; I use the QSC Touchmix, which can do this. And as a bonus, it records the individual channels so you can remix in post. Not all mixers can do this, though, so it's not something you can count on being available.

Last band video I did the engineer did this for me but unfortunately for some reason there was a 3 second jump in the track. I spent about 5 hours trying to figure out what was going on, thinking something had gone wrong with my camera. After I'd covered it up and published the vid one of the band members congratulated me and told me there was a similar gap in every track.