Hi there
Just purchased a canon 550d camera for shooting HD video. I plan on doing some quirky live performance video shoots on location for bands, in the summer months maybe even doing some outdoor shots. I was wondering if anyone here could give me any advice on best ways of multitrack recording bands on location. Other than taking my whole audio setup ie: mac, interfaces mixer etc to the location.

Audio quality is paramount to me and i dont want to just stick one mic up in front of the band, i really want to be able to mix the project later at home as i would with a standard recording and get all the instruments on separate tracks to make everything a level quality with the HD video. Any ideas... Or anyone know of any good portable multitrack recorders or other ways around this problem. Thanks SOSers.

really depends on your budget and expectations,
you have 2 options, you can go digital or analog - grab old tascam tape machine with 4 tracks,
and have a lot of fun with it,
or digital - you obviously need laptop, software, mics, preamps and converter/interface -
you have a choice from budget (presonus, focusrite, etc) and more expensive - uln metric halo,
you could always grab hard disk recorder (tascam or mackie)
again your budget is starting point,

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online mastering studio | mastering audio

Well the standard for high quality location sound recording is to use active splitters and sometimes your own mics here and there to get a high quality sound. The idea is to not affect the gain structure of the front of house mix. It's easy to forget that people paying money to see bands are the be all and end all of a gig. It's an experience payed for or sort out by them. So, the filming and interruption to the sound engineers workflow are very much a burden that can get in the way of a gig.

On a budget you could get a zoom R16 and some individual art splitters boxes for the mics with a stereo mic over the drums. It might be possible to get a feed from the mixingdesk but a gig is a serendipitous event and the sound engineer might change his gain structure distorting the preamps in your recorder or in the mixing desk itself.

In other words it can be more complicated than you'd initially think.

The lead article last month was all about recording a gig!!!!!!

And for your Canon, get this:
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/index.php?title=Unified&&fbconnected =2&cb=5529

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madtheory creations
Synths and pianos for Kontakt

Actually, for a Canon still cam shooting video in this situation, get a second camera to cover the gaps when you hit the shot time limit.

Fran

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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
www.kaleponi.com & www.homebrewedmusic.com

On a budget, the Zoom R16 is probably the cheapest way to go but you only get 8 inputs. This isn't necessarily as limiting as it may sound since you can achieve a decent live recording with just 4 inputs. Two inputs for the stereo output of the FOH mixing desk and two inputs for ambient mics to pick up the crowd, room and anything that is so loud on stage that it isn't going through the FOH mixer. If you want to use more inputs you could see if the FOH engineer is using subgroups and take the outputs of the groups to the spare channels.

Beyond this, I'd invest in some preamps with ADAT outputs and hook them up to a standalone hard disk recorder. You may also need some splitters - I made my own passive splitter multicore but I've found that venues with separate monitor desks sometimes have spare ways on their splitters that you can use.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

Quote James Perrett:

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On a budget, the Zoom R16 is probably the cheapest way to go but you only get 8 inputs. This isn't necessarily as limiting as it may sound since you can achieve a decent live recording with just 4 inputs. Two inputs for the stereo output of the FOH mixing desk and two inputs for ambient mics to pick up the crowd, room and anything that is so loud on stage that it isn't going through the FOH mixer. If you want to use more inputs you could see if the FOH engineer is using subgroups and take the outputs of the groups to the spare channels.

Beyond this, I'd invest in some preamps with ADAT outputs and hook them up to a standalone hard disk recorder. You may also need some splitters - I made my own passive splitter multicore but I've found that venues with separate monitor desks sometimes have spare ways on their splitters that you can use.

James.

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The R16 also has the advantage of two built in microphones, which you can use for the ambient mics while doing a feed from desk on two other channels. I have used the R16 for live recording of two gigs, once using the internal mics plus a stereo feed from the FOH mixer, and the other time using the R16 as a mixing desk for the PA and recording on all 8 tracks ... I.e. vocal, guitar, bass, and 5 mics on the kit. Both times with good results. The R16 is reliable and easy to set up and use, and I've been thinking of recording my next gig using the sub-grouping method James suggests, plus the two built in mics for crowd noise.

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Battle flags are flown at the feet of a garden gnome.

Quote Tomás Mulcahy:

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The lead article last month was all about recording a gig!!!!!!

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Yep. Here it is.

Suggest you give it a read, as it explains various approaches for multitrack recording a gig.

Admittedly not a response to the question you actually asked but I have filmed a few gigs using a 550D in my time and have a few tips that you might find helpful.

a) If you can, use a fast lens. Depending on the gig itself, you may find that the kit lens won't give you bright enough images unless you bump up the ISO right up, resulting in horrible grainy images. I use a Sigma 1.4 30mm prime which has served me well. The difference between footage filmed with this and other 550Ds with kit lenses at one multi camewra gig shoot I did was considerable.

b) +1 for the Magic Lantern Firmware, amongst other things it will allow you to film almost continously as it will automatically restart whenever you hit the 12min file size limitation (albeit with minor a gap of a second or two). But...

c) beware of overheating, especially if you are constantly gripping it (as opposed to on a tripod) in a warm gig environment.

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http://www.partyfearsthree.co.uk

I do live recording on a Zoom HD16.

It provides 8 inputs and it's very compact. I put it in a case and carry a backpack with mics and cables and rely on the venue for stands (I'm not a pro).

If it's a big show (i.e a club) I'll get feeds from the desk - often from the insert points. If it's in a bar I put up my own mics and use a mic splitter on the lead vocalists mic.

For a typical rock band I track as follows:

1.Kick
2. Snare
3. Mono drum overhead
4. Bass DI
5. Guitar 1
6. Guitar 2
7. Vocal 1
8. Vocal 2

For anything else I rely on sub mixing to aux sends from whatever desk is being used.

I also have a Zoom H4 which I use for ambiance mics occasionally. It can be a bit of a pain lining it up on the computer later but it works well in the end.

On small stages mixing is severely limited as vocal mics tend to be full of everything. It's all good fun though and I've caught some special moments.

It's a lot of work and it can be very stressful dealing with live music - drunk musicians and fans spilling beer, falling over, kicking gear over, precious sound guys at clubs who don't want to accommodate you. If you have the band and venue onside it can be great fun though.

For anything grander you'd need to spend a lot more money and possibly employ your own roadies!