Recording the gig

[paleolith54]

Hey guys, i'd like some practical advice on what has worked well for you on video recording gigs and putting songs up on youtube or facebook. For example: I'd be happy to pop for a zoom q3hd but read widely conflicting reports on reliability, software compatability, and so forth. So...would love to hear what has worked for you.

Thanks!

[strat56]

I have a Q3HD and it works well but it has it's limitations. It has difficulty in low light situations. The audio is fantastic and the video is good as long as there is a reasonable amount of light. All the videos on my YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/scaster56?ob=0&feature=results_main) channel were shot with with it. You can see a difference in the video between the club recordings and the daylight recordings.

Also unless you do some kind of conversion, I didn't do it for my videos, the audio and the video are out of sync on you tube.

I bought the Zoom though because I was more interested in the audio being superior than the video and I couldn't find a unit with better video that had as good audio recording.

Edit: It runs thru batteries pretty quickly also.

[Big Harry]

agree 100% with Jack, Zoom is amazing audio device for recording gigs , but you'll need light for nice video.
That said, I managed to make fantastic records with my Garage Band (literary we playing in my garage:) ) , and people cannot believe how good audio sound is !
Since I have a professional sound engineer/producer/composer/pianist (who play bass :D ) in my band, using a few of his tricks we managed almost profesional sound just with guitar/bass amps and drums, no PA in the 10m by 5m garage !


Than we recorded a few songs using his really studio , and sound is not 2 times better , just more compact .
His studio is worth minimum million bucks , btw , versus few hundreds bucks for Zoom .

[paleolith54]

I have a Q3HD and it works well but it has it's limitations. It has difficulty in low light situations. The audio is fantastic and the video is good as long as there is a reasonable amount of light. All the videos on my YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/scaster56?ob=0&feature=results_main) channel were shot with with it. You can see a difference in the video between the club recordings and the daylight recordings.

Also unless you do some kind of conversion, I didn't do it for my videos, the audio and the video are out of sync on you tube.

I bought the Zoom though because I was more interested in the audio being superior than the video and I couldn't find a unit with better video that had as good audio recording.
Edit: It runs thru batteries pretty quickly also.

Thanks Jack, videos that i know were shot with the zoom help more than reading reviews.

[paleolith54]

agree 100% with Jack, Zoom is amazing audio device for recording gigs , but you'll need light for nice video.
That said, I managed to make fantastic records with my Garage Band (literary we playing in my garage:) ) , and people cannot believe how good audio sound is !
Since I have a professional sound engineer/producer/composer/pianist (who play bass :D ) in my band, using a few of his tricks we managed almost profesional sound just with guitar/bass amps and drums, no PA in the 10m by 5m garage !


Than we recorded a few songs using his really studio , and sound is not 2 times better , just more compact .
His studio is worth minimum million bucks , btw , versus few hundreds bucks for Zoom .

Thanks Zoran...any good recording tricks to pass along? I also practice in the garage!

[Big Harry]

No problem .
first , Tibor ,the producer and bass player in my garage :D , put very thick blanket underneath of drums , and huge card box (from tennis table package) in a front and around the drums , like a semi-circle wall .
second , he put blankets, sponge and some stuffs from camping gear in the corners and on the walls of garage, from top to bottom
third, he spent an afternoon in positioning 3 amps (two guitars +one bass) and drums in the right position
fourth, he spend lots of time silencing and tuning the drums , and two guitar amps as well.

after that, I was surprised how the tone and the sound of the band become "sophisticated " when copmapring to previous set-up (means put the amp next to you and play :eek: ) , no uncontrolled noise, one can hear each instrument and drums very clear !

later , we added PA and singer + acoustic guitar , and now we sound (almost) like on the really stage ...

I know this is Tibor job , and he is an expert in that, but still, I was surprised how much time he spent to find the best possible sound , in another words, he is never happy,always looking for better sound .
It seems the trick was that !

[Big Harry]

but there was a trick, which Tibor shows me a long time ago in my home studio.
Since I was tweaking my Mesa too much ,he told me this is not about the amp, but about the room :confused:
So, he took a thick sleep bag, tell me to sit on the floor next to the amp, cover us (me and amp) with the sleep bag , and said- now you can tweak your amp, this is the right sound of it, without room/wall/windows interference...
He was damn right , I heard Mesa really sound for the first time...

More or less , he simulated the really studio conditions , both in garage and my studio, that's all.

[paleolith54]

but there was a trick, which Tibor shows me a long time ago in my home studio.
Since I was tweaking my Mesa too much ,he told me this is not about the amp, but about the room :confused:
So, he took a thick sleep bag, tell me to sit on the floor next to the amp, cover us (me and amp) with the sleep bag , and said- now you can tweak your amp, this is the right sound of it, without room/wall/windows interference...
He was damn right , I heard Mesa really sound for the first time...

More or less , he simulated the really studio conditions , both in garage and my studio, that's all.
Thanks for the info, great stuff.

[strat56]

Let us know what you decide to get. I've been thinking about getting an external mic to use with my iPhone to see how that might work but haven't taken the plunge yet with any of them. Has anyone on here tried any of them?

[paleolith54]

Let us know what you decide to get. I've been thinking about getting an external mic to use with my iPhone to see how that might work but haven't taken the plunge yet with any of them. Has anyone on here tried any of them?
Will do, may be a couple of weeks.

[paleolith54]

Let us know what you decide to get. I've been thinking about getting an external mic to use with my iPhone to see how that might work but haven't taken the plunge yet with any of them. Has anyone on here tried any of them?

Went with the Q3HD, will record part of a gig tonight. Will follow up, thanks for the help. I expect to have questions when time comes for editing etc, so may impose with more questions.