ProSoundWeb Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church  (Read 3632 times)

Rick Myers

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2

Hello all, New to the forum and am looking for some help with our setup. Also, I apologize in advance.

Me drummer/vocals 25+ years’ experience, functional on live soundboard, not great. Technology Geek.  Have spent a lot of time and money on setting up the sound system with the pastor to where we have a decent sound; could be a lot better if we had a sound engineer.

Our equipment: Electronic drums, aux percussion, keys,  electric guitar, two acoustic guitars, bass, two wired  vocals, 1 wireless vocal and 1 wireless sm58 for misc. message, speakers etc.  At the Sound desk: Soundcraft SI expression 3/32, DBX DriveRack PX, Boss Br1600, Tascam CD-Rw900sl and Windows I7 quad core primarily running Media Shout for service display.

This is where I need help. Currently have the Boss recorder connected using a two mix groups from the board for a stereo out to the Boss (xlrs from board to XLR in on BR1600). The Tascam is then piggy backed from the BR1600 (RCA out to RCA in on Tascam). Average service with worship and message can vary from 1-2 hours. On the boss that means recordings that are about 1gb. We generally use the Tascam just for the message.  If we use the Tascam we would have to use two cds for one service, currently have teens running the desk during service and not sure if they would remember to change. If we want to pull recordings from the BR1600 we have to convert to a wav then export via the built in USB 1.0 which takes a long time to do. We’re looking for thoughts on maybe a different recording system or setup that can help reduce the time it takes to get a service to audio cd.  Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great many more questions about the live sound setup but will save for later.
Thanks,
Rick
Logged

g'bye, Dick Rees

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7424
  • Duluth
Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2014, 01:41:14 PM »

The ultimate solution is not so much the equipment as operation.  A capable operator along with a trained cadre of volunteers under capable supervision is where to go.

Sorry, but gear and money will not replace a competent operator/staff.
Logged
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

Jon McElvain

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 34
Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2014, 03:00:05 PM »

What level of quality are you looking to get?  We only record the sermon so don't need to be overly concerned with quality beyond it being clear enough to understand.  We use an old (probably from not long after the flood) version of GoldWave and just use an XLR out from the board to a mini plug into the computer.  I would love to get something that was a little better, but does exactly what we need it to do.  We have two old (also from not long after the flood) computers that we use.  One runs our PowerPoint and handles any computer source media and the other is our recording computer.  We have a couple of "young guns" that run the board on occasion as well.
Logged

Rick Myers

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2
Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2014, 03:07:58 PM »

100% agree. Half the time I'm playing I also am adjusting sound levels from the drums with the board remote on my IPad. We're small but growing, not at a place yet where we can afford to have a board man. If I could find someone local who is familiar with Soundcraft we would hire to come in and consult for us.

I'm more or so just looking for additional thoughts on if we're going the right direction or if we should look at setting up with a 2nd pc and DAW running direct from the board. or if anyone has any suggestions on an alternate setup with what we currently have. We want a decent enough recording to put on a website as well to burn on cds for members.

What type of pc are you running for the recording Jon? I have an older laptop collecting dust, do you get good quality out of the Gold Wave.

On a side note. I've done a fair amount of bar band sound etc in the past and have little more sound experience than average drummer, Took commercial music in college, recording and such, but that was about 20 years ago. I'm a quick study when provided with the "right" instruction.
Logged

Michael Elphinstone

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 31
Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2014, 10:00:42 PM »

If you're only after 2-track recording, grab a little Zoom recorder. We've got a selection of H2n and H4n recorders. I prefer the H4n, as it has XLR inputs. Combine it with a class 10 SD card. If you want a CD recording, copy the recording (either mp3 or wav) to your computer and burn it. Works a treat for our setup, and has done for about 8 years. The Zoom recorders are also quite cheap, but certainly full featured and robust (the h4n is more robust IMHO).

Cheers,
Michael

Logged

Jon McElvain

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 34
Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2014, 11:38:14 PM »

I don't know much about the computer because it is in the category of "if it ain't broke".  Since we only record the sermon I have no idea what the quality capability is, but I suspect it would be adequate if any care was given to the recording mix.
Logged

Arnold B. Krueger

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 167
Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2014, 10:07:33 AM »

Hello all, New to the forum and am looking for some help with our setup. Also, I apologize in advance.

Me drummer/vocals 25+ years’ experience, functional on live soundboard, not great. Technology Geek.  Have spent a lot of time and money on setting up the sound system with the pastor to where we have a decent sound; could be a lot better if we had a sound engineer.

Our equipment: Electronic drums, aux percussion, keys,  electric guitar, two acoustic guitars, bass, two wired  vocals, 1 wireless vocal and 1 wireless sm58 for misc. message, speakers etc.  At the Sound desk: Soundcraft SI expression 3/32, DBX DriveRack PX, Boss Br1600, Tascam CD-Rw900sl and Windows I7 quad core primarily running Media Shout for service display.

This is where I need help. Currently have the Boss recorder connected using a two mix groups from the board for a stereo out to the Boss (xlrs from board to XLR in on BR1600). The Tascam is then piggy backed from the BR1600 (RCA out to RCA in on Tascam). Average service with worship and message can vary from 1-2 hours. On the boss that means recordings that are about 1gb. We generally use the Tascam just for the message.  If we use the Tascam we would have to use two cds for one service, currently have teens running the desk during service and not sure if they would remember to change. If we want to pull recordings from the BR1600 we have to convert to a wav then export via the built in USB 1.0 which takes a long time to do. We’re looking for thoughts on maybe a different recording system or setup that can help reduce the time it takes to get a service to audio cd.  Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great many more questions about the live sound setup but will save for later.


I think that most authorities would agree that the very best way to record a service is to have a second mixing board with its own mic feeds from a mic splitter, with dedicated skilled operator on the board and an appropriate recorder.

You seem to be simulating the second board and operator with a bunch of aux sends which can IME actually be pretty good.

Your recorder appears to be legacy device that records to a hard drive but can only export via a SP/DIF port.

One key question is the format of and timing requirements for the deliverable.

From an operator ease-of use standpoint the easiest way to make a recording would be following some other good advice that you already have, namely use a good digital recorder that records to modern media, typically a SD,  SDHC or SDXC card but maybe a USB flash drive. 

Just start the recording some time before the first service, close it after the second service, and use just about any PC with a SD card reader if necessary and an audio editor (even the freeware Audacity) to make the recording suitable for distribution.  While you are editing you can fix rough spots in the performance, badly cued starts and stops, levels, etc. You can record with 20 dB or so headroom so that you avoid clipping for sure.
Logged

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Recording system advice/ recomendation Help for small Church
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2014, 10:07:33 AM »


Pages: [1]   Go Up
 



Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.029 seconds with 24 queries.