mic/recording

[Calvin Marks]

Hi all, Im a total beginner when it comes to the world of recording. I need to make a DVD recording for an audition and I'm not sure where to begin.

My friend told me that most camcorders are not good quality enough to pick up a decent sound so he said he just use the camcorder to capture the video then plug in a mic to capture the sound.

Now, the question....What's a good quality recording device to record just arco...nothing plucked.

Thank you very kindly.

[Dave Martin]

Calvin, what part of the world are you in? You may well be better off going with a professional for this, for a couple of reasons: First, every hour you spend trying to figure out how to record your performance is an hour you didn't spend perfecting for your performance. Second, high quality microphones are really expensive to buy (a great sounding Neumann U47 can cost around $8K, and even the venerable RCA 44dx ribbons seem to have past the $4k mark) and a cheap one sounds cheap. Lastly, having a great sounding room and a knowledgeable engineer do make a difference.

If the audition is important to your future, a few hundred dollars might not be a bad investment...

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Dave Martin

Calvin, what part of the world are you in? You may well be better off going with a professional for this, for a couple of reasons: First, every hour you spend trying to figure out how to record your performance is an hour you didn't spend perfecting for your performance. Second, high quality microphones are really expensive to buy (a great sounding Neumann U47 can cost around $8K, and even the venerable RCA 44dx ribbons seem to have past the $4k mark) and a cheap one sounds cheap. Lastly, having a great sounding room and a knowledgeable engineer do make a difference.

If the audition is important to your future, a few hundred dollars might not be a bad investment...

Good idea, never actually considered the idea of a professional since I thought audio-engineers only deal with...well audio, and I to make something that captures the video aspect as well.

Good idea though, I'll look into it!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

Good idea, never actually considered the idea of a professional since I thought audio-engineers only deal with...well audio, and I to make something that captures the video aspect as well.

Good idea though, I'll look into it!

Calvin, if you have a teacher that is a professional bassist and I am sure that you do, why not just ask him? I am sure he has recorded in studios with Orchestras in the past and maybe even solo.

I used to have YEARS ago a Nakamichi tape recorder and a nice Mic (which I still own) and that unit recorded pretty good. I did a Guitar and Bass recording one time and it sounded as good as our playing.

[Joel Larsson]

I don't know exactly what kind of audition this is, but if it is one of those "please send a disc and we'll tell you if we want you to come and play later" kind of auditions (or maybe some audition for a scholarship or an exchange year at another school) you need not go through all that much trouble. Just get something decent enough as to not distort the sounds you make to a point where you actually can't hear whether you can play or not. I did that once, when I messed up at the recording session, meaning I had to record myself on my cell phone later on... sounded precisely like I was playing through a bad phone..! Still, it was the only thing I could do, so I sent it. Then the school called back after a while and asked me to make a better one, which I did. Again, in a hurry, and on a Macbook with no external mike, but it was good enough for them this time. They just needed a little better sound.

Now, here's how I do it these days. It doesn't seem as if you have a recording machine for your practising? If this is something that you've been thinking about getting, get one, and use that. I think that for instance, a Zoom H2 is listed at about €200. That's where thay start, but you don't REALLY need amore expensive one. It'll be good enough for the audio. Then just borrow somebody's handycam (maybe your school can even provide you with one?) but even a computer with an average web camera will do. I think most Macbooks are equipped with one that will give the viewer a fair idea of how and what you look like when you play. I think a simple program such as Movie Maker would be enough then to mute the audio from the vid and put the one from the recording machine in its stead. I've done all this myself, apart from the Movie Maker bit, and the quality hasn't provoked anyone. Yet.

What I would avoid is recording on minidisc, or any other format that's difficult to copy to your computer. Like tape. You want something that creates a proper audio file already on your machine. A minidisc is fine for practising, but you'll get problems converting the music. I can be done, but... MD's are very 2000 anyway.

Now, if it is a bloody serious audition, with NO live auditioning, you might want to get outside help... but in nineteen cases out of twenty, I reckon this is enough.

[Calvin Marks]

Hey, thanks for the info. It's a Masters audition tape for a Conservatory in the U.S.

[Tomas Bouda]

hey calvin. guess what? you have an easier time ahead of you than you think! why not book out the recital hall at the UofT and get them to record your audio/visual? if that doesn't work out, i know that WLU rents out their big hall for audio/visual recording. my graduation recital was recorded by audio AND visual!

ps
my macbook is awesome for recording - imovie kicks it.

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Tomas Bouda

hey calvin. guess what? you have an easier time ahead of you than you think! why not book out the recital hall at the UofT and get them to record your audio/visual? if that doesn't work out, i know that WLU rents out their big hall for audio/visual recording. my graduation recital was recorded by audio AND visual!

ps
my macbook is awesome for recording - imovie kicks it.

Hey, UT does audio only and the hall is booked solid until April when my recital is. I need to make the tape by mid January. Perhaps a recording studio will have video equipment too.

[Rob Palmer]

Is it worth trying to find a tame media student who can record you on audio/video as a project? Just a thought!