kriss Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I'm starting up a night at a local venue for drone/ambient/shoegaze live acts and I'd like to record the sets for limited run cassettes and lathe cuts and such. The venue I'm working with is totally cool with me recording, but they don't have any of their own to provide. Ideally, I'd like to just get a mixer that I can put all of the instruments and mics through and then dump into mixing software from there on my laptop. I've been looking at a few options, but since I'm completely clueless at this stuff - I won't be personally mixing any of it or recording any of it, I have a sound engineer friend who will be handling that, I just need to put the money down for the equipment, itself - I don't know what to look into. A couple of mixers seem to be what I'm looking for but are on the cheaper end, so I'm not sure how they'd fare (below $200). Anyone have any suggestions for something that's up to $400? Stuff like this *seems* to be going in the right direction, but I'm not entirely sure: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/behringer-xenyx-1204usb-usb-mixer?src=3WWRWXGP http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MW10c?utm_source=CSEGoogle&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&utm_term=MW10c&rkg_attid=334011355&SID=1&zmam=89202644&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=MW10c In terms of what I'm recording, the drone and ambient artists will probably only take up a few channels while the shoegaze bands are typical one or two guitar and bass with vocal mic set ups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I have something similar to the first link. I just use it for home recording and it works pretty well. I don't know how it would work recording full band though. Probably not bad at all provided you have decent mics. I just run it into the mic input on my laptop with a stereo mini jack to RCA plugged into the tape out on the mixer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted February 2, 2013 Author Share Posted February 2, 2013 What recording program do you use? I'm looking at a couple that have pared down versions of ProTools, but I've gotten quite used to working in Audacity when working on podcasts and such. The venue has a good bit in the way of mics and, I believe, they even have an overhead mic for the drums - just trying to figure out which mixer can best help with minimizing instrument bleed with full band sets. The drone and ambient sets will be easy since those are usually one or two person set ups with synthesizers, guitars, pedal boards, and easy stuff like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I use Reaper. It is free to use with no restrictions, but a message comes up asking if you want to buy it when you open it. I haven't bought it yet. It is like $60, so I should probably get it soon. From my experience, it took the user friendliness of programs like Garageband and made it work as well as a program like ProTools. I really enjoy it. It has made recording a lot easier. http://www.reaper.fm/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriss Posted February 2, 2013 Author Share Posted February 2, 2013 thanks, man! Will definitely check this out. I use Garageband when I'm doing basic stuff with podcasts like adding music and doing crossfades and things like that. Would love to have something that has the ease of GB with the higher quality of PT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabpower Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I use this Zoom R16 with Reaper. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/zoom-r16-multitrack-recorder-interface-controller Not analog but damn good for the price. Totally portable and each tracks are separated in your computer. Put a 16 gb SD card in there and your good for about 4-5 hours with 8 tracks at once. Way better than my old Yamaha 4 track recorder. I once recorded a live show with it and it came out great except for one mic which had trouble. I recorded a lot of jams with it and they're all super good. It does take a bit of time to get used to it but it's so fast and easy working with digital tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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