Another job offer: Recording a live show

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::XeS::

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Today I received another live sound related proposal. A band asked me if I can record one of their live show, because they need some live recording for a radio show interview they will do.
They have 4 show in the next weeks and I decided to record the most important show, in the big location (Ritchie Kotzen, Municipal Waste and Aborted played there).
Don't know yet how many mics they usually use in that location, so I don't know if I will use only my profire 2626 or also the Octopre for more inputs.
Actually I'm thinking to use the internal HD of my macbook pro (5400rpm) because I don't wanna carry too many things.
I've to ask also which board they use in that venue so I can think about the connections.
And finally the big question: how much would you charge for a job like this? I mean, the work doesn't take too many hours, but obviously I have to go there in the afternoon and go home in the night so....what's a fair rate for this kind of work?
 
bad idea to use the internal drive of your laptop... both because it is your system drive, which you should never record to... and also because it's only 5400 rpm... just a bad idea. use an external firewire. usb is also a bad idea.

your chances of a failure or drop-outs using any of the above scenarios are exponentially higher than if you simply take an external FW drive for the job.
 
Ok I will carry my buddy Lacie :) Thanks for the advices.
What about using a 2048 Buffer size? I think it's more secure also because I don't need a real time monitoring (128).
Using groups is a good idea but I think it's better to mic every instrument and mix them at home. Also because the monitor capability with the loud sound (also with headphones) of a venue is not too accurate.
 
James Murphy said:
bad idea to use the internal drive of your laptop... both because it is your system drive, which you should never record to... and also because it's only 5400 rpm... just a bad idea. use an external firewire. usb is also a bad idea.

your chances of a failure or drop-outs using any of the above scenarios are exponentially higher than if you simply take an external FW drive for the job.
Click to expand...

I have recorded many live shows to my internal hard drive without a problem, but I use a very high i/o buffer (1024 samples), because there is no active monitoring going on, and my HD is also a 7200. I typically only record 10 tracks at a time, so if you're going to be doing more than 2 tracks I agree with James that you definitely need an external.

If you have 16 inputs you should be able to get each track individually using the direct outs of the board... even small boards have direct outs or you can use the insert point trick, you insert the cable halfway so signal is sent but not returned if there are no direct outputs.

Most boards are 1/4" but some will have XLR sends, be prepared for both if you can't find out beforehand. If you have an extra 2 inputs take a board mix (left and right) just in case something is wrong with your multitracks.

Take one of your LDCs and put it in a good position to catch crowd noise, then automate that mic up and down between songs.

I would charge $100 for tracking a 1 hour set, plus whatever you charge to mix.
 
Thank you.
To record I think to use the send of each channel or the channel outs (it depends on the board). I have to investigate which is their equipment.
I'll use high i/o buffer too because I don't need a real time monitoring
 
James Murphy said:
bad idea to use the internal drive of your laptop... both because it is your system drive, which you should never record to... and also because it's only 5400 rpm... just a bad idea. use an external firewire. usb is also a bad idea.

your chances of a failure or drop-outs using any of the above scenarios are exponentially higher than if you simply take an external FW drive for the job.
Click to expand...

James,

Question...

Do you mean that the DAW itself should be loaded to an external? Pro Tools is currently on my internal, yet I save the bounces to external.

Not really sure what the "right" way of doing things is here. If my plugins should be internal/external, samples, etc.

Joe
 
J.DavisNJ said:
James,

Question...

Do you mean that the DAW itself should be loaded to an external? Pro Tools is currently on my internal, yet I save the bounces to external.

Not really sure what the "right" way of doing things is here. If my plugins should be internal/external, samples, etc.

Joe
Click to expand...

DAW/Plugins on OS drive, sessions on external
 
One more thing, mixing, tracking, etc...wavs will be on the internal by default before saved right? Duh...sorry such a newb question, but I'd hate to lose anything. I'm not the most computer literate guy.

Joe
 
This will depend a lot on the venue. Some boards will have direct outs on the monitor board or the main board that they will let you tap into. But many of the engineers aren't cool unless they know you or something. Or they barely know enough about the gear themselves.

At a couple of the less equipped venues, I would bring my own board and run sound too. Then I would take the direct line outs and run them to my interface.

Worst case scenario, you end up running your own set of mics. But this can be good depending on what the venues use. Drums are the ones that get particularly goofy. But you can do it with clip on mics or stands.

Hopefully you can backline, so you can soundcheck and set-up early. If not, get as much set-up ahead of time as you can. So that way come show time, you are ready to go and you can stay out of the way of the house engineers and other bands, fans, etc.

Definitely a good idea to have a couple of omni-mics for the crowd noise. Also DI's for bass and guitars just in case you have to re-amp. It is pretty amazing how little bleed there is. So you can even overdub mistakes and then re-amp.

Also put the laptop/desktop and hard drive on a piece of foam for vibration isolation. This can really wreak havoc on the hard drives and cause lots of performance issues. External drive is a must since most laptops have slow drives and reliability is a must. Not like you can do a re-take!

As far as charging, charge at least your normal rate. But count in your time packing up, setting up, getting there early, tearing down, etc. Why should the band get a break when you have to move all your gear, set-up under the stress of band-switchover and crowd attention spans, work around/with a varying degree of live engineers, higher possibility of stolen/damaged gear, etc.

Yeah rates these days suck and bands "claim" they are broke, but it is way more hassle for you to be there. Consider 4 hours set-up and tear down, plus the hour set or so. Then you have mixing, editing, possibly re-amping. Say another 5 hours. At $20 an hour, that would be $200 bucks. That would be the minimum I would take.

$50 per member in a 4 person band. Think food and beer for the night... members could easily rack that up at bar and restaurant prices. Tell them to make bean burritos at home and buy a case of beer in the van, there costs covered :lol:
 
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