Audio Recording for Concert Videography

It is important to make sure that you when you capture your audio recording at concerts you record it on as many tracks and from as many sources as possible.  As a rule I try to have a minimum of at least 2 sources recorded to 2 independent tracks.  That way if one signal ends up being distorted you always have a backup.  If all your signals sound good, you can mix them in post for a fuller sound.

For a single camera shoot, one source should be from an on camera microphone and the other would be a direct line out of the sound board.  These signals can be recorded directly to the camera but, for higher fidelity 24 bit audio, I like to record the clean signal from the board separately to a digital recorder.

AKROID, An Experiment from Derek 4iLL on Vimeo.

Digital recorders are also advantageous because they can be situated remotely from the camera in the sound booth. Then the camera person is not tethered to sound booth and they can roam around freely without any worry of tripping over cables.

Currently my favourite microphone and recorder combination is the Sennheiser ME66 and the Edirol R-44.

Submitted by:
Derek Shantz – Video Sales Representative
Vistek Toronto