best way to capture live audio and video!!!

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drumfreak1987

Guest
hey guys, the next gig is one that the singer wants to record for promotional use. none of us has any experience doing this. its going to be a benefit hosted by a church, and i can't find any information about the equipment they're going to use, so i can't depend on being able to record audio from the mixer. no information on the environment, either (ceramic, carpet, or wood flooring, outdoor, etc). its pissing me off... even tho i made no promises of a stellar recording even if we find someone who can do it. the sure thing i can think of is getting a camera that has an outlet for an attachment mic, snap on a good external mic, and record the PA output.... anybody have a general method for capturing audio and video at your gigs??
 
Because it's always hit or miss recording audio into the camera, I just eliminate that possibility. When I make a video of myslef playing, the audio is going into something else, and the video is just handled by the video camera. Later on, I'll import both files (audio and video) into iMovie (or Final Cut, or whatever you have), and just sync the two together (in iMovie I can move the audio forward or backward through time just by grabbing it and moving it. Once I have the two synced up, I eliminate any audio the camera would've picked up and save the file. Now you'll have the better audio with your video. It's really the only way I can work, and the way that makes the most sense.

I find it hard to believe that you can't just plug an audio recorder into a couple of outputs at your mixer and just record the audio. Then later put that audio into your video. It'll be a hassle because you'll have to find start and stop points from all every song, but the results will be worth it in your case.

Your other option would be to find someone with a professional video camera that has an XLR-in jack and a pre-amp built-in to the camera. Then he can take the mix of the mixing console straight into his camera and your audio should be acceptable. Although on every pro video shoot I've ever seen, they treat the audio and video as two separate things.
 
The best thing to purchase for this type of thing would be the Zoom Q3HD recorder. Here is a link below.

http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/q3hd/

This product is very common and popular and works well. Downside is limited space with the base SD card. If you can compromise some sound and/or video quality you will have much more space, but on the absolute highest settings (HD video, PCM audio) you will only have about 20 of minutes recording time. Of course simply downgrading to AAC audio will give you a few hours at least. If it must be top notch then you'll have to buy a larger SD card.
 
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