Live recording gear

[JohnHerbert]

I’d like to record (audio and video) at a guitar event. Mostly non-amplified. There will be jam sessions in an out doors, and live stage and teaching performances. For decent audio I usually use my Sony DAT with a stereo mic (if I’m close enough) but I’d like to get video as well. So, my question is this; does anyone have a suggestion of audio and video equipment best suited for this application, keeping in mind I’m also a participant and don’t want to be lugging around heavy equipment. I’d like to easily capture the sound quality (along with the video) for later viewing and editing. Sound being the more important component.

[Shiny Beast]

If you're serious about the sound, get a digital multi-track recorder (Tascam, Yamaha, Alesis, Korg, etc.), get a multi-mic splitter box, and record each stage mic separately. Obviously you need the cooperation of the live sound crew for this. It would also be good to get ambience tracks from a stereo pair out front (your camera mic might be sufficient for this) Take the raw tracks home and mix them down in your computer (if you don't have an adequate console). Lots of decent, fairly cheap recording software available-- you probably already have it. I've never needed to sync my stuff to live video so I'm not an expert there (maybe Sony Vegas or some such can do all this) , but you can get great live sound with the method above-- IF you are competent at multi-track mixing. Yes, it's not cheap if you don't have a recorder and/or splitter...

On the cheap, you could get a stereo feed out of the live console and bring it into your camera's auxiliary audio input (again with help from the sound crew). This gives you very little flexibility afterwards, but it should be a lot better than just using your camera mic.