Equipment for Live in-studio audio & video sessions

[musictech]

I need to put together the audio side of things for a client that wants to bring indy bands in to the client's studio (no location yet... planning stage) to do totally "live" recordings while shooting video with 3 or 4 cameras at the same time.

These will be live performances, but there will be no audience, so no need for a FOH system. But, they don't really want to do the multitrack record and mix later thing, so they still want to mix pretty much live to stereo , although I'm going to recommend a some sort of multi-track recorder in parallel with a 2 channel recorder (plus timecode) for backup reasons and in case they want to venture into surround in the future.

Having worked at a major recording studio in the past, where I've occasionally done live to 2-track recordings of 20 piece jazz bands and such, I have an idea of the equipment I would choose if money was no limit. Plus, I've been doing some additional research to put together my own list for this client.

However, I've been doing the smaller project studio thing for almost 10 years now and only renting out big studios when I need to track large groups, so I'm looking to get some ideas and suggestions that I may not have thought of from some people who maybe do this type of thing already.

The ideal target budget is around $50,000 for the audio side of things, but they said they could go up to $100,000 if necessary. That's actually a pretty decent budget. But this needs to include EVERYTHING needed to do the audio side, cables, stands, monitors, power conditioning, etc.

Some thoughts:

MIXING CONSOLE:

They will probably have just one audio engineer, so I would lean towards a digital mixing console to handle both the live mixing and monitoring. Probably a DM2000 with some extra pre-amp options, or a PM5D if it can fit into the budget. I personally own an O2R96, so I'm familiar with the Yamaha line, but I only record one person at a time here so haven't had to deal with live tracking and monitoring issues. Anyone have experience with these boards in a live recording and monitoring environment? Or other suggestions.

MONITORS:

A lot of feedback and live sound issues can be eliminated since there is no need for FOH, but we would still need a monitor system that doesn't involve big clunky headphones since they will be shooting video at the same time. My thoughts here would be to have floor wedges and also an in-ear system, so the bands can choose their preference. Since I've never done live sound, I'm not up on what are reasonable systems for wedges and in-ear monitors. Some starting recommendations would be great.

MICROPHONES:

My hope would be that most bands would go with the in-ear monitors, allowing them to use pretty much any microphones without feedback issues from monitor wedges. I've got a good grasp on the "standard" microphones I would pick in the studio from drums and most instruments. However, I would be interested in seeing some suggestions for "live" type vocal microphones that work well with floor wedges and still give a good studio quality sound.

RECORDERS:

Since this will be all live recordings with no overdubs or extensive editing, I'm looking for simple and reliable at a decent price. They can probably use the video editing computers for simple stereo editing of recorded audio takes later on, so I would probably avoid using a computer for the live recordings. Maybe something like an Alesis HD24 for multitrack running parallel with something like a Masterlink for live stereo mix... but, preferably a two track with timecode as well (maybe like the new Tascam digital field recorder that records to compact flash and has timecode). I'm open to some good suggestions here.

Anyway, sorry to make this long... just trying to flush out some ideas and you guys always have great advice!

Thanks!

Steve

[cajonezzz]

Steve, you can do this for WAY less than your 50k budget.

I would assume that your going to end up in multitrack world, since your not doing a live tv mix. You could easily budget say 32 ch of Truesystems 8 ch, have that go to any one of the decent HDR's out there (The Mackie's sound fine, RADAR would kik ass) as a discreet multitrack archive, then feed your console ( whatever works, I'd look into a midas Venice or Verona or similar FoH board that could generate multiple monitor mixes) and do a TV mix / two mix there. Get code from the house sync and lock your machines, slate as well-

I'd Highly recommend getting an Aviom system with as many satelite mixers and UE5 earbuds to make IE mixes. If you go with a Yammie console, there is a card available to jam right in there to drive Aviom. My bud does this with one of the new little yam digital mixers, then uses a laptop wifi rig to mix from the audience via WIFI to the console at side stage ( both o1v96's, and the other newer one, don't remember the model)

Budget for a split rack and snake as well- who knows, maybe they'll do a location hit sometime?

Love to hear more about the show, and talk to you about it, I'm doing kinda similar ddown here, but I'm doing it in studio in front of a live audience, with a small FOH rig as well as tracking to Tools in the A room.

craig z