Recording band practice..how?

[holdempok]

MAybe the suggestion about the plug in power I said was inncorrect. But the sensitivity is a major factor. You had it on +8?

get it down to -10 - -12. should not clip.

[hewhoiscalledj]

Think of Sensitivity as the main setting to adjust. The Level wheel is just for fine tuning; although you'll want this as high as possible so if you have to dip below 80, you may be better off lowering the Sensitivity instead.

Also, try recording it dry with no effects. After setting the stuff above, press the Effects button and turn them off while recording. Then when you master the song, you can experiment with all the different Master effects. I'd suggest the Mix Down or Live Mix settings. From there, you can fine tune the Mix EQ, use a limiter if necessary and adjust the compression settings.

There's a lot to learn but look at this way... Once you get this down, you'll have a better understanding of the Tracking/Mixing/Mastering process. It's really not any different from what a real studio does.

[Taco Vine]

Also, try recording it dry with no effects. After setting the stuff above, press the Effects button and turn them off while recording.

If I'm recording with MIC what impact does effects ON have?  I'm really curious.  Also, will I get significant better results with an external MIC?

PS.. I've never fooled around with Mix or even effects.  I've mainly been time stretching MP3s and playing along.  This is very helpful, thanks everyone!

[hewhoiscalledj]

When you select MIC as your input, I believe the MicroBR defaults the EFFECT setting to ON. This may or may not include certain settings like Delay, Compression, EQ, etc... that you may or may not want in your recording. Keep in mind that before recording, you may change these EFFECT settings (not just for MIC but the GTR and LINE effects may be selected as well.) Personally, I much prefer recording dry (especially at first) so that you can experiment with different settings after you've already recorded your track(s.)

The built-in-Mic is actually a pretty decent little condenser mic which picks up on a broad frequency range and is very well suited to recording most situations. The problem I run into is when I'm recording in a very loud live band rehearsal/performance. I end up with quite a lot of distortion (mostly from snare/kick) even with the SENSITIVITY and INPUT as low as possible. With the settings that low, the recording is extremely lifeless and dull.

With a better MIC with higher SPL (sound pressure level) rating, there is less distortion so you can set the Sensitivity/Level higher and get a better recording. I started out using a Sony Electet Condensor which is an improvement over the built-in mic, but it still didn't solve the distortion problem. My solution was to close-mic all the instruments into a spare PA (any mixer with enough pre-amps will do) using dynamic mics and then route a stereo signal from the PA/mixer into the MicroBR. You can perfect the mix on the PA and monitor it to make sure there is no clipping. This has yielded the best results so far but I'm considering adding a condenser mic to the PA as a room mic to pick up certain things and help blend it all together nicely. You actually get pretty good results with just a couple of mics into the PA as a stereo pair but experiment, mix and match and let us know how that goes!

[Greeny]

I'm going to try and get a live recording this weekend (just me and an electro-acoustic in the pub), but will be trying to get a stereo input straight from the mixing desk. I haven't tried this with the BR yet, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

If I can't plug it in direct, I'll just whack it in front of the monitor and hope for the best.

[Flash Harry]

Record it flat with no effects!

[Greeny]

Record it flat with no effects!

OK... a real 'warts and all' recording 

Can I mix it down with the 'live' patch though?!

[Flash Harry]

It depends on your vanity!

[Greeny]

Live recording here...

http://microrecorders.org/community/recording/first-live-recording-with-the-br/msg7557/#new