Recording band rehearsal

[89strat]

What are the advantages/disadvantages of recording band rehearsals as a song vs. directly as an MP3?

I've recorded a few band rehearsals as MBR songs using settings suggested by hewhoiscalledj in a previous thread and that's working pretty well (Thanks hewhoiscalledj!!!) I'm just using the built-in mic w/ the Only Lmt effect, Sns -10 and input level at 85. Probably should check out the Sony stereo mic y'all have been talking about.

I've then been exporting the track out to MP3, but now I'm wondering why not just record direct to MP3 and save the exporting step?

Any experience or other suggestions for the best ways to use the MBR to capture a rehearsal?

[Ferryman_1957]

If you record as a song, you can edit and apply mastering effects before you create the mp3. So you can enhance the basic recording before making the mp3. I'd always do it that way - the mastering effects are very powerful. If you record in mp3 mode, you can't do that.

Cheers,

Nigel

[89strat]

Thanks for the response.

The main thing I want to capture from rehearsals is the raw room mix, so we can hear and learn from the good, bad and the ugly and then (hopefully) improve next time. I don't really want to add reverb or ? that would hide the goofs we need to correct. So I'm not clear on how the mastering effects will help enhance the basic recording for this scenario.

So far, I've just been recording as a song, then exporting the track to mp3, so it seems like going direct to mp3 will eliminate a step without any downside.

Any other thoughts on the best and easiest way to record band practice?

[hewhoiscalledj]

For the purpose of just re-listening to your sessions so you can critique, re-write, whatever... I'd agree that just going to MP3 directly wouldnt be a bad idea. The thing is, I like mastering to WAVE for 2 resons: it's uncompressed so the quality is twice as good as an mp3 (you can hear more of whats going on the way it actually sounded during the session and this could be important.) and the second reason is so i can burn a cd to listen to while i'm on my drive to work (sometimes i just bring the BR with me.)

avoid mastering to mp3 only to convert it back to wave. as a time saver, your idea works perfectly. the only disadvantage is that you lose a good bit of quality on your mp3.

good luck man.

[Ferryman_1957]

The main thing I want to capture from rehearsals is the raw room mix, so we can hear and learn from the good, bad and the ugly and then (hopefully) improve next time. I don't really want to add reverb or ? that would hide the goofs we need to correct. So I'm not clear on how the mastering effects will help enhance the basic recording for this scenario.

Well, mastering won't hide the goofs. You can't change the mix or do anything major. What mastering will do is allow you to make the recording sound more "alive" and punchy, and also change the eq a bit and apply some compression/limiting. You can just listen to the song to hear it raw and still turn it into an mp3. But what if it actually sounds quite good (ie not many mistakes) ? With a bit of mastering you could turn out a reasonable live demo. You don't gain anything by recording in mp3 mode rather than song mode, but as hewhoiscalledj points out, you do lose quality. And it's no hassle to do it this way either.

Cheers,

Nigel

[hewhoiscalledj]

actually, i'm not even sure if you would have access to any effects (like the limiter) while in MP3 mode. i could be wrong.

[89strat]

thanks for the explanations guys! I guess I need to spend more time learning about and playing with mastering, which I haven't gotten into very much yet. And the point about better quality/clarity going out to WAV makes good sense. So I'm sold, song mode offers more options.

Re: effects being available when recording in mp3 mode, I checked that out and they can be selected in that mode, so you can use Only Lmt like you suggested in the earlier thread.

"But what if it actually sounds quite good (ie not many mistakes) ?"

LOL, I appreciate the optimism! You haven't heard us yet!   

[fdask]

I recorded a practice with my MBR yesterday.  It was just a drum kit and a bass amp.  Had to play around a lot with the sensitivity on the built in mic, and position the unit closer to the amp than the drums.  I recorded direct into 128kb mp3.  Sounds fine.

Before getting the MBR, we'd record using a cheap microphone into a computer to wav, then have to dump to mp3.  This just cuts a few steps out of the process.  So sweet.