Live recordings with my band

[Algee]

Hey guys. Well its that time, time to record the live mix of my band (with me on the V's).

I have the V's using a TD-10 and four stereo outputs 1)snare + HH 2)toms 3)cymbals and 4) kick, all using an 8 channel snake going to my mackie vlz-1402 mixer. my drums are mixed with two live drum mics, one vocal, 2 guitars, and a bass.

Then, from the tape out, i have a line going into the back of my 'consumer electronic' component tape deck. the quality is amazingly good.

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Now heres the question: what type of tape should i use, one long enough for me to put in at the beginning of the show, flip over to the b-side towards the end of that side inbetween a song, and change to a new tape if i need to?
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What brand, specs, does length matter?

Another point is that many of these recordings will be transfered over later to my computer by putting the tape into my walkman, and taking the headphone out into the mic jack on the back of my computer, and record hard disked copies onto Sound Forge.

So is there a better way of transferring from tape to computer so i can add effects and edit the tracks, and produce them in mass amounts? A cd-recorder? that would get rid of most of the tape hiss, right?

Now if all this would work out, would anyone by any chance have a recorder they wouldn't mind selling me? I'm kinda on a budget. so if so, let me know.

thanks guys for your help!!

[JamieR]

Sound recording (and tranfer) is all about minimizing loss and accuracy. Therefore, in decreasing order of importance:~

1) Don't use the walkman for playback during digital transfer (I'm assuming you are plugging the headphone output jack into your computer). This is an amplified signal, designed to drive a set of headphones, not the line level input on your PC. Consequently you'll have to turn the volume way down, introducing LOADS of hiss from the second stage amp in the walkwan. Use a tape player that has line level (usually phono) outputs.

In terms of tape, use a chrome (or even metal) tape if your recorder supports it. The brand if tape depends very much on your recorder, but if in doubt, stick to the well-known brands. Generally, I wouldn't use anything longer than 90 mins.

2) Better still, use a digital medium for recording the live stereo feed to avoid introducing tape hiss - a digital portastudio, your PC, DAT, digital VCR, digital video camera, etc...

3) Watch those levels! (Get a good S/N ratio - not too low, not too high). A bit of compression on the stereo mix helps smooth things out, give a fuller sound and protect against any nasty surprises, but as with all effects, don't go mad.

4) Actually, this is the most important of all. Make sure the SOURCES are up to scratch(guitar strings, mics, drum heads, lead singer's voice, musicians playing ability, mikes, monitoring, etc..)

To coin a phase, "**** in, **** out".

Good luck,

J