How to Record Your Gigs

[@Lucy-yc4bc]

For the algorithm 👊

[@henryeowens]

How have I never seen anyone post a video about this? Thanks for helping us out, dude.

[@seanmarshallmusic]

Thanks Andrew! This video put aside my anxieties or fears that recording my own gigs would be a cumbersome or overly complex addition to my night

[@room34]

Good stuff… and pretty similar to my setup for recording gigs - a Tascam 4-track field recorder like your Zoom, and one or two phone cameras. A few additional observations (some of which you make, but have struggled with myself): 1) Phone camera audio has gotten surprisingly good. Not as good as a dedicated audio recorder, but it's surprisingly usable. 2) Most of these audio recorders have an auto-level that works pretty well, even if it errs on the side of really quiet… but again you can just normalize in post-production. (I always do a bit of EQ and compression as well.) 3) Don't trust batteries! I always have everything plugged in. 4) Clear space on your devices before the show! 5) Be careful where you put your tripod. I have a lot of video that is ruined by constant vibrations the tripod picked up from the floor or a wall it was up against. Regarding the 4-track field recorder, my band is 2 saxes, bass (me) and drums. I got really good results having the Tascam at the front of the stage with a built-in mic pointed at each sax player, and then I used the 2 XLR inputs, one DI from my bass amp, and the other to a Shure SM57 that I had on a mini stand on the floor under the snare drum. The built-in mics picked up enough of the cymbals, but having that mic on the floor, picking up mainly snare and kick, allowed me to adjust those levels in the final mix and get a surprisingly crisp drum sound. (I say this all in the past tense because I only bothered with this setup once… in February 2020. Our gigs got a lot more sporadic after that for some reason. But the results were good enough that we released it as a live album.)

[@ampthebassplayer]

That’s great info. Thanks for sharing! Crazy that you were able to make an album out of your live performance with that setup!

[@jefffalciani]

Thank you for doing this video on video. I love your stuff. Short, to the point, and like a regular guy. (Not a “influencer”) Very much appreciated!

[@ampthebassplayer]

Ha! I didn't feel like 18 minutes was short, but I'm glad you enjoyed it all the same!

[@bendeckers7153]

Thanks AMP, been wondering about this topic for ages and I find your video very helpful

[@floofthebassplayer]

(4:16) That shit killed me lmao, and yea for my videos I use my phone as the camera and as an audio input, use that to give me room noise and let my mic do most of the vocal work. Works wonders!

[@koreyfreemanofficial]

Good video. I think shooting yourself in 4k for 1 hr is overkill unless you have big plans for your footage. 1080p will save you a ton of storage space and still be high quality. EDIT: you addressed this later in the video

[@ampthebassplayer]

Great minds!

[@andylove1224]

Awesome. Thank you!

[@bassclefconnoisseur]

chAMP! Thanks, we needed this

[@saxofong]

Great tips sir AMP

[@ampthebassplayer]

Thanks Kenny!

[@ravetank]

I absolutely love the Zoom H4N! Completely swear by it and I use it a lot to archive both our own shows and other people's bands, in fact we recently did a live album using the microphones on it as the foundation for the sound. I really need to start using those XLRs on the back to get a copy of the mix directly from the soundboard instead of just relying on the mics though, it's only really just occured to me to do that over the past few days, hopefully next time we hit a well equipped venue I'll look into that as a possibility.

[@ampthebassplayer]

It makes a huge difference. It’s absolutely worth the extra bit of effort.

[@checkedoff]

Have you looked at Zoom livetrak or Tascam Model 16? You can multitrack record through the mixer onto an SD card directly.

[@ampthebassplayer]

I have not, but that sounds like it would be a great option.

[@wasatchgumby]

Yep...saving this for future reference. Great video.

[@PaddyLeggBass]

Awesome video man, super helpful - much appreciated broski ✌️

[@TheFendertak]

Hi thanks for your excellent instruction on yhe Zoom H4n , I still have issues where going home in the van after a gig listening back to my recording of my gig the audio is so distorted, you mention Xlr's to main outs on the desk so to get exactly whats going out FOH , I did see the 2 red lights blinking continuously throughout the night , now im after reading into this and its said i cannot go direct from the mixing desk , you would think by hoking up 2 XLR'S and direct to desk main outs that you would hear a perefect clear recording ,even my voicelive 2 harmonies sound distitorted , please help as to where im going wrong here ,i literally cannot bring the rec level down any further and still the sound is distorted,

[@mojoemurphy]

I use three GoPros for filming my bands. I'd suggest trying 24 frames per second and set your shutter speed to 1/48. Max iso at 400 so you don't get a ton of noise as well.

[@armg2020]

"I neeeeeeeed it...." 😂

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

13:54 My viewers have never not once cared about noise so it's better to shoot for details and fluidity/feel then worrying about noise.

[@GuyFi46]

Love the bebop reference :)

[@tompass82]

Great crash course!

[@psmail007]

I think this vid is the best of its type on YT. Thanks! Can i add a couple of of things? Come across to Team DJI - The Osmo Action 4 has a much larger sensor than inthink any GoPro at this time and performs much better in low light and is pretty cheap right now. Oh and describing multi cam would have been nice to see ... But again this is a great vid - thanks. Oh and 2k is a happy medium for zoom and file size ... Ok im done.

[@ampthebassplayer]

I’ve heard good things about the DJI cams! I would love to try them out. For multicam stuff, I highly recommend Casey Faris. His tutorials for DaVinci resolve are very easy to follow.

[@ThatGuyOnBassYT]

HELL YEAH

[@neasom]

Hey @amp , i've watched this video a dozen times. Got myself a Zoom H4n and a gopro 10. Basically just want song videos to post on youtube and insta for my band. Question for ya re GoPro - used it for the first time and it seemed to keep turning off/battery died pretty quickly. I am using the exact settings you showed in this video. Do you find battery life is pretty limited? I also am seeing a whole bunch of material split into different files on my sd card. Like a song is split across 2 files. Is that something you've come across and can help me troubleshoot? keep up the great work on the channel my man

[@ampthebassplayer]

Yes, what you’re seeing with the files is totally normal. The way GoPros work is they film in “chunks” and when the file gets to a certain size, it’ll split it and start a new one. The battery should last close to an hour, at least that’s how long mine goes. Are you using first party batteries? GoPro makes white enduro ones that I’ve found are really solid.

[@neasom]

@@ampthebassplayer thanks. Yes got official batteries. Weird about the chunks but good to know it's normal

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

10:48 Yeah the only reason I use a DSLR at all after getting my smamsung S22 ultra is for the SD card port alone... Like it is that much nicer then having to use Google photos to get stuff off my camera espacly videos.... Though the S22 ultra beats it in every other catgory but cost... Then again the S22 has thusneds of dollars worth of equalvalent DSLR lens that don't natively fit on my Canon M50 MKII.

[@MudkipE]

Thanks for the tips on how to record any sort of gig! Do you think you can do a How to Sound Like Mikey Way from My Chemical Romance?

[@ampthebassplayer]

Thanks so much! I haven’t done any of those videos recently, but I’m thinking of reviving the series but doing it a bit differently.

[@jazzmasterbator]

did indeed come to watch this after you recommended it in your iem video lol

[@jazzmasterbator]

zoom recorders are great, as a film student i tend to use them a lot for recording stuff for sound design but i havent thought about using them for gigs and practices... cool asf

[@ampthebassplayer]

Right on! Glad you found it helpful!

[@davidchapamusicofficial]

Please come to Colorado and record one of my shows. 😂

[@ampthebassplayer]

For the right price, I will absolutely travel!

[@victortoweet]

What do you think of the irig, for recording your in ear mix?

[@ampthebassplayer]

Never used one before, but I have split my IEM mix and sent it to the Zoom recorder though.

[@r.l.rachel740]

None of my business: Is LowEnd Lobster Ok ? No worries if U do not answer for privacy reasons. Appreciate Ur recording insights. All the best to U in 2024.

[@ampthebassplayer]

He has a post on his Community tab, but the short answer is he's taking an extended break. Thanks for watching!

[@mgr_1138]

[@RHCJam]

Hey AMP! love your channel. We've followed a lot of your tips and been recording with Zoom H6, phones, and a GoPro. Check out the videos on our page and we'd love some feedback! (We've also recently shifted to using a Tascam model 12 mixer/interface for recording audio, but that's a newer move). One question i have is about files and storage. It's a big headache to be constantly shifting files between phone and desktop Mac (where i do editing in iMovie), then those devices filling up and having to keep deleting. Any tips for dealing with that, or is it unavoidable?