Filming a Live Gig

[Mike Jeffs]

Biggest tip you and your camera operators be there for as many rehearsals as you can. see what the band does and what blocking they have for there stage. the more times you see there show the more you will notice what you need to make sure to record.

if you can’t be there for rehearsals or you don’t have much time to plan your set up. with 4 cameras i would have 1 in the back as a lock down wide ( don’t put it on the jib if you don’t have to) i would use your jib either stage right or left as close to the stage as you can ( you may have to content with spectators who can’t see. ) place camera 3 opposite the jib stage left at least stage height or higher 45 degree angle works great. use camera 4 as a hand held or roving camera. ( great for crowd shots close ups on drummer etc. ) if you can’t hand hold it then i would place it in front of the stage Getting your lead singer as you thought about.

As for your sound i would get my own small mixer get the feed from the house and also set up some crowd mics. ( live guys almost always cut the mics when the crowds cheers at the end of a song)

send that feed to whatever you are recording to.

Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho

[Steven Sharples]

Hi Mike,

That is great, thanks for the invaluable tips, It is hugely beneficial to me to have someone like yourself give me pointers. I will almost certainly set it up this way

Thanks again

Steve

Everyday above ground is a good day.

[Eric Lagerlof]

Make sure you check with (and if possible, make ‘nice’ with) the people who own/run the venue. You need to check and make sure your camera positions will be approved and work when an audience is present, especially true when swinging a jib around. Also that you will have room for ‘video village’, i.e. where you and your switcher are going to live and that you’ll have tables/chairs to put your gear and yourselves on.

Double check cable runs too, if you have to run across doorways and other footpaths you may have to not only tape but use ‘yellowjackets’ – plastic ramp/trays that you put on the floor. And if you can let house sound know you want a tap from the ahead of time, that’s handy too. And don’t forget clear com!

[Jordan Wolf]

Steven,

As a sound guy, my recommendation is to rent a standalone recorder that you can hook up (with permission) to the FOH console – that is, the sound board that mixes the sound for the audience. You will take the signal from the Direct Output on each channel you want to record and input it into the recorder. You then arm each track for recording, and start recording. Each input is recorded separately.

Common recorders for this purporse are:

Alesis HD24 or HD24XR
Tascam MX2424 (I think…do a search)

The sound company who is providing for the show (if it’s not an installed rig) might have one with the console already. Check it out and see what you can do. 🙂

Wolf
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[Steven Sharples]

Excellent,

Thanks for all the help, it is making real good sense to rent one of these as we can do a live mix for the live broadcast, and a separate mix for the DVD once all the tracks are down on disk.

Cannot tell you how much this has helped!

Thanks Again!

Steve

Everyday above ground is a good day.

[Rich Stahle]

if you haven’t done this yet . . .

cam positions: if 3 cams use 1 always on lead singer, stage right and stage left, if you have a 4th then far stage/crowd shots.

audio: as mentioned check w/venue & sound guy to get feeds to multitrack the audio.

also instead of trying to switch/edit on the fly collect asll the footage/audio and edit/mix in post.

Damaged FX
Underground Video Television
My Director Website