What would I need to record my band playing life?

[ivanmax]

First of all HI EVERYBODY!!!

I play in a band and we would like to record some videos to upload in Youtube. We want to record ourselves playing life and we have already tried using a crappy video camera...of course the sound was terrible...I suppose because of the very high volume levels that made the mic of the camera clip all the time.

We are know thinking about setting mics on the drums, guitar amp and bass amp and taking everything to a mixing console. From there we would get an stereo output that could go into the audio input of a camcorder. So the camera would need to have an audio input...

Would that be possible? If so what kind of camera would we need? We are looking at buying a digital camera which doesn´t cost a great deal of money (we are not profesionals and just want to do this for fun without spending lots of cash).

Would any of you be so kind as to give us some advice?

Thanks a lot,

Iván

[RFBurns]

Howdy!

It sounds like you got the right approach to what your wanting to do. By all means use a mixer and mics for the music. Perhaps a bit of processing like expanders and compressor/limiters for certian instruments.

All cameras these days have external inputs/outputs on them. But some wont have the analog inputs you need. When getting the camera make sure its got external audio inputs on it. This can be either the mini-plug or RCA's. Also make sure you can export the recorded material without hassles either. The camera should have software and connecting cables for this.

Tip: Get a camera that has good sensitivity, ie low light capabilities and ease of transfering to the PC. I also recommend getting a camera that can shoot 16:9 aspect ratio. Since widescreen is going to become the standard for the future, it also lets you get the entire band on stage with good focal length without having to zoom out a considerable distance just to fit the whole band onto a normal 4:3 screen.

Good luck!