Recording a church service

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  • #63662
    Profile photo of BJBJ
    Participant

    Hi folks,
    I have a church who bough a QU32 and is interested in recording their services. They really only want the actual sermon recorded. No need for the band or other stuff. I suggested that simply using a thumb drive to record the works and then edit/delete what they don’t want afterwards in their PC. Before the QU32 they were recording from and aux to laptop onto a free MT program. That’s what they’re used to so I set it up the same way, but they just got a new PC laptop that has no audio input. Can they stream the audio onto their laptop via USB? Otherwise I guess I would need an inexpensive interface to continue recording from an aux to USB. What is sop for churches and recording? I’m mainly a live audio guy and know little about the recording part of this.
    TIA for suggestions/help.
    BJ

    #63664
    Profile photo of Anonymous
    Inactive

    You could USB it to the laptop – but a stereo recording to thumb drive is the way to go here…

    Sandisk extreme won’t let them down.

    Note that they’ll want to normalise and then drop 8 bits off the bottom in post production – but the quality will beat what they have now.

    Pro tip. If just recording a single speaker route the speakers mic to one side and the mix to the other – then you get to choose which you like in post production (saved me from clipped sections in desks with a recording trim)

    #63674
    Profile photo of BJBJ
    Participant

    Thanks for the reply. Normalise means to make the volume “normal” right? And that is done in their recording program correct? Not sure what dropping 8 bits off the bottom means…thinking it makes the file leaner? And what verbage would that come under in a typical program? Appreciate the help.

    #63675
    Profile photo of Anonymous
    Inactive

    Basically normalise means raise the volume so that it doesn’t clip, but is as loud as you want – you don’t need the headroom for playback, so use all the way. Slight caveat if putting it on CD it will be LOUD, so maybe normalise to -3 or -6dB.

    Dropping 8 bits is technical – we record in 24 bits to provide massive dynamic range allowing both a low noise floor and plenty of headroom. CDs are 16but (human hearing is probably slightly less).
    This will happen automatically when they export to the final format (CD or MP3 probably).

    HTH

    #63680
    Profile photo of russmarussma
    Participant

    I record our service every week using the QU-Drive as described here.

    I set up soft-keys to arm, start and stop the recording so I don’t need to edit anything out. I hit softkey 1 first thing in the morning, hit soft-key 2 right when the sermon starts, and hit soft-key 3 when the sermon ends. Then I connect the QU-drive to a PC, normalize the volume level with Goldwave audio editor and then upload the MP3 to our website via Filezilla.

    Works great.

    #63699
    Profile photo of TommyTommy
    Participant

    I have been caught before with a bad recording, so what I do for my church when recording the sermon is use two forms of redundancy. I record to the QU Drive, record straight into my DAW, and have the mix going into a CD recorder. I setup a template for my DAW so all I have to do is arm all my recordings prior to the start of service. Most of the time all I have to do is to check record levels in the DAW during post production and export as MP3 since we upload our sermons to the church website.

    To get the max volume I can, I actually record two tracks of the pastor’s mic. I run about 4:1 ratio of compression at -15dB on the main track. I run 9:1 ratio of compression on the second track at -35dB. This allows me to get the audience in the mix without using shotgun or any other ambience mics in the room. I found that I get too much return from the mains through other mics and it made the recording sound like it was in a tunnel. For added volume to the mix, I run a limiter input gain at 14dB, ceiling at -2dB, and threshold at -4dB. Then mixdown an MP3 file at 64kB/s bitrate and 32kHz sample rate.

    My pastor really loves the level of sound on the website with these settings. Earlier this year, we started video recording the sermons and they use my audio file for the video.

    Since it is only one track and only speech, it isn’t like you need any dynamics, so these settings have given me the most volume without actually clipping during mixdown.

    Hope this helps

    #63728
    Profile photo of BJBJ
    Participant

    Good info from everyone. Thanks.
    If they decide to end up using a usb interface to go from a mix out (like they’re used to), what do you recommend for a cheap one that will do the trick? Still trying to convince them that QUdrive is the way to go…but old habits etc.

    #63731
    Profile photo of MarkPAmanMarkPAman
    Participant

    Get a SanDisk Extreme

    May be slightly more expensive and probably OTT if you’re only recording 2 track, but mine have never let me down

    #63732
    Profile photo of Dick ReesDick Rees
    Participant

    No need for a USB stick (except for back-up). Just use your USB-b output directly to the computer, select channels 1/2 as L/R on your Qu USB-b outputs, select Qu as “audio device” in your computer and you’re ready to go.

    #63823
    Profile photo of MrvoltzMrvoltz
    Participant

    BJ
    I agree the QU drive is an easy option but if old habits means they want to record on the PC, no problem the QU is an interface just plug in the USB cable and load the drivers and use your program of choice, I like reaper for multi track recording.

    #63826
    Profile photo of Anonymous
    Inactive

    QuDrive and USB-B can both be used at the same time as well..

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