Solved How to record multiple audio sources into Vegas?

Hi, came across your youtube channel, so thought I'd join and post my question here.

I'm shooting a music instructional video. Components to be recorded:

1. Guitar (direct, not mic'd)
   Digital Piano
   Voice via RODE NTG-1
   Backing Track (WAV)

All sources go into a ZED10FX mixer. I take the main XLR outs from the mixer straight into the Canon XA10. At present and in the past, I've panned the guitar and backing track full right and full left respectively so that when they are recorded together, when captured, they are on separate channels.

The problem comes in when you introduce the Mic because the guitarist and the digital piano player are not using headphones. So I take the Aux out from the mixer to speakers so they can hear the guitar and piano. So the guitarist will be teaching, and ask the piano player for a chord, and the piano player plays the chord and the guitarist plays whatever over the chord. While I have the guitar and digital piano panned right and left, the voice needs to fit in somewhere. So if I pan the piano and voice in the same direction, when the piano player plays, the mic picks up the piano sound from the speakers (as well as the guitar), and it becomes very hard to tell if I'm getting enough signal from the piano because the meter is showing what the mic is picking up too.

So my dilemma is how to get separation of the audio sources. I know that Vegas can be used for recording audio. Would it be a good idea to record each source onto its own track in Vegas? If yes, how could I accomplish getting each source into the computer? Or is there an entirely different way I should be approaching this? Thank you!

Hi MikeLV

I am not a musician myself, but I do make a lot of audio recordings in my free time, using multiple microphones on different tracks.

The first idea that came into my head, is for you to buy an Audio Recorder.
I personally use a Zoom H6
www.zoom.co.jp/products/field-video-recording/field-recording/h6-handy-recorder

They do have other models like the H5 and H4n
Tascam also make really good audio recorders.

Using something like a Zoom H6, you can connect up to 4x XLR devices and record all 4 devices at the same time onto an SD card.
All 4 tracks can be imported into Vegas onto different tracks and they will be in sync.

Using the Zoom, if have seen people on YouTube also connect it into their Mixing Board.

You can also monitor the audio being recorded with the Zoom recorder.
It has a 3.5mm headphone output, so you can hear all the mics mixed together.

I am subscribed to the YouTube channel Tested.
Adam Savage from The Mythbusters is on this channel.
While watching their podcast, I noticed they used a Headphone Splitter.
If you bought one of these, you could connect this to the Zoom Output and then everyone in your session could have a pair of headphones listening to the full mix. I'm sure there is also a way to do this through your Mixer.
I recommend you watch this YouTube video, which may give you some ideas about how to use your Mixer and Zoom recorder.


Another good thing about the Zoom recorders, is that you can also download special Drivers for them and install the Driver on your computer. After doing this, you could if you wanted to, record separate tracks directly into the Vegas Pro timeline. However, recording onto the SD card does the same thing, then you import the tracks into Vegas.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Regards
Derek

Thanks for the info. Yes I did come across Zoom recorders while researching this issue. I guess if I use one, it'd be best to start and stop the camcorder and Zoom device just once for the session? Otherwise, I'll have a lot of clips and I could see it getting disorganized rather quickly.

Other question is about the mic. It's going to pick up the guitar and piano in addition to the voice. Is there an easy way to erase those instruments from the voice track?

I guess if I use one, it'd be best to start and stop the camcorder and Zoom device just once for the session?

I record audio with my Zoom and video with my Sony camera, every time I make a face to face video in front of my green screen.
Before I start each session, I format(delete) the SD card in the Zoom recorder and also format(delete) the SD card in my Video Camera.
I make sure to check the audio levels coming into the Zoom, with my headphones.
Next I press record on the Zoom and press record on the Camera, and then do 3x hand claps to use as sync points in Vegas.
If I make a few mistakes, I just let the recordings keep going.
However, if I make a BIG mistake (most of the time), I stop both recordings and the start again.
Because I formatted BOTH SD cards before I started, the recording numbers will be similar for BOTH devices, oo1, 002, etc...
These are easy to match up in Vegas.

As I said before, I am not a musician.
There is no magical way to remove background sounds from a recording, unless you are prepared to do a lot of extra work.
The only tool that can remove sounds from a recording, is a Spectral Waveform Audio Editor.
I use Izotope RX Elements.
www.izotope.com/en/products/repair-and-edit/rx.html
However, I don't think this is a solution for you.

When not in a professional recording studio, in separate rooms, you need to use the right type of microphone for your vocals, that is directional and does not pick up sound from the sides or behind.

Search "How to Record Your Voice & Guitar at the Same Time" on YouTube and you will find plenty of videos on this topic.

In the video I sent to you, watch at 15:25 and 23:00.
Hear they speak about using a headphone splitter and the Zoom recorder.

DoctorZen wrote:

I guess if I use one, it'd be best to start and stop the camcorder and Zoom device just once for the session?

Before I start each session, I format(delete) the SD card in the Zoom recorder and also format(delete) the SD card in my Video Camera.
However, if I make a BIG mistake (most of the time), I stop both recordings and the start again.
Because I formatted BOTH SD cards before I started, the recording numbers will be similar for BOTH devices, oo1, 002, etc...

That's interesting. I noticed about the clip numbers in the past, but do the clip numbers stay consistent if the video goes longer than the max size of the video file on the SD card. I can't remember what that size was, I think it's like 11GB and then it starts a new file. When you import through the device manager, they automatically get stitched together, but just wondering if this might cause issues with matching clips up against zoom recordings.

I noticed about the clip numbers in the past, but do the clip numbers stay consistent if the video goes longer than the max size of the video file on the SD card. I can't remember what that size was, I think it's like 11GB and then it starts a new file.

I'm not sure.
For cameras that split the recording into "chunks", I think they are 4GB chunks.
If using File Explorer to stitch the clips back together, there shouldn't be any sync issues - Vegas normally does a good job.

I don't have all the answers. You will have to experiment with some of these things yourself.
Personally, I have learnt to worry about taking "one step at a time" and not worrying too much about future steps until I actually get there.
There is always a solution to most problems :idea:

Well after much anguish, the teacher decided finally to wear headphones and just turn off the speakers altogether so I don't have to worry about the mic bleed from them. I looked into some of those headphone splitters and found this one for a reasonable price, and seems to do well on Amazon:

www.amazon.com/Behringer-HA400-BEHRINGER-MICROAMP/dp/B000KIPT30

With regard to the headphones, he doesn't want to hear the "cans" style, but instead wants to wear some less conspicuous in-ear ear bud style. Starting looking into those and notice there's so many to choose from. They actually have in ear monitors. But I think this will be a step in the right direction for us to make recording easier.