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Recording On A Shoestring Budget

Topics: Equipment Usage, recording By: Chris Huff December 23, 2009

Recording a church sermon (or the entire service) is part of our job.  Recording hardware is no longer limited to cassette tapes…and isn't  always cheap.  Check out how recording can be done with a budget in mind.

a. Reel-to-Reel.  This is a technology we don't see used much anymore in a church sound booth but when it comes to recording a long period of time, reel-to-reel machines are the best.  However, creating a copy of the service gets a lot harder!  Look for a used one if you want to go this route.  Price – check ebay for a used one.

b. Cassette Tape.  Tape decks run the gamut as far as price range. Tapes are available as long as 90 minutes.  A 90 minute tape gives you 45 minutes a side.  The problem here might be that if you are recording a sermon and at 45 minutes, the pastor is still talking. Now-a-days, tape decks can be set to automatically flip to record on the other side.  The problem is that when the tape ends and then flips over, you lose about 8-10 seconds of audio.  Tape duplication is easy, though not necessarily fast.  And of course you have to buy new tapes.  If you want to offer the recording on the internet, you'll have to record it to a computer and convert it to the proper audio format.

c. CD recorders.  These run a few hundred dollars and up in price. Just pop in the CD and let it record.  Now you are only limited to the length of the CD – typically 80 minutes.  CD duplication is easy with a computer that has two CD drives.  Or, you can burn a copy of the recording to the computer and then burn disks as necessary.  Copying to the internet is equally easy.  Some CD recorders will also break the recording into tracks based on moments of silence.  For example, 2+ seconds of silence trigger a new track.  This makes it easy for listeners to skip around the CD if they lose their place.  Just make sure you buy the right type of CD's as not all CD's are formatted the same.  Some CD recorders require music-format CD's.

d. Computer.  If you already have a computer hooked up to your sound board such as for an audio feed for videos, then you have an easy way to record the service as well.  You get the ability to copy or stream directly to the internet, the ability to quickly make CD copies, and free software like Audacity enables you to edit the recording.  The disadvantages are you have to make sure the person on the computer remembers to record the service. Additionally, you'll need to make sure you have enough space on the hard drive to record it – usually not an issue but it's still something to monitor.  I say it's a toss-up between a computer and a CD recorder.  It comes down to your needs and your tech crew.  If you already have a PC (used in the generic sense of the term) then you don't have to spend any money for a new recording device.

e. Solid State Recorder.  Products like the popular Marantz PMD560 have no moving parts unlike everything else I've listed.  These recorders can be stand-alone or rack-mounted units.  They record to compact flash media so a 1GB flash card can get you 37 hours of audio.  The flash card can then be plugged into a computer for editing, uploading to the internet, burning to a CD, whatever you want.  Definitely not for a shoe-string budget.

There are many ways you can record a service.  Pick the type that works best for your needs.

What has worked for you?  What do you for extended recordings that are more than your media can contain?

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: Equipment Usage, recording

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Comments

  1. David Develter-Norval United Church AV Team says

    January 25, 2018 at 9:20 am

    Hi Chris,
    I thoroughly enjoy your colomns.
    I probably missed the one on Church Service Broadcasting.
    If you have any info or direction on how to implement broadcasting our service through our website for those shut-ins that can’t attend in person. Do you recommend live broadcast or record, edit and upload to your website? Live broadcast would simulate live church attendance, but lives the broadcast quality open to any occurence.
    Equipment needed etc.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      January 28, 2018 at 9:47 am

      We haven’t covered that…yet. WIth live stream, you get into using services like livestream and it can be as simple or as complex as you want, from mixing a separate feed (because it does sound different because it doesn’t account for the acoustics of the room) to sending only the sermon. As as a note, as soon as you broadcast the service including music, you have to work with a copyright service to pay royalities. It’s not hard to set up, with CHrisitan Copyright SOlutions, but it is a factor.

      Reply
  2. Chris says

    October 28, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    Right now we are using Windows Movie Maker in the worship slide computer. Cassettes are still used as a backup in case of an Oops incident. It’s free, the 3.2 gig Dell doesn’t even hiccup while multitasking.
    At the end of the service, I copy to a thumbdrive, hand it off to my wife who edits the silence out, converts to an MP3 and usually has it uploaded to our website by evening. The recordings are excellent quality. and it’s all free reliable software. We are going to switch to Audacity soon ( which is also freeware ). Free, dependable and good quality and simple. Works for me.

    Reply
    • David Develter says

      January 28, 2018 at 2:01 pm

      thanks for the inputs Chris,
      follow up question, why Audacity. Is it deemed as the best freeware software available today for church useage?
      David

      Reply
      • Chris Huff says

        January 28, 2018 at 2:05 pm

        Yes. If you want to go with a paid solution, I recommend Reaper. Audacity is the “standard” among free audio editing software.

        Reply

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