Live Concert recording and PA equipment options

[sud98]

A friend of mine has two daughters in the early stages of the carnatic singing circuit. Some of the places have decent AV options, but some are like temples which have poor audio options.

So the initial ask is for a recording mic and paraphrenilia to do the recording at a budget. Obviously as they grow popular, there will be more formal halls, so this will be irrelevant.

The second is for even worse halls or temples which dont have a speaker, so a portable speaker option would be great.

He is in a very tight budget, so would be good to know options.

I searched on bajaao, but wasnt sure what was good or bad. In most cases, I could see decently priced microphones, but wasnt sure if we can record on the laptop.

Other option was to use a mic and connect to a handycam for point 1. Point 2 there are a few options from Behringer, but wasnt sure if they are good and worth buying.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ubitoo]

One approach which does not involve outright buying: rent. PA equipment, especially, are very easily available for rent.

This has at least two benefits:
- One can survey available equipment and their respective pros and cons
- Will open communication channels with people involved in the business (the dealers providing equipment on rent) and guidance, experience can be exchanged.

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You can record on laptop. Some of the best commercial music these days is made on laptops! Though one may need a decent mixer and amplifier. The chain typically looks like: Mic > Amplflier > Mixer > Recording Device (laptop). It would be a good idea to invest in a decent DAW software - they are very good for recording itself and eventual post-processing of the production. Studio One's Prime edition is free and pretty good for a starter DAW and, likely, preferable over something like Audacity for music recording. (Note: You still need to register on their site but no card or payment required).

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Once they have enough experience and understanding about not just equipment but also the requirements, they can proceed to invest in purchasing them.