Need help recording from a mixer using zoom h1 portable recorder.

[techspark]

There is a live music event happening in my locality. I need to capture the best possible audio.

I went to the location and got the permission as well as took a look at the their audio system.

They use this mixer (ahuja amx1412) : http://www.ahujaradios.com/Productdetail.asp?prd_id=79&id=3&sc_id=13

Bigger image >> http://www.ahujaradios.com/LargeView.asp?image=AMX-1412_L.jpg

I am really a newbie when it comes to recording audio. I have a zoom h1 with me with a pair of rca to stereo cables and 1/4inch to 1/8 inch y splitter cables.

I have never handled a mixer before, never done any dj stuff myself.

All i need is to get a clean feed from this mixer and put the feed into the zoom h1 line in port.

Can some1 guide me how to go about doing the recording like which cables to use and where to put them. A marking on the image will be very helpful and appreciated

I also need to know if i need to play around with the levels or anything or just put the cables in the mixer and zoom h1 and i m ready to go ???

I really don't want to mess it up - if there is any online tutorial or guide that i should read, i will b more than willing to do so.

The sound will b loud and i don't want it to clip or distort in the recording.

All replies will be appreciated. Cheers!

[Cornucopia]

Assuming:
1. You are NOT going to be doing the actual mixing yourself, but are relying on another mixing person to be sending the stuff to you.
2. The mixing person can give you "TONE" (aka a steady-state sine wave, usually @ ~1kHz) to set up/calibrate your recorder.

Make sure you have a RCA stereo plug pair - to - 1/8" STEREO Phono plug (single) - will look like a Y cable.
The RCA plugs will go into the L + R of the "TAPE" REC OUT jacks on the mixer.
The 1/8" STEREO phono plug will go into the H1 external input jack.

Make sure you set your H1 as follows:
1. Input to EXTERNAL MICS
2. Lo-cut filter OFF
3. Automatic LEVEL OFF
4. Input level: LINE LEVEL (NOT mike level)
5. WAV settings as good as possible (24/96 or 24/48 or 24/44.1 or 16/44.1, in descending order)

Then, with the mixing person giving you a TONE with all levels set to UNITY (aka 0 dB), you would set your H1 to Rec Ready and adjust the level to = ~ -18 or -20dB below Full Signal/Clipping, which will give you a good amount of headroom. Then, you would only clip if the mixer clipped, and your dynamic range is matched to what the mixer is capable of.

Scott

[techspark]

Thank you Scott for the detailed response - i appreciate it a lot

1. You are NOT going to be doing the actual mixing yourself, but are relying on another mixing person to be sending the stuff to you.

Actually there is no mixing stuff or mixing person invovled. Let me explain the scenerio a bit more. There's a big room which has speakers attached to the walls and there are about 4-5 mics and then this mixer. So the singers will be singing and playing the istruments on these mics and the sound is outputted across the number of speakers spread throughout the room.

So Basically , the mics are there, the wall speakers are there and the mixer is there . Everything works just as is - so no one is at the mixer or controlling anything.

So the whole mixer is there for me and i have to do the connections and settings myself.

he mixing person can give you "TONE" (aka a steady-state sine wave, usually @ ~1kHz) to set up/calibrate your recorder

No clue about this - i think i hv to do this myself.

I have this cord with me http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.head-fi.org/8/86/865525d9_CC399-12_LR...9QEwAQ&dur=233

Can it be possible that i just plug in the left and right rca wires on the mixer and use a knob to adjust the level and then i m good to go - i can just plug the other end of the cable (3.5mm) to my h1 and use the settings as u suggested and i can get a decent audio ??

I have attached an image from the manual of the mixer , i have marked the two ports in red , can i just plug in my rca cord to these ports and then plug the 3.5mm to the zoom h1 ???

Link to the manual : http://www.ahujaradios.com/Literature/AMX-1412.pdf
Looking forward to your reply...Thank you again.