dont know how many people do this, but it worked great.
 

Just got back from a wedding... For the first time I plugged my H2 digital recorder into the DJ's audio mixer... I was blown away with the results. Perfect audio all the way around.
I highly recommend this...

Not to open a can of worms, but if you/the editor use(s) that audio, aren't you going to have deal with a whole host of copyright issues?

No, you won't. It's legal to record any music played in public and use it in a video with the same music being played. Basically wedding is a document video about a couple and it happened that they had DJ playing this music for them that night - and it's all on tape - just in very high quality.

Let me ask you Stephan - how did you plug it in? What cabled did you need? How did you convince the DJ? I'm just curious how difficult is to do it?

I have recently been plugging in my iriver to the DJ's board as well.

Lukas it is best to course your request through the Bride, I don't think it should be a big deal with DJ.

Ahhh... I forgot about "the Boss". Everything said by her this day is like an order from a queen :-) Good idea :-)

Noel - which iRiver do u use?

I use the 890 & 790. I plug one to the DJ board & clip one to the Podium or the B & G depending on the sitiuation.

Noel... thanks for looking out. At the time I wasn't even planning on using the music recorded from my H2, just the audio from the intro, best man speeches, DJ... that kind of stuff. If it's legal though, I might rethink everything.

I used an XLR to mini jack cable. It's funny because the day before I went to the audio store and asked them what kind of cables would work best to plug into an audio mixer. They told me a RCA cable (red and white) to mini jack and a 1/4 audio jack to mini jack are the most common. Luckily the DJ had an XLR to mini jack cable for me to use...

I did approach the DJ very wary though. I didn't know how he would feel about it. I asked, and he practically bent of backwards for my request. He had the attitude "whatever makes me look better on camera" I'll do. I imagine that a lot of other DJ's would feel the same way.

Steve

I'll add to this....(although I've never shot for weddings)

I've shot with a Canon XL-1S for 7 years now, but in January I switched over to a new Sony EX3. With the Canon, every time I would connect the camera directly to a AV guys mixing board I would get a hum or buzz (60hz ground loop). It didn't matter whether the camera was plugged in to ac power, or running off a battery, I would always get a hum/buzz. The only way I could get rid of it was to lift the ground using a cheap 3-prong to 2-prong adaptor. These are NOT safe if you use wired mic's, but all the AV guys use wired mics now a days, so I got away with it.

With the EX3, I've now shot two events where I plugged into a AV mixing board, and in both cases....(drum roll please)....no hum or buzz. The first one the camera was plugged into ac power, and the second shoot I was running off battery.

Maybe it has something to do with the camera? Dunno....

I also like how I can adjust the audio input "trim" in the menu to perfectly match the output of the mixing board to the input of the camera.

tape out is safest - and that is almost always RCA. XLR out is fine as long as the DJ knows his board/mixer.

I prefer tape-out to wireless transmitter, and then every camera gets a receiver tuned to the same frequency on channel 1. A camera mic on channel 2. Safety in numbers.

Actually, that's an urban legend. Well, it probably hasn't achieved "legend" status yet, but it's not legal.

With what you are saying it would be illegal to record any music during the reception. And this doesn't make sense. What I'm saying, that recording better quality during the reception if fully legal as long as you use it for the same video. It is illegal to use the recording for other purposes/videos.

Why not go direct into your xlr inputs on your camera with a wireless mic?

When you shoot a wedding (and I do), 90% of what you shoot is illegal audio wise. From the processional music, to the prerecorded tracks that the singers sing to, to your synching anything in the video to the music. It is something you either have to circumvent or get over. The first dance is illegal to use even it is played by a band. And I cannot imagine a bride anywhere being ok with you leaving out her first dance song because there's technically a legal issue with using the music.
Back on topic, I love the H2 for this type of stuff. I tend to use it every wedding for either a feed from the board, or ambient of an instrumentalist or musician. It is a very cool little tool. I still use a wireless on the groom and an Iriver on the minister, but that H2 gets alot of play.
Bill

That's exactly what I'm saying. And whoever said the law has to make sense? Basically, as the laws exist in the United States today, wedding video is illegal.

When wedding video is outlawed, only outlaws will have wedding video. ;)

Also on topic - I have an H2 and it's one of the handiest recorders around.