BR-1600 for Live Recording

[Boo Radley]

Has anyone used their BR-1600 for live recording in a club setting?

I would be running the house through a 16-channel Mackie 1604-VLZ console and running the direct outs on the console (channels 1-8) directly into the BR-1600.

My main concern is having enough memory on the unit to do a 2.5 – 3 hour show. Keep in mind that I would backup and purge all songs currently on the unit to maximize my available hard drive space.

Also, I am toying with how I should track the band. They’re a rock band with 4 vocals (2 lead and 2 backup), 2 guitars, bass, and drums. Obviously, I’ll have to subgroup some tracks so I can get them all into the BR-1600.

So….what can I expect? Any suggestions? Things to look out for?

Thanks

 

[Rickbrown74]

I have used the unit in a similar fashion to what you are planning. The hard drive can store 120 hours of tracking approx so divide that by 8 and you still have loads of room to record 8 tracks for 3 hours (room for 15 hours!!).

As for how to group the tracks - tricky. with a good submix on the drums that leaves room for a single track on all the rest. Alternatively is it possible to forget about the backing vocals with the intent of adding them later? Then you could use 3 channels for the drums.

 

[Boo Radley]

Thanks Rickbrown74. I was beginning to think that no one had attempted this feat before. Adding tracks later probably isn’t an option. The following setup is about the best I can come up with:

Kick Drum
The Rest of the Drums
Guitar
Guitar
Bass
Lead Vox
Lead Vox
Backup Vox

Alternatively, I could subgroup the two guitars to free up a channel for the drums. The thing that bothers me about doing that though is if one of the guitarists goes into a lead and needs more volume…the other one comes right up with it. I’d stand a better chance getting a good submix on the rest of the drums.

 

[Boo Radley]

Update...1st Live Recording

So...

Due to the overwhelming response to this thread I've decided to tell you what happened.

I ended up recording a band on Friday, but a different band than the one I was referring to in my first post.

Anyways, all went well. They had Drums, Bass, Guitar, 2 Lead Vox, and an Acoustic Piano I ended up doing a separate track for everything, but I had to subgroup the toms. I ran the House mix first, because I was going to piggyback off that. Once all was well there, I patched the direct/submix outs into the BR-1600 and got the band to do a second soundcheck so I could check the levels into the unit. I intentionally set them pretty low because I couldn't afford any clipping on the tracks.

Well, an hour and ten minutes later they took their first break. I was hesitant to try to save at that point, because I wasn't sure how long it would take to store 8 tracks at 1:10 each. Well, I took the chance and it only took about 10 seconds!!

With that monkey off my back, we moved into the second set, which lasted one hour and thirty five minutes. So, ended up with 8 tracks of a two hour and forty five minute song, with plenty of room on the unit to spare!

Here's the forewarning part...the next day when I went to dump the tracks onto my computer, I found out that it took about 45 minutes to send to the USB folder in the unit and then another 30 to download to my computer....a total of 8-9 hours just to get all of the tracks transferred. Luckily, I was able to do other things and go other places while babysitting the transfers.

Well, that's about it...lemme know if you have any questions. If the band wants me to mix any further I'll try to post some stuff up here and let you take a listen.

Boo