Fast track Ultra and recording live

[jmyler]

Hey guys, I've been trolling around for a while and thought i would register and join the fun.

So my question is trying to figure out the best way to use my fast track ultra to record live. And by live i just mean when my band practices i want to be able to record us playing so we can remember ideas etc. I'm not interested in the sound being amazing for this but i don't want it to be un-listenable either.

I'm pretty tech savvy and love to figure things out myself so I just eyeballed it and ran down to "The shack" and picked up the cables i thought i might need.
So this is what i did.
We (my band) have a nice power amp running to a 10 channel mixer so i bought a RCA audio cable to 1/4" plug to plug into an input of the fast track ultra. I plugged the RCA audio cable into the tape/out of the mixer and 1/4" plug into the channel 1 on the fast track. After messing with the levels to my suprise it sounded really good. I had a nice mix of two guitars two mic's and i came line out of the bass players head and it sounded perfect.
Problem solved first try.... i thought.

I'm the singer so i was the last one to test my levels and I just couldn't get them right. I was adjusting each level on the mixer itself if i needed less guitar or more bass etc etc and that worked out until vocals. When my vocals were where they need to be to hear in a live setting they were WAY louder than the rest of the band on the recording. So in order for it to sound good on the recording i had to turn it down on the mixer which means you couldn't hear my vocals live.

Anyway i'm getting long winded but i guess my question is can i go "through" the fast track instead? Would it have better results? Is there a way i can just pass my vocals through since the rest of the band sounded so good? Any ideas thrown my way would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot guys.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Hey guys, I've been trolling around for a while and thought i would register and join the fun.

So my question is trying to figure out the best way to use my fast track ultra to record live. And by live i just mean when my band practices i want to be able to record us playing so we can remember ideas etc. I'm not interested in the sound being amazing for this but i don't want it to be un-listenable either.

I'm pretty tech savvy and love to figure things out myself so I just eyeballed it and ran down to "The shack" and picked up the cables i thought i might need.
So this is what i did.
We (my band) have a nice power amp running to a 10 channel mixer so i bought a RCA audio cable to 1/4" plug to plug into an input of the fast track ultra. I plugged the RCA audio cable into the tape/out of the mixer and 1/4" plug into the channel 1 on the fast track. After messing with the levels to my suprise it sounded really good. I had a nice mix of two guitars two mic's and i came line out of the bass players head and it sounded perfect.
Problem solved first try.... i thought.

I'm the singer so i was the last one to test my levels and I just couldn't get them right. I was adjusting each level on the mixer itself if i needed less guitar or more bass etc etc and that worked out until vocals. When my vocals were where they need to be to hear in a live setting they were WAY louder than the rest of the band on the recording. So in order for it to sound good on the recording i had to turn it down on the mixer which means you couldn't hear my vocals live.

Anyway i'm getting long winded but i guess my question is can i go "through" the fast track instead? Would it have better results? Is there a way i can just pass my vocals through since the rest of the band sounded so good? Any ideas thrown my way would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot guys.

The easiest way around this is to just run a decent mic into fast track and catch a room mix. These are usually ok for capturing rehearsals.
Plan B would be to run that output from one of the aux sends your board has. Using the aux send controls on each channel, you can set up a seperate mix to feed your recorder.....if you like what you're hearing FOH, then mirror that set up in the aux sends and tweak the vocal levels there as well.

 

[jmyler]

The way the mixer is for each channel (from the top) there is an effects control nob then the high mids and lows nobs and then a monitor nob, i do not beleive that i have a seperate aux out level adjuster. Although i could be wrong.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

The way the mixer is for each channel (from the top) there is an effects control nob then the high mids and lows nobs and then a monitor nob, i do not beleive that i have a seperate aux out level adjuster. Although i could be wrong.

You can use the monitor or fx sends if they're not being used. Same scenario. If they're all used, then your only real solution is just to mic the band....unless you want to get into really expensive options like splitting the inputs out to a seperate board....and that's a little more involved than what it sounds like you're going for.
How have you liked that Fast Track Ultra? I understand it's capable of 8x8 @ 24bit/96khz...and USB 2.0 to boot. I might pick one up for a decent interface....the price is sweet on those.

 

[jmyler]

You can use the monitor or fx sends if they're not being used. Same scenario. If they're all used, then your only real solution is just to mic the band....unless you want to get into really expensive options like splitting the inputs out to a seperate board....and that's a little more involved than what it sounds like you're going for.
How have you liked that Fast Track Ultra? I understand it's capable of 8x8 @ 24bit/96khz...and USB 2.0 to boot. I might pick one up for a decent interface....the price is sweet on those.

I'm in love with this thing. The preamps are awesome, the quality is way better than i expected and it's super flexible. I highly recommend it especially for what i use it for. I wish i could upload some stuff that i was recording last night it sounds great, I didn't know what to expect when going into and came out pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately i'm a dude and hate reading instructions or i may be able to figure this out haha. I noticed on the back there are "outputs" as well you can see them in this picture...

http://www.pcmusicsupply.com/images/interfaces/usbaudio/fast_track_Ultra/FastTrack_Ultra_back.jpg

I just don't know how to use them. Are they pass through's for the corresponding input?

 

[TeyshaBlue]

I'm in love with this thing. The preamps are awesome, the quality is way better than i expected and it's super flexible. I highly recommend it especially for what i use it for. I wish i could upload some stuff that i was recording last night it sounds great, I didn't know what to expect when going into and came out pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately i'm a dude and hate reading instructions or i may be able to figure this out haha. I noticed on the back there are "outputs" as well you can see them in this picture...

http://www.pcmusicsupply.com/images/interfaces/usbaudio/fast_track_Ultra/FastTrack_Ultra_back.jpg

I just don't know how to use them. Are they pass through's for the corresponding input?

They are analog outputs so I guess you can use it as a dedicated pre for whatever you're recording with. There are inserts on the first 2 channels...that's nice for a budget interface.

 

[Simbo]

Hey jmyler.

To help out, what mixer are you using, i maybe able to find the manual online, to help out on your problem.

 

[jmyler]

Hey jmyler.

To help out, what mixer are you using, i maybe able to find the manual online, to help out on your problem.

Actually I'm using my PA that i use for acoustic shows and bypassing the amp and using it as a mixer. It's a pmp2000 i'm just using the preamp outputs like it's a regular non power mixer.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Actually I'm using my PA that i use for acoustic shows and bypassing the amp and using it as a mixer. It's a pmp2000 i'm just using the preamp outputs like it's a regular non power mixer.

If you're not using the monitor sends on that, then they're usable for setting up a submix to feed the fast track from the monitor out on the mixer.
The drawback to this is you'll have no eq available on each channel. The monitor sends are PFL, so you'll only have that global eq (left/montior) available to tweak the submix.

 

[Simbo]

Ok i'm a little confused

When my vocals were where they need to be to hear in a live setting they were WAY louder than the rest of the band on the recording

You say your using the pmp2000 as a mixer, not as a amp,

Actually I'm using my PA that i use for acoustic shows and bypassing the amp and using it as a mixer

but your problem is that the VOX is too loud on the mix to the fast track, and if you turn it down then you can't hear your self. Hear your self where in the mix or FOH?

Are you using the preamp outs L/R to drive another amp for FOH?

Sorry if i sound rude, but if we don't have the full story we can not help.

You have some options on that mixer/amp but unless we know exactly how you have it hooked, makes a differents, you could use the preamp MONITOR, LEFT/MONO and RIGHT outs, to possible achive what you want, but if your using some of them to drive a FOH amp then no, it's not possible

 

[jmyler]

You'll have to excuse my newbness I don't even know what FOH stands for. But i'll try to be as clear as possible.

We have a crown power amp but our old mixer went the way of the old guitar player (out the door). So we are using my pmp2000 as a mixer using the left/right outputs into the power amp because it's a much bigger amp than the one built into the mixer.

So from that setup I figured I could use the stereo RCA outputs on the front of the mixer, feed that into the input on the fast track and record the mix coming from the pmp2000 that way.

So to sum it up. mixer to power amp, RCA tape out from mixer into channel one of fast track. Adjusting the mix via the mixer.

Maybe this horrible illustration will help. haha

 

[TeyshaBlue]

FOH = Front of House....ie what your PA mains are sending to the amp.

My suggestion is to use the monitor out to feed your Fast Track.
You've got monitor sends on each channel, so the ideal thing would be to set up your monitor sends just like each main channel send, then adjust each to your liking. That way you have 2 independant mixes running...your FOH mix and your monitor mix which you can run into your interface for recording.

 

[jmyler]

FOH = Front of House....ie what your PA mains are sending to the amp.

My suggestion is to use the monitor out to feed your Fast Track.
You've got monitor sends on each channel, so the ideal thing would be to set up your monitor sends just like each main channel send, then adjust each to your liking. That way you have 2 independant mixes running...your FOH mix and your monitor mix which you can run into your interface for recording.

well i'll be damned i never thought about that. That makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely have to try that. Thanks man!

 

[Simbo]

teyshaBlue bet me to the punch.

Do as he stated and you should be good too go

 

[jmyler]

You guys have been a ton of help. I'll let you know how it comes out. Maybe i can get some recordings up if anyone is interested in the fast track to hear some quality.

 

[jmyler]

Wonder if i can bring this back from the dead....

I kind of took a break from all of this for several reasons but back at it now and i can't seem to get the above solution to work. Mainly becuse i can't get ANYTHING to come out of the "monitor" in the preams out section of my amp. I talked to my friend with a similar PA and he said that his si the same way, that you can plug it in turn everything all the way up and still barely hear it. Anyone have experience with this sort of pa?