Live Recording with Mackie 1642

[blinddogblues]

This question might not belong on the microphone forum, but I didn't see one that fit better, so here it is. I am doing a live recording of a gospel group that sings along with prerecorded tracks into a powered mixer PA. I want to plug the mics into my Mackie 1642, use the direct outs to go to their powered mixer and the submix outputs direct to my audio card to record. Is there any reason this won't work? I assume I will then be feeding a line level signal to the PA. I know the output to the sound card will be fine, I am just concerned about the output to the PA. Is there any reason this will be a problem? I have not tried this before, and I will not be able to experiment. I have to tell these people I can do this or I can't. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Cave Dweller]

you could always run the signal to the PA from an aux send, set pre fader. that way, everything is run from one mixer, and you can run the direct outs to your card.
Question: how many mics are they using? if you still want to send each mic to a seperate channel on the pa, you can run each mic through a seperate aux, into seperate channels on the pa, and use the EQs on the pa.
good luck with the project!

matt

 

[blinddogblues]

There will be four mics, one for each singer, and 2 channels (stereo) for the tracks which are played with a mini disc player.

 

[Cave Dweller]

so yeah, here is what i would do:
To P.A. To Recorder
Mic 1 > Aux 1 dir. out 1
Mic 2 > Aux 2 dir. out 2
Mic 3 > Aux 3 dir. out 3
Mic 4 > Aux 4 dir. out 4
MIni L > Aux 6 dir. out 5
Mini R > Aux 6 dir. out 6

i hope your sound card has at least 6 ins....

Matt

 

[blinddogblues]

Thanks Cave Dweller, I guess then I can assume that the aux. outs on any powered PA are non powered. I have never worked with a PA to record, just my non-powered Mackie. If this works, I can bypass my mixer altogether and plug directly into the preamps on my Direct Pro 2496. And yes I have plenty of inputs, because I have 3 of these sound cards. Thanks again.

 

[Cave Dweller]

No, sorry, my post didnt work properly!!!! hook the mics up to the mackie first!!!!! the pre amps in the PA probably arent that good. the mackie auxes go to the PA, the mackie directs go to the recorder. if you run each mic on a seperate aux to to PA, use the EQs on the PA and leave the Mackie EQ flat, and use the software to EQ later. sorry about the confusion!