Live recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cerddwyr
  • Start date Start date
C

Cerddwyr

New member
I am just getting into the whole digital recording thing, and I am not sure if what I want to do can really be done.

I am not interested in recording song ideas and the like (I would have to have ideas, and be able to play ;), but in recording bands live. To start with I am looking at a simple 2X2 box, so I can eather get mike & guitar or mike & keyboard, or just sterio mike a whole band.
I want to do this with an SFF computer (full tower power, near laptop portability) and record direct to drive. To that end I am looking at either an M-Box, or the Tascam US-122. Can anyone comment on these devices for this kind of thing?
Also, everything I have read talks about digital recording of 'songs', where you set up and record a sinlge take in a home studio type situation. In my case, I would like to just hit record and let it go to the end of the set. Later I could break everything up into individual songs. Can ProTools, or Cubasis, or anything else for that matter, do this? My hard drive will have plenty of room, but can the software stream 2 or more tracks of continuous music to disk for an hour?

I know someone doing something similar with a minidisk recorder, but he has to just guess on levels and basically just pulls a stereo mix from the house board, or records off of stereo mikes, with no ability to tweak tracks later. Ultimately I would like to go as high as 8 simultanious tracks direct to HD, again for an hour plus, and be able to later break those into 8 tracks for individual songs. Someday, after I win the lottery ;)

Thanks for any advice.

Gordon
 
In short....you can do as you have stated all the above.
A multitrack program with a multiple input interface (such as the m-audio Delta 1010 for example)
To run 8 tracks simultaneously your PC will need to be up to snuff.
The hard drive space will be essential for a complete set. At least 120 gig. You can cut and paste later to assemble and arrange the songs.
 
You would soon find limitations in the US-122. Usb is not a great interface for audio. You're better off installing a much faster pci card, like the M-audio 1010lt http://www.cdbm.com/shop/detail.cgi?id=114010

This will give you 8 analog ins for $279. If you don't need all that, a Delta 44 with 4 ins may suffice for $199 http://www.cdbm.com/shop/detail.cgi?id=114150

Either of ProTools, or Cubasis will let you mix tracks, apply effects etc. There are also dozens of other cheap/free recording programs out there.

You can work out how much disk space you'll need for an hour by the formula

Number of tracks X recording bit depth (16 or 24) X sample rate (usually 44100, or 96000) X 3600 seconds /8 gives you bytes/hour.

For 8 tracks recorded at CD quality, 16 bit, 44.1Khz, this works out at about 2.5 GB per hour
 
Thanks for the info folks. So a few more questions

Bulls Hit,
I was looking at the Tascam for two reasons.

1: My machine is a little toaster sized SFF (Small Form Factor) machine (see www.biostar-usa.com, the IDEQ) which really packs the electronics tightly onto the mobo. Many people have complained of crosstalk and noise, especially PowerSupply hum getting amplified. it is worse with the on-board sound, but even the PCI SoundBlasters can have problems. And I have read a few places that putting your converters outside the case is a good idea. Are the Delta cards REALLY well shielded, or are the converters in the breakout box, not the card?

2: The Tascam looks like an affordable and slick way to deal with the stereo miked show, as well as a singer/songwriter show with a single mike and guitar. If I find I am any good at this, then I would upgrade to ideally 8 inputs someday.

Speaking of 8 inputs, I am not clear on one issue of the specs. For example, given an interface described as 4 analog inputs and 2 analog outputs simultaniously, is that
A: 2 outputs meaning two channels going to the harddrive, and I am mixing my 4 inputs to two recorded tracks, or
B: 4 inputs being recorded, with the ability to simultaniously send two outputs, such as previously recorded tracks that are being added to?

Also, is it even worth using the included mic pres, or am I better off using a seperate mic pre? If I am pulling off the board it won't matter, but for sterio mic situations, am I going to get a decent sound?

Speaking of which, I wonder if a 4X4 is better to start with, as I could stereo mic, and pull the stereo mix from the board, then mix later to get a nice balance of the house mix and room sound. Or is that the point where you really want to multitrack all the inputs plus the room mics? My thought here is that the house mix might not work and you can't adjust individual instraments/vocals at that point, just freqs.

Man, it would be graet if there was a good FAQ on digitial live recording. Especially with SFF machines coming along, it is going to get easier. I could easly lug a machine with a gig of ram, AMD Athlon 64, dual 300G sATA hard drives in RAID 0 (really fast) for data and a pATA drive for OS & Software, and a little LCD screen, all for well under $2000 and maybe 20 pounds (with a shoulder bag no less). Just a few years ago that was a 40 pound behemoth (before the 60 pound monitor) and would have run $10,000.

Best,

Gordon
 
The 122 would be well for you to start with. It's inexpensive, and in a handy package. I wouldn't worry about getting other preamps - the ones in the 122 will be fine.

4 analog ins and 2 outs means you can record 4 incoming signals to 4 seperate tracks. The 2 outs would go to your monitors, or back to a mixer to creat a submix
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top