recording question

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kneal7

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Ok, this maybe a really stupid question but its something that I dont quite understand and it annoys me that I dont know. Here goes. I have a small home studio and I record my external audio through a firewire interface straight into Ableton ( the box)where I mix etc... In a larger studio where is the audio stored for ananlogue mixing.. does it go through the ad/da converters into a stand alone hard drive or is everything these days run through into a computer. . What has replaced the tape reels..... sorry if its a dumb question but I m intrigued.

Cheers
 
No stupid questions here...

Everything in digital recording runs through the computer. Where it is saved depends on where you setup the computer to save it. Yes, a separate drive is used to record the tracks. Depending on the setup, there may be more than one drive recording at once. Damage control.

You yourself do not record straight to Ableton. You are recording to whatever drive you have setup to record to within Ableton/your OS. Whether the main drive of your computer, or other, is for you to decide. A drive that does not run your DAW, is the best bet.

Some studios will still record to tape, then send that signal to DAW via A/D converters. Some don't even use a computer for anything other than payroll and email. Not many of them left though I don't think.
 
And in the case like an HD24 for example the 'computer' is a dedicated stand alone multi channel recorder/playback ..'er ;)
 
Thanks for the reply Jim. I understand that Im recording to hard drive and not directly to Ableton. I meant that Ableton is where I do the mixing etc.....
I think im just having trouble understanding where the analogue world meets the digital world.. so, If I had an analoge desk and I wanted to record everything to digital I would need to run everything through ad/da converters and into a computer with DAW . . If I had a digital desk then I could simply send everything to an external hard drive for instant recall rather than needing a full comuter set up ie screen,mouse etc.... I hope Im making sense......
Thanks
 
Your firewire interface is the thing doing the analog-to-digital conversion for you already. Not sure what you are getting to with comments on "desks".
 
The "desk" could be serving one of several purposes;

1) it can have built-in converters, so it IS the audio interface and just has firewire out to the computer

2) it is a controller that doesn't actually pass any audio, but rather just manipulates in-the-box mixing

3) (and this is the one I think you're trying to get your head around) It is a completely analog desk and each channel corresponds to the input and/or output on the computer's audio interface which is off in a closet somewhere. Each channel has an "in-line" button that determines if it is sending audio in to be recorded or bringing audio out to be monitored and mixed. In this case it will work exactly as a tape setup would, except it rewinds a little faster.
 
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