Seeking advice re new recording setup

cbfreeborn wrote on 9/20/1999, 11:07 AM
I'd appreciate any comments and advice re a new recording
setup I've been considering:

The venue is a music club that features nightly live
performances -- mainly 1-4 vocals accompanied by acoustic
guitars. For the last month we've been recording selected
performers and putting excerpts from performances on the
music club web site. We're also producing some CDs from
live performances, as well as "compilation" CDs. The
current setup includes a Mackie 1402 mixer, compressor, and
a Tascam 30 DAT. I've been using SoundForge 4.5 for editing
creating and editing individual WAV files from the DAT. The
Mackie is used to both feed the DAT and to feed the house
mains and stage monitor(s).

What I'd like to do is replace the Mackie and DAT with a
DAW running Vegas and outfitted with the appropriate audio
I/O card. A key objective is to capture individual tracks
for post editing. However, during performances we also want
to be able to supply a real time mix for the house mains,
and to provide a feed (equivalent say to the AUX SEND from
the Mackie) for the monitors.

So now some specific Qs for this forum:
Can Vegas combined with the appropraite sound card(s) do
the job i.e. multi track capture plus real time mix feed to
mains and monitors? Would there be some other software that
would be a better answer? Can Vegas also supply the real
time mix with basic effects such as reverb, compressor etc?
What sound card(s) would you recommend?

Thanks // Chris Freeborn

Comments

karlc wrote on 9/20/1999, 11:49 AM
Be extremely wary about replacing your hardware setup. You really
need to keep some type of tape backup at the very minnimum. There is
too much that can go wrong in the best DAW setups ... one computer
lockup and kiss that performance goodbye. Its bad enough when that
happens in the studio, but at least you can usually try again ...
with a live performance you'd be lucky to get a second shot.

How are you currently getting your recording feed into the Mackie ...
off another house console? If not, how are you planning to get the
mic signal from the stage into the computer?

KAC ...

Chris Freeborn wrote:
>>I'd appreciate any comments and advice re a new recording
>>setup I've been considering:

cbfreeborn wrote on 9/20/1999, 12:07 PM
We definitely plan to have a conventional hardware "Plan B" for those
special computer-induced sweaty-palm moments. Probably the good old
MP8 that still sits in the corner and preceded the Mackie. At the
moment we generally come straight in from mics and instruments t0 the
primary Mackie inputs that have trim pots. Works very well. I guess
that would be one of my questions about audio cards: Can any of them
function as a replacement for the Mackie and provide the equivalent
to the trim pot gain adjustment?

//Chris



karlc wrote on 9/20/1999, 12:48 PM
Most interface cards are going to present you with 1/4" or RCA
connectors to interface the I/O and you will have to rely on software
for input gain adjustment. While there may be some hardware/sound
card solutions that would replace the Mackie for mic input and gain
control to your computer, I am not aware of them.

My intitial reaction would be to continue to use the Mackie as your
recording console so that you also have independent control over the
levels sent to the sound card (separate from the house mix). A multi
I/O interface like the MOTU family, the 2408 or 1224, would get you
from the Mackie into the computer with some additional routing
choices like SPDIF I/O to run a DAT backup.

IOW, you may want to consider adding to your current hardware with a
DAW instead of replacing it with same ... at least until you get a
feeling about how it would work in our situation.

From my experience with Vegas Pro, and providing you are running the
right computer hardware with fast hard drives, it would likely be a
good choice for your multitrack software as it doesn't have the MIDI
baggage that many other software packages make you tote along.

I would surely download the demo and give it a shot. You will find
that the demo is fully functional and will give you everything you
need to make a decision as to its ability to do what you need it to
do.

KAC ...
www.hsound.com


Chris Freeborn wrote:
>>We definitely plan to have a conventional hardware "Plan B" for
those
>>special computer-induced sweaty-palm moments. Probably the good old
>>MP8 that still sits in the corner and preceded the Mackie. At the
>>moment we generally come straight in from mics and instruments t0
the
>>primary Mackie inputs that have trim pots. Works very well. I guess
>>that would be one of my questions about audio cards: Can any of
them
>>function as a replacement for the Mackie and provide the equivalent
>>to the trim pot gain adjustment?
>>
>>//Chris
>>
>>
>>
>>