Is ProTools 7.4.2 safe for live recording?

[bluehiro]

I have a live concert to record on Saturday. It will performed four times throughout the day and I'll be recording each time. Someone else will be videoing the whole thing as well.

The big question is whether or not I can trust my macbook running 10.5.3 and Pro Tools LE 7.4.2pr to capture 16 channels? A few months ago 7.3 totally screwed me over with data corruption during a live recording. I'll be using a Digi 002 + Behringer interface (plugs into the digi002, can't remember the specifics). All recording to a new 500gb La Cie hard drive.

So I guess the question is "do I feel lucky?"

P.S. Since I only have 1 firewire connection on my macbook, should I use the hard drive through USB or daisy-chain it to the Digi 002?

[kooz]

Does your system meet the compatiblity requirements set down on digi's website?
If so, you're good to go. If not, you're going to end up in trouble.
If you need the recording to be right, you need to make your rig right.
The biggest issue is to get the right OS with the correct version of PT. Even the oldest, slowest machine will capture 18 tracks in LE when those 2 things are matched correctly. It's at the mixing phase where the Host machine's horsepower becomes an issue.

[bluehiro]

Thanks for the info Kooz.... it makes sense that horsepower is really only a problem when mixing. I/O is the limitation when recording.

I'll be running some tests tonight to see if everything plays nicely together.

P.S. Is there such a thing as a MacBook that "doesn't" meet Digi's requirements?

[jonesboy]

I've been having some dropout / glitch issues with 7.4.2pr and 10.5.3 that weren't present on 7.4 + 10.4.11, but others are working fine - YMMV.

-Matt

[psycho_monkey]

Do a dry run - do a recording with all tracks at home etc, for hours at a time, and check for glitches or spikes.

[zakco]

I will NEVER again trust a single computer for a live recording. If it's an important gig and there are no second chances, you'd be foolish to track without a backup rig. Even with my RADAR system (which is infinitely more reliable than a laptop), I bring a 2nd rig...you've been warned...

-Z-

[nicpope]

I have found that in situations where there is only enough budget to accommodate a single computer (or no budget at all) then the best thing to do is be up front about the realistic reliability of your system.

Almost 100% of the time I have Pro Tools running as stable as a rock on my system, but it does occasionally crash.

By all means make your recording to Pro Tools, but if it were me I'd want an adat backup, or even just a two track backup so I could splice in the time from between when Pro Tools crashed and when I got it recording again.

[bluehiro]

I really appreciate everyone's input. I wish I could afford a RADAR system, one of the studios I work in has one and I've fallen in love with it. But oh well. I did have another laptop (my boss's macbook pro with 10.4 and PTLE 7.1) nearby in case of emergency.

Anyways, the recording went great, PTLE 7.4.2 ran like a champ. 50gb's of recording without any technical issues whatsoever. Unfortunately I did accidentally hit the space bar in the middle of a song, but I can't blame pro tools for that :-|

Luckily I recorded the same show four times, so a crash here or there wouldn't have been the end of the world. Still I was very pleased with the overall performance of my setup. I think in the future I may invest in a small two-track digital recorder to use as a backup as suggested by nicpope.

[Rusty Cage]

A little trick for next time. Pick a channel in the mix window and click on the Comments box at the bottom. Now your Space bar will only type spaces in the box instead of halting the recording - at least until you hit Enter or click elsewhere.

[juniorhifikit]

please say that you've devised a plan to sync the LE rig to the cameras... please.

[boojum]

I have never used a 'puter, no less a laptop, to record a performance. I have read too many posts of folks who did and had the damned things crash. I use hardware designed to do one thing: record. No problems, either.

[LX3]

A few years ago (say 2002-2004) I stopped trusting laptop multitrack systems, having had a couple of scares and one particularly unfortunate incident. But I have to say, these days, the right laptop with the right software and the right interface can be absolutely rock solid.

I've been using a MacBook Pro with a Lightbridge and Digital Performer 5 as a backup system on some gigs, recording 32 tracks for a couple of hours, and it's been faultless. In fact, it's been more reliable than hardware on occasions.

But Psycho is right, I would test such a system to death before you do anything critical on it. The real downside for me is that laptop-based rigs tend to be slow to set up and and a pain to operate during the show. In the heat of things I'd rather hit a button than use a trackpad.

(BTW, space-bar for start-stop also affects some hardware like the X-48! Tascam really ought to have an option to lock out transport control from the keyboard.)

At the end of the day, I wouldn't trust a critical recording to ANY single system, hardware or otherwise. If the chances of one machine dying mid show are (for argument's sake) 99%, then 1 time in 100, it'll fail. But run two machines each with 99% reliability and you'll only go home with no audio 1 time in 10,000. I much prefer those odds. (It's a long time since I've done probability theory, but I think that's right).

[tnjazz]

When I started seriously multitracking in the field (24 channels or so) about 5 years ago I was running a P4 2.2ghz laptop with 1gb RAM and an RME interface to a firewire drive using Nuendo 1.62, which was more or less rock solid the entire time. Had a couple of crashes and issues, but all were my fault IIRC. I never felt all that comfortable going straight to the computer though, that's for sure!

Nowadays, I'm back to looking at computer recording, but ONLY as a backup system. Alesis HD24 and similar hard disk recorders are too bulletproof to take the chance on going back to working primarily with a laptop.

You may want to give it some thought. The hard disk recorder gives me a much greater feeling of security than the laptop rig ever did. Plus I have an actual red "REC" button to push, not just some screen mouse click button...

[tsvisser]

second what people are saying about computers for critical live work. sometime you will do it, hell sometimes i would do it, and in those instances there is some software out there that is specifically design for live field tracking. If you have Metric Halo hardware, it comes bundled with an app now call "record panel" or something to that effect. BoomRecorder was specifically designed for tracking with video projects... and includes things like time code on an audio track, sycnhing record heads / transport controls to slave to time code, etc..

VOSGAMES

[digidesigner]

I am using my MacBook Pro with Lightbridge and Pro Tools 7.3 that is 32 input capable (digi forgot to disable inputs on this release)
Has been good to me and I like the mobility - rig is supersmall: 2 X 16 channel Yamaha ADAT cards, Laptop, Lightbridge (1/2 unit interface). I do FOH mix at the same time so I use rental Yamaha M7CL digital consoles and send direct outs out right after the gain stage. The very important thing with any later Apple laptop with live recording is:

You MUST DISABLE SUDDEN MOTION SENSOR! :)

Here you find the links on how to do that + many other good advices to make your PT run smooth:
DUC: Pro Tools MP Setup and General Troubleshooting

[Gerax]

I recentely added a laptop based recording system to my remote setup. The laptop (which I writing this on right now) is a Dell XPS M1330. I just added a Profire Lightbridge and use PT Mpowered 7.4 or Nuendo/Reaper when I need more than 18 inputs. So far it's been flawless even though I haven't stressed the hell out of it in a real recording gig scenario; my tests at home recording 24 tracks at 24/48 for 1 hr straight were successful. I installed Win XP on the same drive as Vista and use it for my recording duties, as I have stripped it down of any unnecessary functions, divers, services etc...it's pretty much a bare bones recording machine (save for a couple of CD/DVD burning apps like Nero, Sony CD Architect and Sony Sound Forge 8), while I use the Vista partition (with the right settings and tweaks) for the rest. I record to an external USB 2.0 drive. No issues so far.
The whole setup is a parallel backup to the Mackie SDR 2496 recorder which gets the same exact signal as the Lightbridge from ADAT equipped pres.

Make sure your laptop is compliant to Digi specs even if it's a Macbook (Apple OS's has its quirks too) and I think you are good to go. Whatever software you choose to use ALWAYS USE A BACKUP RECORDER OF SOME SORT.