Live concert recording

Guitarzan · 9th April 2006

Hello all, In may I will be recording a 2 hour long live concert. I recently did a test run with a mac G4 and mackie tracktion. I used 12 firewire inputs. Everything sounded great while monitoring but when I went to play it back there were pops and clicks and hiss and white noise throughout the whole thing. In may I will be using 24 channels.what is the best way to do this without spending much money.

Gilliland · 9th April 2006

I did that just last night - a two hour live concert with 24 tracks of audio. I used my Alesis HD24. Everything went perfectly, just as it has every time I've done so over the past 5+ years with this machine.

While you may be able to resolve your computer problems, I think that in general it is risky to try to use a computer for this task in a remote location.

wyndrock · 9th April 2006

i've used the same setup. you're gonna be fine. the G4 can handle this with ease.

my recommendation is to call mackie and get the kinks worked out in your system, or either stop by the mackie forums, or kvraudio.com forums (raw materials software). the guys on any of the mackie forums will have alot of good info for you to get your system humming along the way you want it to.

tracktion is a nice, powerful, simple and full featured software. it's a reliable tool. with a good setup, and with a little experience, you can do anything you want to do, with confidence. they made this software to work with live mixers for recording live music through a firewire interface... it's made for the job!

there are a few things to consider first: make sure you're using an external hard drive. make sure that your buffers are set pretty high and that you're monitoring in real-time. just concentrate on keeping things from clipping. with digital, you can always raise the level later. ...by all means, get a strong signal, but just watch the clipping or you're screwed.

go see the mackie forums and/or kvraudio.com forums and call mackie to get your software settings figured out and you'll be fine. it's that simple.

joelpatterson · 9th April 2006

I always feel very good about recording onto my HD-24, after all, the whole machine does just that one thing. I've never trusted computers, just too many things that can crop up in strange ways. Not that it couldn't work fine....

henryrobinett · 9th April 2006

What are you using for your firewire interface? Tracktion is software, right?

Guitarzan · 10th April 2006

Tracktion is software and I am using an Echo audiofire 12 and will be adding another one shortly.

wyndrock · 11th April 2006

Onyx 1640 with T2. Feelin' Fine...thumbsup

Jim vanBergen · 11th April 2006

Personally I use 48 channels of Mackie HDR 24/96 or go old-school with 48 tracks of DTRS (DA-88s and 38's, my back-up rig). No pops or clicks, and I'd look at your preferences for recording & playback software as well as for the card- that is the most likely culprit.

Good luck!

9th April 2006	#1
Guitarzan Gear maniac Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Vancouver, Wa Posts: 230 Thread Starter	Live concert recording Hello all, In may I will be recording a 2 hour long live concert. I recently did a test run with a mac G4 and mackie tracktion. I used 12 firewire inputs. Everything sounded great while monitoring but when I went to play it back there were pops and clicks and hiss and white noise throughout the whole thing. In may I will be using 24 channels.what is the best way to do this without spending much money.

9th April 2006	#3
wyndrock Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Virginia - North Carolina - California Posts: 292	i've used the same setup. you're gonna be fine. the G4 can handle this with ease. my recommendation is to call mackie and get the kinks worked out in your system, or either stop by the mackie forums, or kvraudio.com forums (raw materials software). the guys on any of the mackie forums will have alot of good info for you to get your system humming along the way you want it to. tracktion is a nice, powerful, simple and full featured software. it's a reliable tool. with a good setup, and with a little experience, you can do anything you want to do, with confidence. they made this software to work with live mixers for recording live music through a firewire interface... it's made for the job! there are a few things to consider first: make sure you're using an external hard drive. make sure that your buffers are set pretty high and that you're monitoring in real-time. just concentrate on keeping things from clipping. with digital, you can always raise the level later. ...by all means, get a strong signal, but just watch the clipping or you're screwed. go see the mackie forums and/or kvraudio.com forums and call mackie to get your software settings figured out and you'll be fine. it's that simple. __________________  Guerrilla Filmmaker \| Amateur Screenwriter \| Audio Recording and Mixing Enthusiast 

9th April 2006	#4
joelpatterson Lives for gear Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albany, New York Posts: 9,075	I always feel very good about recording onto my HD-24, after all, the whole machine does just that one thing. I've never trusted computers, just too many things that can crop up in strange ways. Not that it couldn't work fine.... __________________ Mountaintop Studios ~the peak of perfection~ Petersburgh NY 12138 mountaintop@taconic.net www.joelpatterson.us

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9th April 2006	#2
Gilliland Gear maniac Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 278	I did that just last night - a two hour live concert with 24 tracks of audio. I used my Alesis HD24. Everything went perfectly, just as it has every time I've done so over the past 5+ years with this machine. While you may be able to resolve your computer problems, I think that in general it is risky to try to use a computer for this task in a remote location.

9th April 2006	#5
henryrobinett Gear Guru Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 10,217	What are you using for your firewire interface? Tracktion is software, right?

10th April 2006	#6
Guitarzan Gear maniac Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Vancouver, Wa Posts: 230 Thread Starter	Tracktion is software and I am using an Echo audiofire 12 and will be adding another one shortly.

11th April 2006	#7
wyndrock Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Virginia - North Carolina - California Posts: 292	Onyx 1640 with T2. Feelin' Fine...thumbsup

11th April 2006	#8
Jim vanBergen Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New York Friggin' City Posts: 2,562	Personally I use 48 channels of Mackie HDR 24/96 or go old-school with 48 tracks of DTRS (DA-88s and 38's, my back-up rig). No pops or clicks, and I'd look at your preferences for recording & playback software as well as for the card- that is the most likely culprit. Good luck!