Using DP to record a concert...tips?

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wonder
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Using DP to record a concert...tips?

Post by wonder »

I'm playing a gig in Oct with a full band (about 7 pieces). I'm multi-tracking for post production.

I used to do all of this on a rented Alesis HD24, which I loved cause it was rock solid but the rental house sold all their units.

I don't have much in the way of mobile interfaces to handle more than 8 inputs.
Anyone have any suggestions of gear I should look into to rent or borrow to get this job done?

I'm going to be getting a multi feed from the FOH engineer and I'm guessing prob about 16-20 tracks. I need it to be rock solid.

Any thoughts are appreciated.
Dual Quad-Core 2.8 GHz Mac Pro 3,1 • Yosemite • 24 GB RAM • MOTU 2408mk3 (x's 2) • DP 10.xx • Finale 25 • Logic • PT 12 • +outboard gear
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Shooshie
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Re: Using DP to record a concert...tips?

Post by Shooshie »

wonder wrote:I'm playing a gig in Oct with a full band (about 7 pieces). I'm multi-tracking for post production.

I used to do all of this on a rented Alesis HD24, which I loved cause it was rock solid but the rental house sold all their units.

I don't have much in the way of mobile interfaces to handle more than 8 inputs.
Anyone have any suggestions of gear I should look into to rent or borrow to get this job done?

I'm going to be getting a multi feed from the FOH engineer and I'm guessing prob about 16-20 tracks. I need it to be rock solid.

Any thoughts are appreciated.
Be sure to know exactly what the FOH will be handing you. ¼"? XLR? ADAT bundle? Your interface should have that kind of input, or else you need adapters for each cable.

For me, the ideal live-concert interface has always been the 896, and now the 896mk3. You can run two of those and get 16 channels, and I think there may be a way to run 3 of them. Not sure about that. I can check if you're interested. I don't record 20 tracks when doing remote, live recordings, so I don't know where it tops out, but I have enjoyed recording at 88.2K, 24 bits. People who haven't listened to it tell me there is no difference, but I find the instrumental separation more clear at that resolution.

There's nothing special I can think of to tell you. If you've recorded groups before, there's little difference between live and studio, other than covering your lines so that people don't trip over them. One thing I do, but it's not always possible in a live situation, is to find the sweet spots for acoustics. I do that by whistling, clapping, and singing as I walk around the venue. People may look at you strangely, but I ignore them and set up my mics accordingly. In a live situation, you have very little control over where people sit, so that's not as practical as when doing a remote "studio" recording in a church, concert hall, ballroom, or other venue.

But you said the FOH was going to hand it off to you, so forget all that. It's just a matter of plugging in and going.

Oh, that does remind me: have your file made the day before, and practice with it for a few bars if you can. That is usually enough to highlight any possible routing errors, track errors, or other problems that may have come up during setup. When you get there, you want to plugin your equipment, hit Record, and go.

Another thing; people talk about doing a continuous live recording, but I ALWAYS stop between songs/movements even if just for an instant. Just long enough to hit Record again. Actually, I usually let it process for a moment to close off the files. Then COMMAND-S (Save). Then hit record again. Be sure to save when possible.

Of course, that's just my way. You may want to gamble on a full 2 hour recording without any chance of flaws or problems. Many do that and learn that DP is a very trustworthy sidekick.

I also turn off background processing for live recordings. Background processing can be CPU intensive, and I prefer to keep it simple.

Think how you will be doing this. If there is a lot of dead time between songs, you may want to have a chunk made for each song. But if you want it in one chunk, you'll at least want markers between songs. My preferred marker command is for the one that brings up a dialog for naming. I've never used that live, because it didn't exist when I was recording live (as a part of the performance, rather than just the engineer). But you might want to practice that. If you want to create the marker on the fly, and name it, you'll have to give it a command in the COMMANDS window. Do one that's easy, then practice with it. Or you might just want to use the regular add-marker command and name them later. Either way, practice it before hand.

Practice? Yes. Practice. You think it's no sweat to add a marker between songs/movements, but when you're performing, your mind is on getting ready for the next song, anticipating the downbeat, and so forth. Doing an unrelated task like engineering the recording as you go is a whole different kind of beast. When I first started to do that in concert, I was nervous as hell. I was afraid I'd hit the wrong button. That's VERY EASY TO DO! Decide how you're going to handle things so that you can-not and will-not hit the wrong button while you're recording. Sometimes the best way is just to stay away from the computer keyboard. If you're planning anything elaborate, you'd better practice it carefully so that you can do it while wild horses are coming at you with the building on fire. I don't mean to make you nervous; I'm just telling you that the first time or two you do this, you MAY be unexpectedly nervous, and that can cause mistakes. So practice what already seems mundane and natural to you. Practice with your instrument in hand, as if you're between songs, getting your music ready and all that.

Also, be sure you know that FOH has the capability of feeding you all those channels, and that he knows you're going to be doing that. He may need to prepare, too. Don't just show up at the gig and tell him you want a 20 channel feed.

Oh yes... watch your gear. Don't let your laptop out of your sight for even a moment. Take it to the bathroom in a shoulder bag if necessary, but do not let your trust of the band members sway your judgment. Live situations are notorious for gear-thieves. Concert violinists have lost their Strads when returning to the stage to take a bow during applause with the audience asking for an encore.

There is probably more, but that's what I can think of at the moment.

Shooshie
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