Personal Live Recording Setups

I thought I would take a moment to share my personal Live recording setup that I am currently using. But first let’s get a little history.

I have always recorded when I play live. The main reason here is similar to when I have recorded artists in my personal studio (always roll tape!). You never know when you will capture something on tape (now days I use disk) that can never be repeated. Being a prophetic musician, almost every time I play, something fresh comes. An example of this is the song Beautiful (see playlist), this song would have only existed in that one moment in time. I am thankful I was tracking. I go back and listen to these recordings a lot and am really touched by what comes out. It speaks to my spirit all over again.

My setup has evolved through the years in how I record. In the beginning I would get the tape or CD from the FOH (soundboard). This was better than nothing, but the mix is always horrible. Unfortunately, the mix from that source is just that… a house mix. So, various instruments and vocals are mixed for the house not the tape or CD. Let’s say I am singing. I have a lot of volume when I sing, sometimes overpowering the system. The CD would have me mixed a lot quieter, because the house can already hear me acoustically somewhat. In this particular case, the BV’s or backup singers are overpowering the lead. You also have the taste of the guy mixing at the board. What if I am leading with my guitar as the main rhythm but this fellow prefers the keys? You would have the keys overpowering the lead rhythm guitar. So, you can see why I would want to be in control.

I then started recording straight in Pro Tools with my Mac from the output on the FOH. This didn’t last long because Pro Tools LE is severely limited. You are maxed out at 24 channels for the total mix, including mixdown items, busses, auxilaries, etc. At the time, the Pro Tools hardware (dongle) sucked and the top line only had a max of four mic inputs. Needless to say, I dumped Pro Tools for a more robust and capable system. I chose Apple Logic Studio , which I have found to be far superior in more ways than I can go into. Using the Mac worked a time or two. I decided I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t control it from on stage (the sound guys would forget to “roll tape”). I also didn’t like having all the cables and hard drives everywhere to be tripped over in the booth.

I then stepped up to the Alesis HD24XR for a live recording unit. This unit is a 24-track hard disk recorder. The unit is bomb proof. It is the most reliable system I have ever used. I tried connecting my HD24 to the FOH, but all the output channels were used up. I ended up going back to the house mix CD’s until they installed their own HD24. I was excited! I brought my drive, slid it in and recorded. This went on until one of the sound guy toasted my hard drive of original music recordings. It took a while and gave me the scare of my life, but I recovered all the music on the disk except for that nights music. What had happened is he powered everything down while the unit was recording. He just didn’t remember the unit was running.

The last incident was enough for me to say I am going to be in total control. So I gathered all the necessary items and put them in a shock rack. I have the HD24xr and a MOTU Traveler connected together via ADAT optical. That is currently all I have in the rack, but that is because it is only a 4-unit rack. I need a 16-unit rack to fit all I have in there. I need to add my TC Helicon Voice Live, my Line 6 POD Pro, Alesis SR16 drum machine (for practicing), and I need to put a Furman Power Conditioner in. I would also like a drawer with foam to hold the drives for the HD24 as well as a mic and things.

Here is my routing of this setup: 

In its current state, I have my guitar going into a LR Baggs Para Acoustic D.I.. I feed a mic cable from the DI to channel one on the MOTU Traveler. I have the output of this channel split within the Traveler. One split goes to the HD24 (dry) and the other goes to my MacBook Pro. I use Apple MainStage for all my guitar needs. MainStage is a phenomenal instrument/tool. The quality far surpasses the TC Electronic guitar stuff as well as the Line 6 PODxt Pro. It is the best tool for my sound live that I have found anywhere. The outputs of MainStage are routed to the HD24 to record the wet signal.

I use a couple ART SplitCom’s to split mic signals. My vocal mic is split and goes to the Traveler. I hope to add my voice live in this mix when I get a larger rack. I use these mic splitters on all mics coming into the Traveler which are in turn sent to the HD24. Using Individual splitters per mic gives me the ability to take the mic cable and split it so that one goes to the FOH and one goes to my unit without involving the sound guy or changing the house setup. The advantage of individual splitters is that you can place them where you want.

Lastly, I have an overall mix sent from the Traveler to the HD24 as a rough balanced mix and that is it for now. Actually, I have a Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro that is used to control everything, even the HD24. This unit controls up to eight MIDI devices. I am using it to control everything in MainStage, like lyric pages, patches, program changes, etc. I control the start and stop of the recording on the HD24. I control everything on the SR16. I also use it for the VoiceLive for voice doubling and Harmony’s. This Ground Control Pro is a very useful piece of gear. I actually think I could control my kitchen appliances in a symphony if they had MIDI jacks.

With the 24 tracks on the HD24, which is via light pipe or Audio, you have plenty of room for instruments and effects. You are only limited by your imagination. I will need another couple interfaces like the Presonus Digimax LT or MOTU 8pre to add more tracks via lightpipe to the HD24. If you record to all 24 tracks, you just maxed out Pro Tools. You could spend another $150 bucks to get the extra tracks, but why? Logic Studio has a galaxy more power, usability, plugins, etc, etc, than Pro Tools and it is not a “closed system”. Forget the, “It’s what the big guys use” statement. Who cares! Now days you do it in YOUR studio and if you out source, you do it online. Besides, these studios have to have other systems available if they want clients (especially now days). I can feel free to create with Logic where as I was always hindered with Pro Tools, and as a creative prophetic artist… Logic Studio is a muse as well as a tool I couldn’t live without… all the way.

Back at the studio I load the tracks into Logic Pro and clean up the EQ’s, balance and master out. Logic works seamlessly in the studio with Apogee and Euphonics as well.

My small rig for recording when I am playing guitar in a band and not leading is a little different. I use an Apogee Duet, a Zoom H4 and MainStage. This gives me a stereo recording and a stereo send to the FOH. I use a Insert cable that has a TRS end plugged into the headphone/stereo out and the two TS plugs go to the 2 inputs on the Zoom H4. I always record in stereo MP3, since a lot of the playing is orchestrated with the other band members, there a pauses, gaps, and it generally is not something that could be considered a “song”. The Duet is pristine.

I hope this helps someone out there. This is a great personal live recording setup for anyone.

P.S. I don’t mean to go off so much about Pro Tools. The thing is… When you find something that is light years ahead of what used to be “The Standard”, and it actually increases your creativity, you get excited. Logic Studio does that for me. I want others to know how far Apple has set the bar above PTLE. It is an artists software helping you create your art.

I must confess that I actually own Pro Tools, but I can’t use it on my projects because it is a limited closed system. I can’t use any of my audio interfaces with it because it is a closed proprietary system. Pro Tools, owned by Digidesign, which is owned by Avid, sells hardware. They want you to buy there hardware. That is why Pro Tools is free with the purchase of their hardware. They want you to move to their HD system. I am not talking about an HD system when I talk. Their HD system has got to be 1/16th (or less) the sales as their LE systems, yet is what brings in the bucks. Venue is a revolutionary system as well. When I talk of Pro Tools, I am talking about the regular, LE system that most musicians can afford.

So, in conclusion: If you are an artist that creates on the spot you owe it to yourself to look into Logic Studio. If you are on a budget you could go with Logic Express. Logic express is just as well, but it misses the Mastering and MainStage software.

UPDATE: As of today, 20090324, I found that Pro Tools 8 offers 48 tracks and surround. Probably enough for most sessions. This may interest someone. Unfortunately, the reviews I have read of this redesigned version 8 is still not enough to sway me from my artistic, all-powerful, lovely, feature packed Logic Studio. For now I am married and can’t be swayed by the DAW Jezebel. I love my bride just as Christ loves his.