Author Topic: A few questions about recording with DL32R  (Read 5072 times)

jneau

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A few questions about recording with DL32R
« on: August 02, 2015, 09:39:02 PM »
Hi,

I have a few questions about recording a live show with the DL32R (which is going to arrive later this week).

My plan is to hook up my 300GB Western Digital Passport and record directly to that...then take the tracks after the fact and load them into Audacity for mixing.

Should that all work fine?  I assume any drive you hook up has to be fast enough to handle all that's being thrown at it.  And has anyone used Audacity with the stereo tracks from the DL32R?

And am I correct in assuming that the channels are recorded at their pre-fader levels?  As an example, if the bass player is loud, we might not even have his fader turned up...but I'd still want to record him for mixing after the fact.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2015, 09:45:03 PM by jneau »

dpdan

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Re: A few questions about recording with DL32R
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2015, 01:37:03 AM »
Jneau,
first, nice to have you here, and I want to congratulate you on the purchase of your DL32R. I really like mine.
I have recorded many live concerts with mine but I record using my Mac laptop and Digital Performer instead of a USB drive.
Personally, I find the format (multi-channel wav) that the DL32R uses to record multi-track is a royal pain in the butt. 
I do not want to spend hours converting these files to individual mono wav files.

About every seven minutes or so, (1.93 gigabytes) the Mackie creates another multichannel wav file, and of course automatically names it numerically.
Each one of these wav files appear to be stereo, but in fact are really 32 channel files that need to be converted into individual mono files.   
   
So you can imagine,... a two hour concert will have about 17 files. Each one needs to be converted then.....if that isn't time consuming enough,,,  all of the first seven minutes of the concert (32 channels) need to be imported into your favorite DAW for mixing, then the second seven minutes of 32 channels need to be stitched up against the end of the first set of 32 channels accurately, down to the sample to eliminate any glitches at the splices.
Repeat and rinse 15 more times for a two hour concert recording. This is why I use a laptop and a separate recording program that eliminates the need for the silly parade of seemingly unending tasks.

Audacity will import your multi-channel wav files, or so I hear, but I don't have any experinece with Audacity.

The 32 channels will be recorded from your preamp,... meaning, only the input gain will effect the recorded tracks, pre-fader, no EQ, no compression, no gating, muting or anything else will effect the sound of the recorded channels. So even if you have excessive processing, or muted channels, it doesn't matter,.... all of your channels will be recorded.



 
« Last Edit: August 03, 2015, 03:39:11 PM by dpdan »

Topsøe

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Re: A few questions about recording with DL32R
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2015, 07:20:26 AM »
You can record the channels pre or post DSP , aux , groups , matrix , mix , even incomming USB or Dante .
You set it up in the patchbay in the top menu next to the wheel
If in doubt ask

JMc

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Re: A few questions about recording with DL32R
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2015, 06:27:17 PM »
Congrats on your purchase.  I have a 2T Seagate drive attached for recording and it works wonderfully.  Yes, converting the multichannel .WAV files to individual mono files takes some time, but it actually goes very quickly for each separate multichannel file that is created.  I don't get in a twist about it, because often, there are only specific songs I'm wanting to mix down after a show - not the entire show, and, after all, you can only mix down one song at a time anyway when you're creating a master, so...  for me, it isn't a big deal.  I am absolutely loving this mixer, which frankly, is a lot more mixer than my 5-piece band needs.  We're only using a little over half the inputs, but having all the routing flexibility and 16 outs is AMAZING for us. 

jneau

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Re: A few questions about recording with DL32R
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2015, 10:57:55 PM »
Thanks.

So assuming I hit record and let it run for 5 hours...my 300GB drive should be plenty.  Awesome.


JMc

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Re: A few questions about recording with DL32R
« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2015, 12:01:22 AM »
Thanks.

So assuming I hit record and let it run for 5 hours...my 300GB drive should be plenty.  Awesome.

I record three hour shows and 18 tracks.  I haven't even begun to scratch the capacity of my 2T drive, yet.  You should be fine.  I also have intermission music on my drive, so I actually stop the recording process between sets so I can play the intermission music, then start up the recording again when we're back on stage.  One final note...  I've yet to had any trouble with tracks syncing up or anything like that.  Smooth sailing so far.  I've recorded close to ten shows now. 
« Last Edit: August 04, 2015, 12:03:21 AM by JMc »