One of the many strengths of Digidesign's Venue live mixing system is its ability to easily integrate (or one might even say "morph") into a multitrack recording system.
The Venue FOH rack incorporates card slots that accept Digidesign's HDx or FWx expansion cards, both of which seamlessly couple the Venue system with Pro Tools recording rigs. The HDx card provides a DigiLink connection that couples to HD Core or Accel cards installed in a computer running Pro Tools HD, enabling the system to record as many as 128 channels of digital audio. The FWx option card actually replaces a PT LE interface (such as a Digi 003), enabling the Venue system to connect directly to a computer running Pro Tools LE, and providing up to 18 channels of digital recording into Pro Tool LE software.
Every channel of the Venue has a direct output that can be used as a recording feed, and multiple ‘tap' points are available so an engineer has the ability to decide where in the signal path the recording feed will be sourced. Although the Venue SC48 does not incorporate an outboard rack (audio I/O is integrated into the console), a Pro Tools LE interface is built into this unit, facilitating connection to a computer running PT LE, just as easily as its big brothers can do. Very slick indeed.
Hybrid Consoles
Alas, not everyone has the budget for a Venue system or (horrors!!) may prefer to work on another platform. Once again, the trickling down of high technology brings benefits to the audio industry. You can't swing a dead cat these days without hitting a FireWire or a USB port, and a plethora of mixing consoles are cropping up that are equally capable of servicing the live sound need while simultaneously providing a FireWire or USB interface for recording. I call these "Hybrid" mixing consoles, and they are showing up at very reasonable price points.
One example of such a mixer is the PreSonus StudioLive. This sexy number looks a lot like a "normal" digital mixer: 16 analog input channels (line or mic with 48-volt phantom power), four subgroups and a stereo master output.
Each channel features a complement of processing called the Fat Channel, which includes compressor, EQ, gate, limiter, phase reverse, and a high-pass filter. The Studio Live also features a FireWire port that allows you to connect it to a computer running just about any DAW software (with one exception that we'll discuss below – Pro Tools software requires the use of Digidesign hardware as a means to "unlock" the software. In other words, you can't use PT software without a Digidesign interface).
The FireWire port supplies 22 audio paths to the computer from the input channels, subgroup outs and master outs, and gives you the ability to decide whether the recording feed will be tapped before or after the StudioLive's Fat Channel processing.
If you decide that you want to record your audio directly after the mic preamp, without any of the processing (EQ, gating, compression, etc.) that you are using for the live mix, you may do so. The FireWire port also provides 18 channels of playback from the DAW software (16 individual plus a stereo master), enabling you to route the recorded tracks back into the console for mixing. You can decide whether these tracks return to the mixer pre- or post-channel processing, so you can use the EQ and dynamics on the mixer – as opposed to using software plug-ins for processing (and, yes, you can simultaneously use the FireWire returns from the DAW with the analog inputs). For those requiring more channels, multiple StudioLives may be linked.
Other Hybrids
PreSonus is not the only manufacturer venturing into this turf. The ZED-R16 from Allen & Heath also incorporates a pretty impressive complement of processing intended to facilitate recording during live shows. The ZED-R16 is also built in a 16x4x2 configuration but puts a different spin on the concept by providing a four-band analog EQ section with high- and low-shelf plus two fully parametric mid bands, per channel. Each channel has a digital out and a digital in, and you can tap the recording output just after the preamp, or after the EQ via a switch located next to each channel fader. Every channel has a digital return – much like we'd see on an inline analog console that has a "tape return" input on every channel.
The digital output path can feed either the FireWire port or a pair of ADAT optical outputs, and – get this – you can return the DAW tracks to the console pre-analog EQ, which allows you to apply the four-band parametric analog EQ to the DAW tracks (analog plug-ins!). Additionally, the ZED-R16 can function as a MIDI control surface featuring transport control and channel faders acting as MIDI controllers.
Some of the more modest hybrids come from Tascam, Yamaha and Peavey. The Tascam M-164UF provides 16 analog inputs and a USB 2.0 interface that supports 16 outputs at a resolution of up to 96 kHz/24-bit for recording into your DAW. Each of the recording outputs serves as a "direct output" from the analog section of the mixer, allowing for the ability to easily create multitrack recordings.
The USB connection also routes a stereo return from the computer back to the mixer for playback. In this case, the mixing of tracks is accomplished within the computer, and the M-164UF provides the monitoring path. The M-164UF comes bundled with Cubase LE4.
Yamaha takes a similar approach with their MG166CX-USB, which is bundled with Cubase AI4. Peavey's PV Series USB mixers feature the ability to route stereo I/O via USB for recording the main stereo bus and complementary playback.
The Mackie Onyx Series (which includes the 820i, 1620i) is in the unique position of offering the ability to unlock Digidesign's Pro Tools M-Powered software – to date, the only audio interfaces not manufactured by Digidesign with that capability.
The Onyx 1620i features eight mono mic/line inputs plus another four stereo line inputs, all of which may be routed to Pro Tools software, pre- or post-EQ, for recording onto individual tracks. Aux sends 1 and 2, as well as the main L/R bus, are also routed via separate output buses, with the L/R feed tapped before the analog master fader. In the monitor section, a "FW 1-2" button routes a stereo output from the DAW software back into the Onyx for monitoring purposes.
All of these Hybrid mixing consoles share one essential characteristic: they make it relatively easy for engineers (and bands) to record rehearsals and live shows using a computer and their choice of audio recording software. Much like the project studio revolution of the 1990s democratized the studio recording process, hybrid mixers democratize live recording, making it available on levels that we could only wish for just a few years ago.
