Once upon a time, the very idea of recording the band and capturing multitrack performances from the FOH position was unheard of — a nearly impossible task. Analog recorders — while today worshipped in the studio for their thick, “phat” sound — were never really suited for life on the road, being somewhat fragile, and also limited to a 33-minute record time on a 10.5-inch (2,500-foot) reel of tape. That said, there were some pioneers, like Ron Wickersham (also co-creator of the Grateful Dead’s famous/infamous wall of sound) who modified early Ampex decks to take 14-inch reels to capture the Dead’s 1972 European tour.
It was never easy in the analog domain, and the usual alternative was to call in a remote recording truck. There are numerous top-flight, first-call companies offering such services, which, for many, is the preferred way to go, especially in cases where you’re interfacing with broadcaster feeds or video companies. The downside here is that this can be a pricey solution, especially if you want to archive all the dates on your tour. The plus side is that in these days of digital audio snaking/distribution, arguments about who get the “first split” are largely irrelevant.
Flash-forward to the late-1980s/early 1990s, when digital tape recording became more of the norm. I recall checking out Steely Dan’s Alive in America 1993/94 tours, where a $400,000 Sony PCM-3348 digital recorder sat at FOH, with its 48 inputs fed from direct channel preamp outputs from the Yamaha PM4000 house console. Not necessarily cheap, but definitely easier than the analog route. Things were more affordable with the arrival of the Tascam DA-88 modular 8-track recorder, but schlepping a rack of four interlocked 8-tracks to capture 32 tracks (or six decks for 48-tracks) was cantankerous and far from a plug-and-play experience.
Avid
Certainly the most integrated system for recording from FOH came with Avid’s VENUE series consoles, which combine flexible live sound mixing, access to dozens of plug-ins and options for capturing/playing up to 128 channels of Pro Tools, with bundles for the VENUE D-Show, Profile and Mix Rack mixers. The system also provides simplified playback of pre-recorded tracks and a Virtual Soundcheck function, but requires adding a PCIe-based Mac or Windows desktop computer to run the Pro Tools|HDX and Pro Tools|HD Native recording software. Alternatively, you can go outside the box with a VENUE MADI Option card and feed any number of third-party recorders or non-Avid DAWs.
PreSonus
Simpler, and far less expensive, are the PreSonus 24.4.2/16.4.2/16.0.2 StudioLive series digital mixers, equipped with FireWire interfacing for sending up to 32 record tracks to a Mac/PC laptop or desktop equipped with a six-pin FireWire 400 port. Just add your DAW software or use the included version of PreSonus’ cross-platform StudioOne recording/editing/mixing application.
Mine MADI
MADI (also known as AES 10) is a unidirectional protocol, transmitting up to 64 channels at 48k Hz (or 32 at 96k Hz) over a fiber optic line or copper 75-ohm coax BNC cable. Consoles supporting MADI include: Allen & Heath, Avid, DiGiCo, Midas (via the Klark Teknik DN9650 Network Bridge), Roland, Soundcraft, Studer and Yamaha. And the same can be said from nearly any networked audio infrastructure (Riedel, Optocore, etc.), where you might just a simple interface box away from easy track access for your recoding rig. Because once you’ve got MADI, the options recording are numerous. This can come in the form of a computer interface, such as RME’s (rme-audio.de) HDSPe MADI PCI express-format for desktop computers or the HDSPe MADIface for notebook computers with a PCI ExpressCard slot. From there, add your DAW software of choice.
However, the a la carte route (selecting/matching your own components, software, etc.) doesn’t appeal to everyone. In addition to Avid’s Pro Tools, companies offering MADI-ready recording packages include ADK (adkproaudio.com) Klark Teknik (klarkteknik.com), JoeCo (joeco.co.uk), Merging Technologies (merging.com), SADiE (sadie.com) and Solid State Logic (solidstatelogic.com).
ADK
Originally designed for use with DiGiCo consoles, ADK’s Didi Uno, Digi Duo and Digio FX are turnkey systems complete with RME interface, PC, high-density storage and Cubase, Samplitude or Nuendo software, dependent on client preferences, for up to 112-track live recording and post editing.
Klark Teknik
KT’s DN9696 packs a 96-track, 24-bit/96k Hz capable recorder in a compact, five-rackspace unit. No external computers are needed and it boasts a simple GUI with dedicated front-panel transport buttons and control interfacing with Midas consoles. Audio connections are via eight AES50 ports, although used with the optional DN9650 Network Bridge adds interfacing with Audinate Dante, Aviom A-Net, Cirrus Logic CobraNet, Digigram EtherSound and MADI.
JoeCo
The first large-scale multi-channel recorder designed specifically for capturing live performance audio, the JoeCo BlackBox BBR1 is offered in analog and digital I/O versions—all from a single-rackspace unit, with no computer required. The regular BBR1 BlackBox recorder can record/replay up to 24 channels of 24-bit/96k Hz audio in Broadcast WAV format. Files can easily be transferred from the BlackBox to any Mac or PC DAW via USB2. A MADI I/O system (the BBR64-MADI) is also offered, and can record/play up to 64 channels at standard 48k Hz sample rates (or 32 tracks at 96k Hz). One useful feature common to all JoeCo recorders is the ability to create a headphone monitor mix with level and pan of every track.
With networked audio being so common to many systems, installs and venues, JoeCo’s just-announced BBR-64-Dante may be just the trick. As its name implies, this is the full-on, 64-track version of BlackBox that can record or play 64 channels from a feed from a network using Audinate’s Dante protocol (doubling the track capacity of JoeCo’s earlier Dante-enabled system). In addition to recording 64 channels at 48k Hz sample rates (or half at 96k Hz), the BBR-64-Dante can also record eight channels of analog alongside 56 channels of Dante for capturing audience/room ambience.
Merging Technologies
Horus, the new front-end I/O product for Merging’s Pyramix PC DAW software can also function as an audio ADDA for various third-party DAWs via AES-EBU (24 channel), MADI (64-channel) and Ravenna, the open network protocol that runs audio, clocking and control — all over standard Ethernet cables and switches.
SADiE
The SADiE LRX2 Location Audio Workstation, pairs the company’s windows-based MTR (Multi-track Recorder) software with a compact hardware mix controller and up to three of its Slithers I/O interfaces (16 channel analog/digital or 64-channel MADI) with your laptop for a complete solution.
Solid State Logic
Unveiled earlier this year at Musikmesse/Prolight+Sound, the Live-Recorder from studio console specialists Solid State Logic connects to your live sound console or venue audio distribution via optical MADI and can record/play up to 128 channels at 48k Hz or 64 tracks at 96k Hz. Live-Recorder is a complete package combining Soundscape 6.2 DAW software, a MADI audio interface and a rackmount PC. Two versions are available and both support 128 track operation. The flagship Live-Recorder MX4 includes the MX4 interface with onboard DSP, software mixer and SSL plug-ins. The Live-Recorder 128 is a simplified version has a MadiExtreme interface and is intended for capture-only situations where no confidence monitoring is necessary. All incorporate SSL’s Pro Convert technology for exporting files to Pro Tools sessions, Cubase/Nuendo track archives, Final Cut XML and Samplitude/Sequoia edit lists.
You’ve Got Options
These days, with many FOH engineers handling tour management duties — and, seemingly, everything else, from driving the bus to selling tickets at the box office — so adding one more chose to their list seems a tough proposition. However, when it comes to creating broadcast-quality multi-track masters of the show, at least this is one task that — thanks to new technologies — has actually gotten easier. In fact it might be truly plug and play; but just remember to hit that record button before the first downbeat.
