Newbie to Protools/003+

[uncledizzy]

I am new to the digital recording world. I am a sound person in a bar setting and wish to record some of the performances live. I have a Macbook Pro and the 003+. I only want to use the equipment as an interface to capture the live sound using the mics from the stage and splitters. I need to know the easiest and least complicated manner in which to set up the system. (I am also 20 years PC based and just learning the Mac.) The splitters are passive and mics include standard SM58, 57, AT 2020 and 2021, AKG D112, other Shure mics, etc. Phantom power per each channel of the Soundcraft main FOH board, 2 separate fold back systems on stage. Artists run the gambit from acoustic folk and jazz to hard rock and roll. I chose Protools because of its nature as a standard of the recording industry, but am so confused by the manual and its lack of communication on a basic level! The ultimate goal here is to provide a live CD for some of the artists' demo requirements---IMHO, for these genres, live recordings are far better than a studio recording as it shows audience reactions, something most booking people normally don't get to hear on a studio recording. It also shows how well prepared an artist actually is---there's no chance to go back and correct an error!

I am just getting started with this and any help is greatly appreciated!

Best regards,
uncledizzy

[albee1952]

Since you have splitters, and the 003 has 8 mic preamps, first thing to get is 8 more mic preamps. The bargain basement solution is the Behringer ADA8000. Some other options(that cost more) are Presonus Firestudio, D8 and Digimax, M-Audio Octane. Split 16 mics into your Pro Tools rig and go. If you have less than 16 inputs, I would hang some room mics too. When it comes time to mix, you may want to nudge the room mics earlier to align with the direct feeds. Sometimes, I just bring up the room mics between songs and slide them back while the band plays(this gets the audience response without too much ambience during the music). If you get hum when everything is patched, its likely a ground loop. If you can power your Pro Tools setup from the same outlet as the SOundcraft, that may help. Or you can lift the ground(pin 1 in the XLR) on the split outputs that feed the recording rig. If the splitter has no ground lift switches, I would open the XLR plugs(at the Pro Tools end) and clip the wire from pin 1 and tape it(essentially what the ground lift switch does anyway).

[uncledizzy]

Allbee1952: Thanks for the response. What you are saying here is I need to spend more money! I just want to record live performances. LAst nite, for example, I had a duo on stage---2 vocal mics, 2 condenser instrument mics, 2 DI's. I split off at the board end of my snake and would take the split signal directly to the 003. I would have added 2 AT 2020's as audience ambience mics, mounted high at the back of the stage and just leave them on to catch the reactions. (Old school placement at 45 degrees off center of stage, high above the stage and its monitiors.)

In workling with an orchestra, I have gotten quite good results on my TASCAM 2488 with 2 ATM 2020's overhead of the band, 2 condenser mics in front of the band to catch solos and 2 wireless mics for singers. Piano and bass go direct into the board and splitters/direct outs from the board to the 2488. I can see the extra need for more preamps when working with rock/blues/fusion, but very seldom do we need that.

I guess my questions actually deal more with the software. It's obvious to me that the Rack 003+ is an interface to bring the data to the computer and then acted upon by ProTools to organize and assign to different tracks. So, I guess, my questions are even more basic---setting up a session and manipulating the mixer, and getting the data from the computer to my external hard drive.

Again, my goal is to offer a facility for live recording at its most basic. No effects, no midi instruments and NO DRUM TRACKS! (If it ain't live, it ain't music! Personal opinion only!)

Thanks for you response. I will most likely aquire and additional 8 preamps in the future.

[flommer]

Sounds like all you will likely need (at least in the beginning) will be a few audio tracks. Each audio track can be either stereo or mono, and you choose what physical inputs go to which tracks from within the software.

You should spend some time learning about templates in ProTools. You can have a few different templates setup so that you don't need to create and name tracks every time you are recording a new session.

Go to this link:

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...0&itemid=27606

On that page you will find directions to the Digidesign Accelerated videos. In particular, there are about 3 that deal with setting up templates. I would suggest you take the time to go through a bunch of those videos. There are lots of videos on YouTube etc that could be helpful.

I would say, also, that you really need to spend some time becoming comfortable with your Mac and ProTools before you put it on the line at a live show. You should also test your rig in a real life situation (recording for 2-3 hours straight) to test it's stability, work out your recording levels, etc...

You mention an external hard-drive somewhere in your post... That's a good thing (essential according to Digi), especially with a laptop computer. When you create a new session (from a template or from scratch), you simply tell ProTools where to put the session folder. If your FW drive is hooked up and working properly, just set that as the session target. You shouldn't have any problems recording 8 tracks. 16, after you get additional inputs, shouldn't be a problem either. Most stability issues people seem to have are related to plugins/Virtual Instruments. While doing your live gig you likely wouldn't need to record with effects anyway.

[uncledizzy]

Much Thanks for the info! Will follow through. Hopefully, it shouldn't take more than 2 very concerntrated weeks to get this thing going. The answers and suggestions you [roviode are exactly what I was looking for! Will stay in toch and let you know how it progresses!