Best Multi for running live backing tacks

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Am currently workin on an album that will be going out for touring shortly.
Most music will be running off fairly complex backing tracks and there will
be different musicians and guest singers on different nights so they require
that the backing tracks be subgrouped and separated (drums, bass, strings,
keys, guitars, BVs etc)

They were originally going to use HD24s but 2 they have purchased are
unreliable and have been sent back. Someone has suggested a Powerbook runing
Digital Performer 4 but that still sounds risky to me.

Whats a rock solid reliable solution for them? They don't have the budget
for a RADAR or Tascam MX2424. It'd have to be a lower market Fostex or
Mackie MDR, SDR or HDR. What are people using with success with this
situation?

thanks,

Martin

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

If you're going on tour, different rooms sound different and it's not just a
matter of turning up the stereo.

But to Martin, there are a lot of people that actually run backing tracks
from a PowerBook and Digital Performer, but it would be smart to have two of
them for redundancy. But I think I personally I'd be looking into a hire of
this type of equipment so if problems arise, new equipment can be supplied
within 24 hours. I'd also seriously consider the fact that HD24s, even if
you had operable ones (which really shouldn't be that hard to find), you
have a proprietary format with slow means of transfer if something
catastrophic happened, so I'd keep to the Mackie or Tascam since they can be
formatted to work with a PC or Mac for data transfer. It's not worth going
out on tour with equipment that places an additional burden on you if
something happens. The best way to have a smooth tour is to be prepared and
have a plan for continguences.

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio

"Mondoslug1" <mondoslug1@aol.comwaht> wrote in message
news:20040719193130.19087.00001971@mb-m06.aol.com...
> Martin wrote:
>
> >Am currently workin on an album that will be going out for touring
shortly.
> >Most music will be running off fairly complex backing tracks and there
will
> >be different musicians and guest singers on different nights so they
require
> >that the backing tracks be subgrouped and separated (drums, bass,
strings,
> >keys, guitars, BVs etc)
> >
>
> You could just burn a bunch of different stereo audio CD mixes of the same
> tunes & swap them as needed for the different shows:
> one sans bass, one sans guit, etc. etc & carry a decent CD player?
>
>
> >They were originally going to use HD24s but 2 they have purchased are
> >unreliable and have been sent back. Someone has suggested a Powerbook
runing
> >Digital Performer 4 but that still sounds risky to me.
> >
> >Whats a rock solid reliable solution for them? They don't have the budget
> >for a RADAR or Tascam MX2424. It'd have to be a lower market Fostex or
> >Mackie MDR, SDR or HDR. What are people using with success with this
> >situation?
> >
> >thanks,
> >
> >Martin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Roger wrote:

>If you're going on tour, different rooms sound different and it's not just a
>matter of turning up the stereo.
>


true enough...we've got a DVD with Surround Sound sending 5 outputs for 5
different tracks but that way seems like a pain in the ass but it's been
working so far.


>But to Martin, there are a lot of people that actually run backing tracks
>from a PowerBook and Digital Performer, but it would be smart to have two of
>them for redundancy. But I think I personally I'd be looking into a hire of
>this type of equipment so if problems arise, new equipment can be supplied
>within 24 hours. I'd also seriously consider the fact that HD24s, even if
>you had operable ones (which really shouldn't be that hard to find), you
>have a proprietary format with slow means of transfer if something
>catastrophic happened, so I'd keep to the Mackie or Tascam since they can be
>formatted to work with a PC or Mac for data transfer. It's not worth going
>out on tour with equipment that places an additional burden on you if
>something happens. The best way to have a smooth tour is to be prepared and
>have a plan for continguences.
>
>--
>
>
>Roger W. Norman
>SirMusic Studio
>
>"Mondoslug1" <mondoslug1@aol.comwaht> wrote in message
>news:20040719193130.19087.00001971@mb-m06.aol.com...
>> Martin wrote:
>>
>> >Am currently workin on an album that will be going out for touring
>shortly.
>> >Most music will be running off fairly complex backing tracks and there
>will
>> >be different musicians and guest singers on different nights so they
>require
>> >that the backing tracks be subgrouped and separated (drums, bass,
>strings,
>> >keys, guitars, BVs etc)
>> >
>>
>> You could just burn a bunch of different stereo audio CD mixes of the same
>> tunes & swap them as needed for the different shows:
>> one sans bass, one sans guit, etc. etc & carry a decent CD player?
>>
>>
>> >They were originally going to use HD24s but 2 they have purchased are
>> >unreliable and have been sent back. Someone has suggested a Powerbook
>runing
>> >Digital Performer 4 but that still sounds risky to me.
>> >
>> >Whats a rock solid reliable solution for them? They don't have the budget
>> >for a RADAR or Tascam MX2424. It'd have to be a lower market Fostex or
>> >Mackie MDR, SDR or HDR. What are people using with success with this
>> >situation?
>> >
>> >thanks,
>> >
>> >Martin
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Thanks so far guys.

I aslo agree that what makes a great LIVE performance is to have all live
musicians where the interaction between them is exciting to watch and the
fact that mistakes may happen or some moment of uncertainty could/will
happen during the gig is more interesting than hearing the record coming out
of the speakers again.

however,

this project wants to use the backing tracks and I'm asking the question
only for their advice. Also, the composition is going to be HUGE sounding on
the album. Theres 60 piece orchestra on almost all tracks and a double
tracked 22 piece choir, loops, kits, keys, acoustics, spanish guitar,
BVs.... etc etc.... it'd cost a million quid to take a show like this around
and thats not in the budget (believe me!).

Currently, we reckon that the Mackie MDR might be an option. The project
leader is also favouring toward Cubase SX 2 on 2 sync'd laptops as an option
as the whole album was built on that software (though is about to be
transferred into evil Digi protools for mixing). Though I wouldn't like to
be on the stage with that setup myself as I've seen the SX crash quite a
bit!. I'm urging him away from that though if there were two machines sync'd
it'd relieve the stress a bit. One thought I have though is how would you
sync them?

If one laptop was the MTC master and the other slave. The master is running
the show, then crashes, the MTC would stop being sent to the Slave and it'd
stop too. Are there any external controllers that could send out timecode to
two machines so that both are slaves and if one fails the other continues
regardless?

thanks so far

Martin
"Martin Quinn" <mquinn@eircom.net> wrote in message
news:SuYKc.4989$Z14.6081@news.indigo.ie...
> Am currently workin on an album that will be going out for touring
shortly.
> Most music will be running off fairly complex backing tracks and there
will
> be different musicians and guest singers on different nights so they
require
> that the backing tracks be subgrouped and separated (drums, bass, strings,
> keys, guitars, BVs etc)
>
> They were originally going to use HD24s but 2 they have purchased are
> unreliable and have been sent back. Someone has suggested a Powerbook
runing
> Digital Performer 4 but that still sounds risky to me.
>
> Whats a rock solid reliable solution for them? They don't have the budget
> for a RADAR or Tascam MX2424. It'd have to be a lower market Fostex or
> Mackie MDR, SDR or HDR. What are people using with success with this
> situation?
>
> thanks,
>
> Martin
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Mackie always seems to win that one!

>
> It's hard to beat a Mackie MDR24/96 for reliability, decent sound, and
> price.