Live Recording Optimization

With my 001 and G4, I have recorded two live tracks continuously for over 4 hours. I have recorded 4 tracks for 2 or more hours, and 8 for over an hour. Knock wood.

I'll be doing around 14 tracks for approx 45 mins or so. My fingers are crossed. Maybe after every couple songs I'll play it safe and hit save. Just hope they don't say anything funny or start playing again until I hit record again.

I just did 18 simultaneous tracks this past weekend on a G-4 Powerbook that only had a 1 gHz processor and only 256 MB of RAM with no problems, however I didn't record for more than about 12 minutes at a stretch. In my case, it was also a live performance, but since it wasn't going to be a "continuous" sound on the CD I created sessions in advance with all the tracks labeled and I/Os set up. All I had to do was Save/Close/Open. You might want to have some sessions created like that -- just in case.

I would recommend testing out your gear ahead of time, especially if you're getting paid for the gig. Set it up with as many inputs and tracks as you'll be using at the gig. Hit record and let it run. If things go fine for the amount of time you need, then maybe you could run another test using different settings, or try to bog it down with plugins and see what it takes to cause an error or make it crash. That way you'll know how far from the edge you are. I would also recommend some type of backup. You could send a mix (from Pro Tools, a stereo pair of audience mics, or a mix from the FOH board) to a DAT machine or CD-burner. That way you've got your ass covered in case of a catastrophic failure. Also, you should contact the club/venue ahead of time and make sure it's ok to record there. Do you have some type of power backup? Occasionally you might get a loose or faulty power outlet, or somebody trips over the cord and pulls it out. Good Luck!

Don't know if the event has already occured, but I have been doing this for a while with 16 inputs at once, and recording up to 5 hours. I would recommend doing saves every hour or so, or if it is different bands, set up the sessions a head of time, and record each band to a different session. I don't use plugins when recording, but JFreak does. I have used buffer settings of 256, 512, and 1024. All seemed to work fine. 85% CPU usage. While everyone is tearing down at the end of the night, do a backup to the internal drive, just in case!! Other than some FW problems in the begining, (I record to a USB2 drive now) I have been very happy with this setup! Geoff