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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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We're now recording live church sermons from the mixer tape out (RCA connectors) straight to RealBand 2011 (or PowerTracks 2010) via Windows Laptop soundcard input. This is a mobile church so reducing outboard gadgets and cables is premier. Also, attempting to reduce editing time as we break down afterwards. That's why I want to compress before hitting the recording track. I was going to set up a hardware compressor just before the soundcard input but hope I can do this with a software compressor instead. I have a few DXi and VST compressor plug ins already. Does anyone know how to set this up as a compressor before it goes to tape/hard drive? RealBand2011 or PowerTracks2010.
Thanks
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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Hi Tobias.
It's certainly a good idea to have some form of compression before the audio hits the recording, both for clarity and as a safeguard against overload. I would suggest a limiter, rather than a compressor - the PG Peak Limit would be as good as anything and it's already on the system. Here's how to set it up.
Firstly, you'll need to be using ASIO drivers. If you're not using them already, then ASIO4ALL usually works well with Powertracks and you can download them from their website. Get back to me if you need help installing them.
With ASIO running, click on the DXi button on the toolbar. Click in the TRACK slot at the top of the window and scroll down until you see INPUT MONITOR INSERT right at the bottom and select it. In the first plug-in slot select the PG PEAK LIMIT.
Now click on the button for AUDIO PREFERENCES and in the top right of that window tick the boxes for ENABLE INPUT MONITORING and ALLOW IM EFFECTS RECORDING.
You're now set up to record through the PEAK LIMIT plug-in. I suggest you set the output gain to -2 to give you some headroom and adjust the input gain to suit the strength of the incoming signal.
One final thing - problems have been reported with this facility. It's a small number of cases and it seems to depend on a combination of hardware and software. Hopefully you will be OK.
If you need any more help, just get back to me.
Good luck, ROG.
EDIT - Works the same for both those versions of PT and RB, but I would choose PT as it loads faster and has fewer things which you don't need.
Last edited by ROG; 08/30/15 10:41 PM.
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Personally, I would use a hardware limiter/compressor. Simply to round off the edges a bit.
A L/C is a good idea on any live feed. Dropped mics, drummer smacking the snare mic, or flash pot explosions. I can testify about the last one..... simply a bad night but hey, we didn't loose but one speaker in the PA....
You did say it was from a live mixer so the possibility exists for someone to drop a live mic..... if it hasn't happened yet, it's simply a matter of time before it does.
Protect the speakers and monitors, and kill 2 birds with one stone.... go hardware.
UNLESS..... unless you have one of the newer software based consoles. They have built-in plugs and it's easy to do the limiting and compression right in the console with a plug-in.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Okay, Thanks. I think the issue I was having relates to NOT able to select INPUT MONITOR INSERT. It would not allow me to select that option after many attempt. I'll switch to ASIO Drivers and report back if that solves the problem. And, yes, PG Peak Limit is one of the options I had been attempting to use. Hopefully ASIO drivers allows this to function. I'll report back.
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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Hi. Yes, the input monitor only works with ASIO drivers. If you're going straight into the soundcard and not using an external USB module, I recommend downloading from - http://www.asio4all.com/Once you've downloaded them and run the installer, the next boot of Powertracks will find the drivers and ask if you want to use them. If you click yes, it will guide you through the process. The input monitor should work after that. ROG
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Tobias, do you have an equipment rack in the same case as the mixer, if so, I would follow Herbs advice and get some limiting in between your mixer and your mains, which will serve for the recording as well. Then your recording setup could be even simpler by using something other than a DAW. Lots of cheap hardware compression available. If your mobile setup was from Portable Church Industries, there is very likely a PreSonus 8ch dynamics processor in the rack.
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Here's a story I shared some years ago.
Our band had just purchased and installed a used Limiter/Compressor. It was in the rack between the mixer and the amps. Our band was using pyrotechnics at the time. The last song of the night (Friday) was changed so the flashpots were not used and sat on the floor overnight. The first set on Saturday night was opening to a slow crowd so we postponed using them until the second set. By then, the crowd was hopping so we opened set 2 with the Waylon song "Ain't living long". The drummer counted it off...1,2,3,4, BOOM!!!! The pots went off and literally exploded with enough force to completely blow the footlocker they were setting on, into toothpicks. All the open back cabinets on stage had speakers ripped from the baskets due to the concussion wave. It was like getting body slammed.
The blast wave was picked up by the PA and blew out every monitor speaker in our set up. In the main PA, we only lost one 15" speaker out of 6 and nothing else in the PA including the horns were damaged. The Limiter worked to keep that blast out of the mains. All together, we had to recone and replace over a dozen damaged speakers.
While you may never have a flash pot explode, a dropped mic or the drummer accidentally smacking a mic can easily do the same thing... not to mention the damage uncontrolled feedback could do. The limiter is an essential tool in a live rack.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Okay getting closer to making this work with no external hardware. It all works fine on my personal Windows 8.1 ASUS laptop (which will not be hauled to church every week) but not on the church's HP Pavilion G6 Windows 8.1 laptop.
Here's the problem; with ASIO driver selected I can not access the LINE IN but only get input from the built in mic at the top of the laptop screen. With MME driver I do get input signal from LINE IN. Once I switch to ASIO4All there is no way to turn off the built in mic and turn on the Line In. I tried everything in sound card properties and ASIO4All settings, RealBand and PT Audio Set-Up. Re-installed ASIO4All, made sure it's not in use by other programs, etc... Nothing allows me to choose the Line In when using ASIO4All. Perhaps ASIO4All is not as compatible with "this" soundcard. BTW, this soundcard does not allow me to update it's drivers, options to update driver is greyed out.
I need a way to use the ASIO driver via Line In so I can run the PG Peak Limit (or compressor) on the way in (limit or compress before recording)
The goal is to NOT add external hardware. I have several hardware compressors but we don't want to add more stuff. Example of our church set up; Mobile Church in YMCA building, 40 - 60 congregation. 12 channel powered mixer we run from the stage, (no snake) no drum set, 2 acoustic guitars, 4 singers, hand percussion, hand held wireless mic for pastor, very small speakers and floor monitors, 1 guy who sits side stage to run the video and record to the HP Pavilion G6 600GB laptop via a long RCA cable.
We get plenty of input signal and no RFI/noise, etc... Just need to compress/limit the input signal the same way it works on my personal computer.
Any ideas please... Is there a different ASIO Driver that might work?
Last edited by Tobias; 09/13/15 07:47 PM.
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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