Live recording

[mhawley]

I am looking to record our live service. I need to record 48 channels at the same time. The FOH mixer is a SoundCraft MH3 48. What would be the best way to set this up. If possible I would like to use Mac but will use PC. I need to keep the price low.

[ELP71]

What do you mean by "low"?

[michaelhoddy]

2 Alesis HD24's synch'ed together and a FireDock to transfer the stuff to the computer?

You could do some audio interfaces as well with a computer, but it will probably cost more and I'd be concerned about stability trying to consistently record 48 tracks. That'll take a pretty robust computer and a bunch of storage, at which point the HD24's will be cheaper.

I've used mine with very good success for live multitrack, and I've also used a pair for a live record once

[mhawley]

What do you mean by "low"?
I would like to stay under $40,000

[ELP71]

I would like to stay under $40,000

That's a nice place to be in, but not really necessary to spend that much on joust the recording solution.

I agree with Michael Hoddy's solution...or of course you could try an X48. I hear they run quite well.

[DAS]

Michael, how reliable are your HD24's? I hear a lot of people using these to capture live performances, but some people I know say they do get the occasional blip, or drop out, etc.

[michaelhoddy]

Michael, how reliable are your HD24's? I hear a lot of people using these to capture live performances, but some people I know say they do get the occasional blip, or drop out, etc.

It's strange- I've heard the exact same things from people about HD24 foibles, but mine has always been good to me (so far). My HD24 is an early model I got in 2003. I have never upgraded the firmware on it, and it's always been absolutely reliable, except for one time a hard drive took a crap, which I don't fault the HD24 for. I've used it for real short stuff all the way through 2-hour straight 24-track live recordings, all with no problems.

To the OP- if you have $40k to spend, that IS quite sufficient to get you into a nice Pro Tools HD system with 48 channels of I/O, but the real question is whether or not you need to go to that level to achieve your goals.

With that sort of budget, you might also want to consider doing a transformer split on your mic lines so your recordings are in no way dependent on the FOH console.