SAC - The live sound revolution. FIRST FIELD REPORT!
- Thread starter Glenn Fricker
- Start date
Yep. No replacement besides the kick, you read it right. And, just to really piss you off, I had the 20db pad engaged on one of the overheads, so they were totally unbalanced going in to the recorder & I just sorta winged it with the preamps. Of course I didn't realize it at the time, it was just one of those "what the fuck?" things I didn't pay too much attention to. Only during tear-down did I realize the pad was engaged.
The mics went up in about 30 seconds. Studio Projects C4 on overheads, 57 on the snare, and Beyerdynamic Opus 88 on the toms.
Great little mics. I'll have to acquire a set.
Please bear in mind the drummer had a beautiful kit & could play.
It was hilarious, when we first rolled in & I started running the snake, he gets out his tuning key & goes to town on his kit.
The joke of the evening was:
Q: How do you get a drummer to tune his drums?
A: Tell him he's being recorded.
This particular recording was of the third band of the evening. So, the mics had been up & down a few times already. Again, I can't stress how important it is to flag your mics so you know which one goes on which tom. Saves endless amounts of grief.
And the most important tool of the evening:
LED Mini-Maglite. This was definitely my best friend that evening!
arv_foh
Brian K
I usually use 604s and I put a little piece of tape on each mic with the tom number (1,2,3,4)
I always have an LED flashlight with me too. Especially essential to make sure you mic up guitars correctly
$500 is definitely way cheaper than any low end digital console, like a Yamaha M7CL
I always have an LED flashlight with me too. Especially essential to make sure you mic up guitars correctly
$500 is definitely way cheaper than any low end digital console, like a Yamaha M7CL
Morgan C
MAX LOUD PRESETS¯\(°_o)/¯
Ugh..
The overheads are super clear and the snare sounds incredible. Miles above anything I'm getting in my studio, and dare I say I prefer this drum sound a lot compared to what YOU'RE getting naturally in your studio. Huge and thick and tight.. I honestly thought the snare was sampled. Oh if all drummers were this good..
Yeah, it kind of made me re-think how I've been approaching snares in the studio. Turns out, the Digimax 96 is a little faster than an API 512c on snares. And my "backup" C4 overheads might be better suited for the studio than my Oktavas...
It's amazing how much your perspective can change by getting the hell out of the studio.
Granted, I did three other bands, and while the snares were nice, they didn't compare to this one. This guy knew how to hit.
It's amazing how much your perspective can change by getting the hell out of the studio.
Granted, I did three other bands, and while the snares were nice, they didn't compare to this one. This guy knew how to hit.
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
When I was interning, the live setup was designed in a way that you never had to deal with the live sound guy. They had a 48 track portable (well, as portable as I guess they could have it, the rig sat in a 12 space rack case) system all self contained.
They brought enough cable to feed the live guy, but it was designed to go between the live guy and the mics while being 100% transparent.
They blew $7k on the system. I wish I could remember what the fuck it was.
They brought enough cable to feed the live guy, but it was designed to go between the live guy and the mics while being 100% transparent.
They blew $7k on the system. I wish I could remember what the fuck it was.
They blew $7k on the system. I wish I could remember what the fuck it was.
"Expensive" is what I'll guess.
With this setup, you're mixing the live show AND recording at the same time. Sure as hell didn't cost me 7K, that's for sure.
Anyway, finally got some video from the gig, I hope to have it up soon.
-0z-
Ok, FINALLY got some video from that gig...
Sorry for the terrible quality, I was concentrating on the mix. But you can see SAW recording, SAC mixing , with effortless switching back and forth, not to mention the utlra-fast screen updates.
-0z-
Sorry for the terrible quality, I was concentrating on the mix. But you can see SAW recording, SAC mixing , with effortless switching back and forth, not to mention the utlra-fast screen updates.
-0z-
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kev
Im guybrush threepwood
Because a regular DAW would crumble under the load at 32 samples. I'm sure you could get away with a few channels, but when you start adding in live drumagog, multiple monitor sends, gates, comps, eq's, verbs & whatnot, well you'd get breakup & dropouts. Not cool in the middle of a gig. This ran for four hours at 32 samples without a single glitch.
And, last time I checked, most regular daw's don't support tcp/ip remote control. With SAC, you can hook up a wireless netbook & mix from anywhere in the venue.
guitarguru777
Member
So to get started on a 16 track SAC system? If I am understanding this all correctly I would need 3 ADA8000's?
16 ins, 8 outs? or am I missing something?
Figure 4 for FOH and 4 Monitor Sends?
From there all the gates compressors and effects come from my VST's?
16 ins, 8 outs? or am I missing something?
Figure 4 for FOH and 4 Monitor Sends?
From there all the gates compressors and effects come from my VST's?
2 ADA8000s should do the trick. That'll give you 16 I/O for dirt cheap. I really like the Digimax 96 because of it's built in limiters, but it's much, much more expensive.
Just keep in mind that monitor submixes are stereo pairs, so If you're going to mono monitors, keep things panned to one side & hook up accordingly...
But, theoretically, you should be able to do a "FOH" plus 7 mono monitor sends with 2 ADA8000's. Just make sure you've got self powered monitors or a ton of poweramps kicking around.
And, if you're really ambitious, or just crazy, you could give each band member a netbook & let them mix their own monitors.
Gates, comps & eq's are built in on every channel. VSTs will work as well, but only the ones that don't cause latency. (there will be an exception for time-based plugs like certain verbs in an upcoming version) Lookahead limiters like most mastering comps won't work as they create latency, but you can get similar results with a Stillwell Eventhorizon. I recommend one on the main vocal monitor!
Drumagog works great.
BTW, about the ADA8000's: The overheads on the included recording were using the ADA8000 preamps, if you can believe that shit!
If you've got more questions, I'd recommend the SAC board. I've done a grand total of one gig with it, but there are a lot of guys on there with much more experience & are willing to help the new guys.
http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7
Good luck!
-0z-
Just keep in mind that monitor submixes are stereo pairs, so If you're going to mono monitors, keep things panned to one side & hook up accordingly...
But, theoretically, you should be able to do a "FOH" plus 7 mono monitor sends with 2 ADA8000's. Just make sure you've got self powered monitors or a ton of poweramps kicking around.
And, if you're really ambitious, or just crazy, you could give each band member a netbook & let them mix their own monitors.
Gates, comps & eq's are built in on every channel. VSTs will work as well, but only the ones that don't cause latency. (there will be an exception for time-based plugs like certain verbs in an upcoming version) Lookahead limiters like most mastering comps won't work as they create latency, but you can get similar results with a Stillwell Eventhorizon. I recommend one on the main vocal monitor!
Drumagog works great.
BTW, about the ADA8000's: The overheads on the included recording were using the ADA8000 preamps, if you can believe that shit!
If you've got more questions, I'd recommend the SAC board. I've done a grand total of one gig with it, but there are a lot of guys on there with much more experience & are willing to help the new guys.
http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7
Good luck!
-0z-
guitarguru777
Member
Torniojaws
They call me Juha
.............did they have to call it "sac?"
At least they didn't call it a Digital Interface Controller/Keyer....
Actually, I've got the limiters from the Digimax 96 engaged. They're not clipping on the really critical channels like vox, guitars & drums.
IMO clipping on any channel is unacceptable and not the greatest engineering... The end product is great though so i cant knock it and i guess you are sound replacing a lot of this so that ispart of the reason its probably not able to be heard...
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