I’m going to record a live performance from an x32. To ensure that I don’t lose the entire recording in the event of a system crash I would like to be able to close the audio files at the end of each song and continue recording. I can do it by stopping the recording and starting it again during the applause.
I would like to know if there is a function that simply closes the audio files and continues recording to a new file.
Thank you for your nice help.
Lluis
Typically when recording a live show or event, most of my friends in that field use a second recording system which is totally independent of the main one. Since they use timecode to lock to picture, it is not advisable to stop and restart a recording process.
Do you have access to a secondary system or device?
AFAIK no DAW has this feature, where it stops and creates an audio file, while not stopping the recording (so you have no gaps). The ris of doing this, is that if the talent speaks between songs, and they want this, yet you are nor recording during that time… you might get into trouble.
Not sure how to do this in a DAW. But location sound recorders (e.g. Sound Devices 833) do support that. If you push the record button while recording is already in progress it simply splits the file seamlessly. Those may not be suitable for your primary recording, but if you need just an additional last resort recording (it also writes to three different storage devices in parallel), you could cover your main channels that way.
Thanks @noeqplease
I have not a secondary system available.
Thanks @allklier
I will test what happen if I push Record while reconding, but I thinh it stops recording while playing.
Regards,
Lluís
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Yes, that’s what should happen in the DAW. It will stop record, but playback will continue in non-recording state in Nuendo. Which is kind of what you asked for. Just hit record again, it will stop and close files, give it a beat, and hit record again and it will start with a new file.
The hit record to split files is specific to the location sound recorder hardware.
I don’t think you will find a workable solution inside the DAW. And if you are looking for fail safe, a second independent recording solution is what you need to find. Doesn’t have to be a second DAW, but something that can record the audio signal on its own, such as a location sound recorder.
Depends a little bit if you need to record all the source channels, or the mix, or some buses. Hard to give more specific advise without knowing more of the requirements and circumstances.
You can do a test too. Some files, like .mp4 have a meta data block at the end of the file. So if the recording was stopped unexpectedly the file cannot be opened. Other files which have all their meta data at the front and then just streams of data, can be opened and will have data up to the point of failure. I don’t know where .wav files fall on this scale. But a quick test can highlight that. Record something in Nuendo and kill it through the task manager. Then see if the recording files will open or not.
PS: Just did that test. The file has data in it, and will open. In Telestream Switch (my QC player) it appears to be length of 0. But if I open it in Adobe apps, it will open and play fine. So it’s a recoverable event if your app just crashes. Of course nothing else will be recorded past the crash, that only a separate recording device will solve.
So in summary, I would not break it into separate files as its a recoverable event, but you could by simply using the record button and you’ll be missing about a few seconds of coverage.
i think x32 has sd card slot for multitrack recording (if memory serves me well…)
you could use that for backup recording, but use only good sd cards (i think they are called Class 10 or something like that)
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@allklier I will record 16 tracks, and I have not a 16 track hand held recorder. And the x32 is the producer release that has not enough analog outputs.
I’ve done some tests and stop/start record seems to work, I have gaps of less than one second.
I’m confident with the stability of my laptop with Nuendo. I’ve done tests recording 16 tracks with my focusrite 18i8 for two hours with no issues, but I never used the x32 usb driver.
@soundcage The expansion card with 2 sd ports is optional. The theatre has only the default expansion card that’s usb only.
Thanks for your kind answers,
Lluís
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Sounds like you have a plan.
I’ve done 2+hr live shows with USB buses going both ways to a Presonus StudioLive console (similar to X32) via USB and a VMix windows laptop without issues. I’ve also done USB cross connections on the SSL Big6 with Nuendo. Generally speaking you should have no problems. It is a single point of failure setup, but not a high risk setup.
If you do have a basic 2 channel recorder (Tascam, etc.) you could connect that to an aux bus on the X32 for a safety recording just in case. It would be a mix, not source channels. But you would have a holy sh*t backup covered.
As the saying goes in live - test, test, test. Which you’ve done.
Good luck with the show!
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@allklier thanks for your kind explanation, but I have no more hardware to do a double recording.
The basic 2-channel recording can be directly done with the x32 with a pendrive in the record port.
I have an ace in the hole, I will record the show twice, I hope to have at least one recording of all songs.
Regards,
Lluís
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Try to turn off the “count in” or “count off” so you don’t end up with too much of a gap between recordings.
Good luck and let us know how it went!
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Hi !
That is the solution I use for myself :
In the prefs, go to Record/Audio and set the audio Pre-Record Seconds to 20.000.
Then, at the end of each song, you can stop and start a new record, if you restart the record , you will be able to recover 20s of audio before you hitted stop.
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Nice and useful trick to solve that gap.
As you know, Nuendo sets a Snap Point at the begining of each event when recording. When you have Pre-Record set to On, the Snap point Point is set at the start of the event, but you can trim the start of the event to recover the Pre-Recorded audio.
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We digitize sound carriers. They often run 4 hours - like recording a live concert.
However, the files are continuously written to the disc. In the event of a power failure, only a few seconds are missing.
If you like, we record 12 hours of live concerts (tapes, vinyl …) every day on 8 computers. In the event of a crash, all files were always readable.
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I set up group outputs from the main board and feed into a second recorder. You could rent a hard disk / flash drive recorder. Depending on how many sources you have, grouping into manageable outputs like vocals, drums, bass, etc. can save the day if the worse happens. My concern for your method of stopping and starting is the time to save-to-disk. You might miss some, even with a 20 second pre-record.