USB recording on PC

[MartinCParticipant]

Please be gentle with me, I’m completely new to this, self taught on an analogue desk we have just swapped over to a QU32 at my Church. We have a PC running windows 10 and want to record directly onto it to upload sermons to the web. I have connected the rear usb b to the PC and downloaded the driver but don’t know how to send from the desk to the PC. We just want to record the main mix and don’t need multi track and only have the default voice recorder on the PC. Is this even possible?
It would also be good to use the USB to send audio to the desk, can I configure this to one of the stereo inputs?
Thanks in advance!
Martin

[JohnKParticipant]

You will need a USB Audio interface for your PC. Lots of different manufacturers sell these products, they connect to the sound console via XLR or TRS/TS, and they connect to your PC via USB. They usually provide 2ch in and 2ch out at a minimum. Look for mfgs like M-Audio, Presonus, Tascam, Motu, Mackie, Behringer, Focusrite

[Dick ReesParticipant]

Martin…

What recording program do you have on your computer? I use Audacity. You could use the Qu-drive to feed the stereo main mix to your computer. You’ll need to set the computer to recognize the Qu as the “audio device”, then just record.

Good luck.

[DoctorGParticipant]

I agree with Dick. Audacity is what you should try first. There are tutorials on YouTube, or just search Google for Audacity tutorials.

With Audacity, you can record stereo easily, but it supports multitrack, should you go there in the future. Best of all, it’s free, but despite that, it has lots of capability and supports plugins.

Another program that can be used free is Reaper, but it is a complicated program, and its use is not intuitive. There are excellent video tutorials for Reaper also, and you’ll probably need to view a few of these before you can do much with Reaper, despite claims to the contrary. It costs $60 to register it, and it’s fully worth it if you really want to do multitrack recording with plugins, but I believe you can use it indefinitely free, as long as you don’t mind some nag screens when you start it.

There are other programs out there, but these two cover the gamut from easy to full-featured capability. One that’s in the middle and is excellent is Presonus Studio One, which has a scaled down version that is free.

This topic has been discussed in another thread: Multitrack Recording Software

[MarkPAmanParticipant]

If all you want to do is record L&R then simply using a USB memory stick in the front USB port may well be a simpler option. Then just plug the stick into your PC & drag the file over afterwards.

No need for any drivers or additional software to be set up to get the audio onto the PC. If you use a USB3 stick (and your PC supports it), transfer will be very quick.

You may then want to use one of the programs mentioned by Dick & DoctorG, to edit the level, and top & tail the recording before you upload it to the web. These are simple tasks in Audacity – I’m not familiar with Reaper but probably in that too.

[WiltsParticipant]

John
Sorry to have to correct you but you don’t need to buy an extra USB audio interface. As others have stated below, you just connect your pc to the USB port on the back of the QU32 and it appears as a 32 channel sound card. You select the L&R channel from the QU32 in your favourite recording software and away you go.

[markieParticipant]

I think reaper is your best option when it comes to recording software. Both are free but reaper just works better. Yes you can route a stereo send back to the desk it will use channel 1 and 2 I believe in reaper I haven’t done it for a while. Go to YouTube and Allen and heath for video’s on the qu 32 it was a big help for me. And also the flash drive is a quick way to record but it will do all the tracks plus a stereo track I think it only does 16 individuals and a pair of stereos if my memory is correct.

[MarkPAmanParticipant]

There is the a 2 track recording mode to USB drive, which is all that’s required here. No need to make it any more complicated than it needs to be….

[MartinCParticipant]

Thanks everyone,
Ive downloaded Audacity, got the right driver for the QU32, I can see and select the QU32 in Audacity but when I record i’ve got nothing there, no levels showing just a straight line, do I need to select anything on the QU32 routing or otherwise to send it to the usb. As I say, I’m new to this so sorry if I’m asking obvious questions!?
TIA
Martin

[SamhainParticipant]

Sounds good if you are using MAC

[CLC churchParticipant]

in audacity you will need to choose the audio device. i know for me on reaper it comes up as ASIO

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

And then the channel count – I can’t recall the default assignments offhand.

[TommyParticipant]

You also have to set up the software to get the signal from the right channel. If you’re new to recording, it will take some time to learn that. Mark has a great idea of recording it to a thumb drive via the QU Drive, then import it into the software. If all you’re doing is the LR mix, it is a much simpler method. I use my QU32 at the church where I record to the QU Drive, an external CD recorder, and record the multi-track directly to my computer. I only do the multi-track in case we want to try to do a more “professional” recording of the praise team. I do so many different recordings also just for redundancy. I have had one fail before, so now I have three options in case one or two fail. And trust me, if you hit the wrong button while recording, you will lose one of them.

[Iwanagedit2Participant]

Boy was I surprised at how limited the recording functionality is on the QU-16. I’ve been using a cheap Tascam Portastudio ($400) for years that I can record tracks and come back and add layers on the unit hoping to add audio quality but that functionality doesn’t exist in the QU-16 ($2.3K, yes sounds far superior, but…). It may be more of a live mixer but I’d think they could put a little more code in there to at least go back over and re-record sections of a song/arrangement… it certainly has the horsepower to do it! (I sadly assumed it had all this since it markets that it is a recording unit and these are basic functions.) Are there any add-on’s to do this on QU-16? I don’t want to go back to the Tascam but I write music solo and must go back for add’l tracks and sections easily w/o destroying the creative moment (DAW’s are notorious for doing that to me)… SO Allen Heath… can you throw this in a f/w upgrade?

[Dick ReesParticipant]

Boy was I surprised at how limited the recording functionality is on the QU-16. I’ve been using a cheap Tascam Portastudio ($400) for years that I can record tracks and come back and add layers on the unit hoping to add audio quality but that functionality doesn’t exist in the QU-16 ($2.3K, yes sounds far superior, but…). It may be more of a live mixer but I’d think they could put a little more code in there to at least go back over and re-record sections of a song/arrangement…

Soooo…

How’s your Tascam work for live sound mixing?

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