Forums › Forums › Qu Forums › Qu general discussions › QU-16 Recording tips?
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2014/04/11 at 8:46 am #38951
Had my QU for a few months – done a few gigs. Not scratched the surface on what this great mixer can do – but very happy so far. Going to try recording a gig for the first time. I’d be grateful for any general tips on how to operate the recording features… plus I have a few questions:
Is it as simple as just formatting the hard disk, arming the record and then hitting play?
I want to record multi-track including channels that won’t go through the front of house or monitor speakers (ie drums). If I mic up the drums but then mute all drum channels (so that they don’t go through FOH or monitors)… will the drum channels still be recorded?
Is it possible to record several different sessions on one hard disk (I seem to remember reading somewhere that the QU likes a freshly formatted and empty disk before each recording session… have I got that wrong?)
Do I have to do anything with ‘inserts’? I’m not even sure what they are!
Many thanks.
2014/04/11 at 10:59 am #38961Is it as simple as just formatting the hard disk, arming the record and then hitting play?
Should be… depends on the hard disc
I want to record multi-track including channels that won’t go through the front of house or monitor speakers (ie drums). If I mic up the drums but then mute all drum channels (so that they don’t go through FOH or monitors)… will the drum channels still be recorded?
No… Mute disables the complete signal
The solutions is: don’t send them to master bus, then the recording works (Routing page…On/Off on every bus)Is it possible to record several different sessions on one hard disk (I seem to remember reading somewhere that the QU likes a freshly formatted and empty disk before each recording session… have I got that wrong?)
The Qu numbers your takes automatically… Keep in mind the recording has no correct time stamp since the Qu has no real clock.
Document the recordings by yourself…Do I have to do anything with ‘inserts’? I’m not even sure what they are!
An insert is a combination of output with a dedicated input to send signals to a processing device and bring the processed signal back in the signal chain at thesame point…
Normally you would insert compressors and gates and enhancers… since the Qu contains compressors and gates already it’s not necessary to instert such.
But if you have “the” tube compressor to use for “the” star then you can insert it.Hope that helps a bit…
2014/04/11 at 11:34 am #38963Many thanks for your help, Stefenromeiss. That helps a lot.
One more question about recording channels that I don’t want to be amplified through the PA etc. on the gig. OK and thanks, I now understand I shouldn’t use mute (as those channels will not appear on the recording). However, instead of changing the routing… could I just reduce the channel faders to minimum for the drum channels? I guess it depends on whether the multi-track recording levels are only affected by the pre-amp gain settings – or whether they are also affected by the channel fader positions. Does that make sense? Many thanks for your help.
2014/04/11 at 12:37 pm #38966You should be good with faders down. Thats how I do it. You should end up with raw tracks post gain but pre everything else.
Also I format the drive at the beginning of a show and then record 4 sets after the format. I stop the recording after each set. At the end of the night I have a folder for each set with multitracks on my hard drive. Hope this helps
Ken
2014/04/11 at 12:45 pm #38967Thanks, Ken.
2014/04/11 at 2:32 pm #38969Normally you would insert compressors and gates and enhancers… since the Qu contains compressors and gates already it’s not necessary to instert such.
But if you have “the” tube compressor to use for “the” star then you can insert it.Hi, steffenromeiss, Could you please elaborate on how you could insert an outboard piece of gear for a single channel since the QU does not have any insert jacks? My StudioLive 16:4:2 had insert jacks on all inputs and I was able to insert feedback suppressors on roving wireless mics. Thanks, Jeff.
2014/04/11 at 9:39 pm #38977No inserts, sorry, not at this heardware price point. The Presonus (I have one too) did have that but with other things less sophisticated than the Qu.
But – Channels DO record whether they are muted or not. I routinely put a pair of room or audience mics in 15/16 amd they record whether muted or not – read the manual thoroughly and you’ll see it says this.
HOWEVER – record a live gig all the way through -0 don’t try to stop between songs, as it will take too long to finialize the tracks and you’ll miss the next song. Only stop at end of set – do try it before a gig and you will see that the longer the recording, the longer it takes to completely be ready for the next recording. Split up the songs after you get it transferred to your DAW.
Also keep it updated to the latest frimware, as new features some on each version. Play with it, do some dummy recordings when not on a gig, and you’ll fell more secure when you need it. It’s a great mixer!
Also if you want to use a laptop, you can record and start and stop as you are accustomed to doing. Use the USB drive as a backup, running continuously.
Lou
2014/04/12 at 1:37 pm #38989Lou wrote:
Also if you want to use a laptop, you can record and start and stop as you are accustomed to doing. Use the USB drive as a backup, running continuously.
What a great idea Lou. For critical recordings you can record to both the Qu-drive and a laptop? I didn’t know you could do that. My StudioLive locked up once during a show while recording to a laptop. I later found out the laptop had some bad sectors on the hard drive, this crashed the laptop during the gig while writing 16 tracks of audio; if the laptop crashes then the StudioLive loses Firewire sync and usually does not recover well from my experience. I never trusted to the StudioLive after that experience and rarely recorded anymore. Many times simply hooking up the laptop would cause the board to stop passing audio, even when following the proper hookup protocol as outlined in the StudioLive manual.
Jeff
2014/04/12 at 3:00 pm #38990Guys, many thanks for all the tips and guidance. Recorded last night’s gig… and it all went well (apart from the dodgy guitar playing. Hmmmm… that’ll be me!). Recorded onto a hard drive… let the recording run for each entire set. Played back today and it’s all there… in sparkling quality audio… no gaps – no cut outs. What an awesome bit of kit that QU-16 is!!! I’m still running firmware 1.2 – and had absolutely no issues with the recording etc (I used one of the Western Digital hard disks that are on the A&H recommended list).
Thanks again.
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