How to set up a live dub session

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DeeDubStyle619
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How to set up a live dub session

Post by DeeDubStyle619 » Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:25 am

I have a 16ch analog mixer, an 8ch interface, and a DAW. How do I record a live reggae band, then play back the song while recording a live dub session of that track? How do I set it up using this equipment? Thank you!

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stranded horse
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Post by stranded horse » Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:25 pm

When youre done mixing your tracks in your DAW you have two choices of dubbing them:
1)hook up a midi controller to your daw, and just let your DAW play back your song while you manipulate the effects and sounds with your midi controller
2)if your interface has at least 8 outputs and you have some outboard effects, you can also rout the individual tracks back to single channels of your mixer and use your mixer as a dubbing tool. to me this is much more fun, but its also much more expensive (better interface, and outboard effect units required)

regards, s.h.

DeeDubStyle619
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Post by DeeDubStyle619 » Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:44 pm

Thanks SH! Yea I believe it does have 8 outputs. Its the Presonus audiobox 1818vsl. I want to dub it with the analog mixer, and be able to record a dub version of a song thats been recorded. How do I set this up? I have a snake with eight 1/4'' cables as well as outboard effects. I believe I have everything I need to make it happen, just dont know the order everything gets setup, and how.

So live band gets plugged in to the mixer, then from the mixer to the interface, then back to the mixer? This is where I get confused. Thank you

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stranded horse
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Post by stranded horse » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:43 am

Once you've recorded everything (this is an art in it's own right) and mixed everything (also...) in your DAW, set each track to a different output of your interface. I suggest grouping some of them, for instance all drums on the same channel. Next hook up your interface outputs to your mixing desk inputs, your effect units to your aux channels and your main out of your mixer to the input of your interface. Your DAW is able to play back your 8 tracks and record another one (the master channel of your mixer including your dub effects). After all, that is exactly what it does when you overdub a single instrument.

In most DAWs you can select input and output sources for each channel indiviually in your main channel overview. They should be set to no input and master l/r for output. If your interface is installes correctly with all drivers and supported by your DAW, you will be able to chose from it's output channels in your track's output settings.

DeeDubStyle619
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Post by DeeDubStyle619 » Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:46 pm

So last night we recorded, bass, guitar, piano, and drums, all on separate tracks. Then for playback, I set the channels outputs to its corresponding channel, and shutoff all of the channels inputs. I used the snake to go from the outputs of the interface, to the inputs of the mixer.

Heres the problem, for some reason when I would play it back, I could only get channels 1 and 2 to work. Even then, all 8 channels were coming out through channel 1 and 2. This doesnt make sense because everything was recorded on separate channels.

We were using Reaper as our DAW by the way. For the channels, I tried setting the outputs as "Line output" and "Line output L/R" for every channel, 1-8 but nothing happened.

So basically, all 8 channels were being mixed down to 1 channel when sent from the interface to the mixer.

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stranded horse
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Post by stranded horse » Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:09 pm

Your output settings in Reaper must be wrong. Go ask in a Reaper forum for instructions for a correct setup, I can't help you with Reaper as I only used Ableton Live and Renoise for this. But I am very sure it can be done with Reaper.

You really have to set each channel output individually to a different one, e.g. drums output to "channel 1", bass output to "channel 2", guitar output to "channel 3", etc. If it doesn't list your 8 individual output channels as options for your output channel, maybe they are not activated in your DAW settings. Also, when you do this, you have to mute your master channel, because master output is likely set by default to channels 1 and 2 of your interface, and then you would not only have your drums playing on channel one, but additionally everything else, and likewise on channel two

regards, s.h.

DeeDubStyle619
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Post by DeeDubStyle619 » Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:29 am

My computer does not recognize the mixer. When the mixer is hooked up via usb and turned on, nothing happens. Could this be the problem? Or does it not matter cause only the interface needs to be recognized by the computer?

The best I could do was getting the drum/bass on ch 1 of mixer, and guitar/piano on ch 2 of the mixer. That was after disabling the input for recording, muting the master output, and designating the 8 channels to their own output track (Line 1 out, Line 2 out Line 3 out...etc.) and running an 8 cable snake from the interface output, to the first 8 channels of the mixers input. Thanks again!

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stranded horse
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Post by stranded horse » Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:10 am

You don't need to connect your mixer with USB, unless it has usb send and return for each single channel, which I doubt, because then you wouldn't have bought an interface.

You set drums and bass to different channel outputs and they still go to the same channel on your mixer? How is that possible?

You got to try some other DAW, it must be a software problem. I recommend Ableton Live or Renoise (which is free), but Renoise might take some time getting used to, while Ableton Live is really easy to use.

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