Another SAC Success

[MikeDee]

SAC performed like a champ Friday night (at the Half Møøn in Dobbs Ferry, NY).

Fujitsu LifeBook N6420 (4GB RAM), Layla24 PCMCIA, ADA8000, BCF2000. Recorded to an external 500GB OWC drive via SATA-II Express-PC card (instead of the laptop's 2nd internal drive). [Sorry, no time to take any pics. ]

I recorded to SAWStudio (via SACLink)...16 channels (actually, only 12 were used), TRS line-in (8 to Layla, 8 to ADA), from an A&H MixWizard 16-2 board's TRS direct outs. The band prefers to mix live sound in the traditional way; fortunately we went with a small-format board containing separate direct outs (so as not to have to deal with the usual Insert points).

It took a li'l getting used to running SAC with my left hand most of the time, as the rig is set up 90º to my left...I still have to do my main job of playing two keyboards and singing. I gave myself a nice monitor mix, listening through a pair of Sony MDR-7502 cans...not as gøød as the V6s I use in the studio...but smaller and lighter, so as not to lóòk totally gèéky on stage.

It was gr8 having a better sound than what everyone else heard. Of course, that means that our live sound was less than stellar (to say the least). The amps were underpowered; thus, by dialing the gains and pushing the faders more and more, I wound up getting clipped signals from some of the direct outs. Bringing down the attenuators in SAC gave me the proper recording levels; however, I ended up with some clean tracks of already clipped audio. I'll do my best to polish those turds when I mix.

SAC is an amazing tool. It does a fantastic job of live mixing and as a front end to recording (e.g., to SS)...and, in my case, it also helps expose flaws and errors in the mixing process (before the signal even reaches SAC).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...Way 2 go, MaXimum Bøb!

Best regards,

[DavidandMary]

Wow! Way to go... I am amazed at all the SAC success. Keep it up!