Miserable session...please help

Fieryjack · Post by **Fieryjack** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:58 pm

Hi...I decided I'd record a few demos for a friend and their band so I brought my rig over....decent preamps, an 828 mk2 going into Logic.

Only recording SIX tracks

Audio sounded great but was cutting out every few second! I increased the buffer size as large as possible, ensured all was running at 44.1, only had SIX tracks open. New Mac Book w/one gig....

What do you think the problem could be? Firewire cable? Do I really need my Mini tower for six tracks? What could I be doing wrong or is a macbook not enough?

10.4 w/Logic Pro 7.2

Thanks

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:46 pm

Were you recording to an external drive or the internal drive? 'Cause laptop drives only spin at 4200 rpm, and that may be your problem.

Cryonicsound · Post by **Cryonicsound** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:49 pm

Are you recording the sounds clean without plugins? Also, have you tried putting in a record delay (found in the same menu as the buffer settings)?

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:45 am

Cause laptop drives only spin at 4200 rpm, and that may be your problem.

I have a 7200rpm drive in my laptop for the last year, almost two. I think I saw a 10,000rpm drive released too. I am not certain on that though. Hitatchi Travelstar goes to 7200rpm.

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:50 am

i dunno... i have done 8 track mobile sessionbs with my G3 ibook and an 828 with no problems.... done a bunch of 16 track remotes with aaron's G4 powerbook.... but are about 4 year old computers and had no problems, running Logic as well...

john

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:21 am

cleantone wrote:
Cause laptop drives only spin at 4200 rpm, and that may be your problem.
I have a 7200rpm drive in my laptop for the last year, almost two. I think I saw a 10,000rpm drive released too. I am not certain on that though. Hitatchi Travelstar goes to 7200rpm.

Sorry, I should have said "many laptop drives only spin at 4200."

b3groover · Post by **b3groover** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:40 am

You probably should be going to an external drive.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:47 am

b3groover wrote:You probably should be going to an external drive.

Exactly. Or you could use cleantone's laptop.

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:12 am

There might be another issue. I have recorded 20 channels of audio for 2 hours or more with my old 5400rpm. Though if it is a 4200rpm that might not be worth a crap for audio. I had some asshat Mac tech put a 4200rpm in when I asked for a 7200rpm and it wouldn't record 2 channels of audio well. He told me 7200rpm didn't exist. I schooled him of course. Told the owner of the store that they had been out for a year and he should be pushing them on every customer. The kid thought I wouldn't notice the difference in a 4200rpm drive from a 5400rpm when I had asked for a 7200rpm. Took me a few days of trouble shooting to nail it down. I got 100% of my repair money back. I lost a gig as well.

Maybe the OP figured it out as he has not replied again.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:34 am

I can get like what seems like a hundred tracks of playback with my 1.5ghz G4 (fw800 external drive), and I can record 8-16 tracks no problem simultaneously and play back like an additional 24 tracks at the same time. I don't use fx on the G4 if I am tracking remote, and most of the remote stuff that I do is overdubs, so I stem sessions that are on the G5 to bring them into the G4. I like working like this.

I record to a Lacie D2 via FW800, and use the PCMCIA card slot to run a separate firewire buss for my 828mk2. Your MBP should be able to as many tracks as my Dual 1.8Ghz G5, or more, and that is like a lot of tracks, tons actually, without effects, at least 100 playback+, and like 60+ with plug-ins. It's just stupid how much I get out of my old Dual G5 and Digital Performer.

All I know if that changing the work priority in Digital Performer and the using buffers between 512 and 1024 turned my G4 Powerbook from unstable to completely user friendly and recording worthy. I was amazed. Your 828mk2 has zero latency monitoring. Use that to your advantage and keep the buffers high if that's what it takes.

Jeff

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:29 am

How was the power at the location? It's a long shot but if the power was weak or had a lot of gunk in the line it could effect performance.

ToroRojo · Post by **ToroRojo** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:09 pm

Newer apple laptops have an 'anti-shock' feature on the hard disks in order to protect the disk from damage in case the laptop gets dropped. This feature can be triggered by large vibrations such as being placed in the immediate vicinity of a bass amp or kick drum. This could cause the drop outs. You can disable this feature with the disk utility program. The apple support website should have more information.

qball · Post by **qball** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 6:05 pm

How full is your drive? The performance of a drive begins dropping at an accelerated rate beyond 50% capacity.

Fieryjack · Post by **Fieryjack** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:32 am

Thanks for all the feedback!

I am going from the MacBook (1g) via firewire to the 828, then out to a 160 GB 7200 drive....

I suspect it might be the power, which is sketchy at the location I'm in (as drumsound suggested) or a firewire cable. I was unable to replicate the problem at home using all the same equipment, even the same firewire cable

Incidentally, I used to own a G4 powerbook (3 years old) which did on location flawlessly.....

b3groover · Post by **b3groover** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 10:39 am

It probably is the power, then. I've had similar experiences in venues with terrible power. Pick yourself up a Tripp-lite line conditioner (they can be found really cheap on ebay). Power all digital equipment through it, even at your studio. It will make a difference.

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Miserable session...please help

Miserable session...please help

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