Our primary recording was from a split from the stage to a 16 channel TAC desk then direct out to a Apogee AD-16X, the other 16 Channels went via a 16 channel custom pre to another Apogee AD-16X. This all then went into a Mac Pro via a Apogee Symphony card into Logic 9. Our primary backup recording was via the lightpipe outputs from the Apogee AD-16X’s to a Presonus Firestudio Lightpipe interface connected to a Macbook Pro via firewire then into Logic 9, this meant we were getting exactly the same input path for both recordings. However this did not protect us from a failure somewhere from the stage split to the computers so we also ran another computer (Mac Mini) connected into our new Dante digital audio network. This works by having 2 Dante cards in our Yamaha M7CL then a cat6 cable from each card is connected to a standard 1Gb Ethernet switch, the Mac mini is then connected to this network and has the Dante virtual sound card software installed which enables the Mac mini, in this case, to record 32 channels of audio from the direct outs of the M7CL into Logic 9, hence providing us a complete out of band recording setup.

On the night all the Mac’s went perfectly except for the Mac Pro which glitched for about 5 seconds and we had to restart it recording, but other than that all turned out as planned.

I have included in this post my planning diagrams for your viewing pleasure.

Something to consider.

For those taking to the stage, MainStage 2—Logic Studio’s live performance tool—includes two new plug-ins. The first, Playback, plays pre-recorded backing tracks—chorus background vocals or a backup band for a solo performer—that you can trigger with a USB or MIDI controller. The other is Loopback, a sound-on-sound tool similar to the venerable EchoPlex tape-based loop device popular in the 1970s. With Loopback, you can record a track on stage and then add additional layers with each pass of the virtual tape.

Apple introduces new Logic Studio | Music and Audio | Macworld

This is potentialy a fantastic tool now for live performance and will be checking it out as soon as I get a copy.

I have been waiting for this, hopefully some of the annoying bugs have been worked out.