The tremendous growth of digital console technology has led to substantial changes in the way that churches manage their services, train their personnel, and conduct outreach. One of the biggest ways in which this technology has impacted ministry is by equipping it with a low-cost, low-maintenance, and highly reliable method of generating digitally based multi-track feeds for capture and re-use.
Generally speaking, most multi-track capture solutions are centered on dedicated hardware devices or on software-based digital audio workstations (DAWs) hosted by computer. While hardware-based solutions are considered by some to be more performant or reliable, software-based DAWs seem to have gained the most acceptance, likely due to cost differences and availability.
Waves recently introduced its Tracks Live offering, a new software-based capture program that strays away from the typical DAW implementation. Tracks Live is an application aimed squarely at capturing multi-track audio feeds for both big and small events, in real time, for post-production or later playback. What is different about Tracks Live, however, is that it is not overburdened with advanced DAW functionality, complex editing capability, or the learning curve that a typical DAW would require. This software is built for one main purpose: capturing your content, allowing you to play it back, and letting you do so without requiring a lot of your time or attention.
Attributes
Church volunteers can be easily taught how to record an event without having to configure the application or run a DAW. This is a fantastic workflow.
Tracks Live is compatible with both ASIO and Core Audio interfaces supporting both PC and Mac platforms. It allows for the capture of up to 256 tracks (mono or stereo), with sampling rates up to 192 kB as well as bit depths up to 32-bit. There are multiple recording formats available for use, making it a sure bet that it will support your post-production tool set.
Waves has given Tracks Live two main modes for monitoring and playing back of tracking sessions. The first, a “stereo” mode, generates a two-track stereo mix using an integral DAW-like mixing console displayed on screen. The second mode is a “multi-out” mode that removes access to the mixer and creates a discrete output for each configured input track. This latter mode is likely to be the most popular because it facilitates multi-track playback for things such as virtual sound checks and engineer training sessions. It is also important to note that Tracks Live allows for overdubbing during playback, correctly switching the output of record-enabled tracks to their respective inputs when punching in. Both of the “stereo” and “multi-out” modes allow for the routing of outputs to any available I/O ports.
As with most digital recording software, Tracks Live provides a ruler that allows for the placement of markers to denote specific events or points of time within the recording. Traditional loop-based playback between markers is supported, as well as the ability to send and receive MIDI program change messages by making use of MIDI markers. Waves also includes a very useful skip feature that allows you to automatically skip playback between select markers. I found this latter functionality particularly great for virtual sound checks. If your worship team runs multiple takes of the same song while you are recording a practice or warm-up session, you can use this feature to skip to the best take of each song during playback. Doing so allows the engineer to perform a virtual sound check on the entire set without having to stop after each song to find the next desired portion of the recording. This is a very helpful, timesaving feature.
Set Up
Downloading the software was simple, requiring only an account on the Waves website. Installation onto my host was predictably fast and without fuss. For this evaluation I installed Tracks Live onto an iMac preconfigured to receive multi-track inputs from a Dante network. Upon opening up the application, Tracks Live immediately found my configured Dante ports and with just a few clicks of the mouse I was able to configure a new session containing 42 tracks (our standard setup) ready for record and playback, all without opening the manual. Waves has done a fairly good job of giving Tracks Live a user interface that is both uncluttered and intuitive. Any questions I had were quickly answered by the manual, though in all honesty the manual could use a bit more attention from an editor's brush.
Once configured, Tracks Live retains its set up for all future sessions unless explicitly modified. Creating a new recording session is as easy as opening up the application, clicking “New Session” when presented the option, and using a dialog box to type in the session name and desired storage location. For churches that have volunteers or staff engineers that are just starting out, you can easily teach them how to record an event without having to train them on configuring the application or running a DAW. This is a fantastic workflow.
Impressions
The audio engine in Waves has proven to be quite dependable, as one might expect of a company so well known in the audio processing world. In the few months that it was used for this evaluation I have not had a single occurrence of audio dropouts, stutters, or noise.
With Tracks Live, Waves has brought together a professional-grade package that is easy to use, reliable, and without the complexity found in many of today's software-based tracking solutions. What could top that? Well, the cherry on this sundae is that Waves gives Tracks Live away for free. In order to get Tracks Live simply create an account on the Waves website and download the application to your host. If you are so inclined, Waves will sell you a $99 Tracks Live premium service that provides you with tech support and priority updates, although my experience with the application suggests that for the majority of users, this will not be required.
