Randy Lane and Nuendo – Recording Dream Theater Live
For years, Randy Lane has been among the best-known live-engineers in the USA. Through his work with the The Spin doctors, Bush, Fuel and Three Doors Down, he has gathered a huge amount of experience in live recording situations. Currently he’s on the road with legendary progressive-metal formation Dream Theater on their 2007/2008 World Tour. Randy talked to us about his career and the experiences of using Nuendo in live-recording situations.
Hello Randy. Could you give us a short introduction - what's your background and what have been the most important projects you've worked on up to now?
Live sound has been my profession for 22 years. After doing sound for my University as a hobby of mine, I knew that I wanted to do this as an occupation. I started working with a local sound company called Audio Services in Jackson, Tennessee. Russ Kirkland, who was the company president, intrigued me greatly and so I got the chance to learn a lot. These experiences helped me, as the opportunity came along to mix a band called Fuel, who was even signed to a major label. I jumped at the chance to travel and do what I loved doing. That tour enabled me to get other tours and since then my resume includes The Spin Doctors, Bush, Fuel, Three Doors Down, Collective Soul, Alter Bridge, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, and Dream Theater.
You are recording the current Dream Theater tour mainly with Nuendo. What is your experience working on that, and what is the workflow like?
For me working with Steinberg software has been immensely easy in comparison to other software. It is very straightforward to get around on so that you can quickly get a project up and running. Later, when I have time to get deeper into the details it provides layers of control in editing and in automation that is very easy to see at a glance. I can quickly go from one band to the next in a recording environment even if I don't have a specific template built for them. Often a band will hear I have the capability to multitrack a show and will want me to do so. With Nuendo, I’m ready to record within minutes. Many bands have heard the results of these recordings and immediately bought a Steinberg system as I have heard numerous times, "it's faithful to my sound". Sound and handling - that is what the goal of the recording system is.
Is Nuendo going to be used in the next production stages?
As of right now, a “Live In Bonn, Germany” CD is making the rounds in Europe, as well as two songs mixed for video in Spain, and the next single from Dream Theater will be released with a companion three live tracks which were recorded and mixed on the road. Everything was done internally, using a Dell laptop and Nuendo 4.
Please give us a full rundown of your live recording set-up.
Of course I’m using Steinberg Software meaning Nuendo version 4.1 and Cubase Version 4.1. The hardware setup includes two laptops with 2 Gigabyte of Ram and Intel Core 2 Duo Processors, running Windows XP Professional Service pack 2.
Why is Nuendo the ideal system for your live recording tasks?
Nuendo is perfect for my recording environment because it enables me to carry a full 64 track recording setup in a backpack as carry-on luggage in an airplane. This means that it’s possible to use very small interfaces, which are stable and very powerful. Other systems I have seen with the same capabilities were over 700 pounds/350kg and too large to get into some locations. The system is simple and expandable and the sounds are amazing. It will faithfully capture the instruments and vocals I'm recording.
You’ve already tried out Nuendo 4. Which features are the most interesting to you?
I am currently using Version 4 as my recording and mixing platform. I find that it seems to be faster in response and not as CPU intensive as other recording software. The new Channel EQ in Nuendo 4 is a fantastic addition. It sounds great and eliminates the need for CPU intensive plugins that I had been using. The automation is faster, more intuitive and extremely accurate.
What projects have you got lined up for the future?
I will be touring and recording with Dream Theater through June of 2008 and will be making full use of Nuendo for the entire tour. We will be going to Asia and Australia where I will record all of the shows with my full recording setup as carry-on luggage on my flights. Try that with any other software and either the quality will suffer or the number of tracks must be sacrificed. None of which I need to worry about with Steinberg software. Full quality all the time. No compromises.