creating a reliable, powerful mobile recording system...

[aeijtzsche]

I've been recording on my desktop computer at home for 8 years or something, but recently some opportunities have come up for me to do some recording outside of my home. So I'd like to set up a mobile system, very reliable, and self-sufficient. So I could do all the mixing on it, in the box, if need be. I don't need anything terribly fancy, and budget is a concern, but I can spend "some".

Here's what I've decided on for what my needs will be:

I will not need more than 8 simultaneous recording tracks
However, I'd like to have something in the area of 16 potential inputs, probably a small 4-buss (or 8-buss) console for that purpose, with maybe two effects sends.

Basically, I'm looking for suggestions on interfaces and consoles, keeping portablity in mind. Firewire or USB, doesn't matter. I'd prefer to stick with adobe audition on a PC laptop or something, if possible as well as if prudent.

Thanks.

[kayagum]

What's worked great for me is using an Alesis HD24 out in the field with some preamps, then bringing it home and using the Fireport to dump the tracks into Audition for editing and/or in-the-box mixing.

[musikman316]

I just finished tracking a musical for a local composer tonight in a "barn" (really a very nice multi-purpse room on a friends land) using a Powerbook, Logic Express 7, Presonus Firepod, KRK V88s (not exactly portable), 3 MXL 990s, Rode NT-1, 3 AT Pro37s and an 01v using omni outs for the four LDCs so I could get some compression on the way into the Firepod and everything turned out great. I'll be mixing over the next couple weeks in my mix room/office at my house. Surprisingly enough, for the cost of the gear it sounded really fantastic. So you may want to look at the Firepods or the MOTU firewire stuff, and if you go with the MOTU you can pick up an 01v on ebay for about $700 these days and add on an ADAT card and have 16 channels of I/O for about $1400 plus PC or Mac laptop.

Edit: another plus with the 01v is that it is rack mountable, so you could have a rolling rack with a mixer top and a couple pelican cases with mics, laptop and external hardrive/accersories. All portable in a mid size car.

Later,
Josh

[surf's up]

The MOTUs might be a good option. The 2408, or maybe the 828. I think that some versions only go up to 48kHz if thats an issue for you. But MOTU stuff is relatively cheap and pretty good.

Im using the 8-channel RME Fireface, which is very compact, and sounds great. I honestly dont know if it would make too much of a difference if I was using that or a cheaper MOTU though, when I sort of step back and look at what makes a recording sound how it does, in the grander scheme. Plus it could get kinda pricey if you had to get two of those. Just for the record, the Fireface is good. Ive used both and would suggest both though.

As far as consoles, I cant be of much help. Heck why not build yourself a little custom Putnam 610

At what sort of facilities are you going to be recording?

[aeijtzsche]

Heck why not build yourself a little custom Putnam 610

Don't tempt me.

At what sort of facilities are you going to be recording?

All kinds of facilities. At this point, various rooms and performance spaces at a college.

[Brian]

IF you have a powerboook or laptop, Metric Halo OR the new MOTU USB 8 in 4 out or 2.
Bus powered.
I couldn't believe it either, but I've seen a few with my own eyes.
Guy came in last week with a D5 and some software for doing recording specifiucally for mobile on the fly live, protools and "such" don't help there.
Pyramix is what I think it weas called.
It worked perfectly and he spun off discs for the openers when they were done.
I think it even exports to the all requisit formats.
He was very happy with it and Clear Channel has no rights to it.

[b3groover]

I have a Presonus Firepod that I am very happy with. For $600 you get 8 mic preamps (that are quite good), lots of output options, Cubase LE, and rock solid reliablity. And you can hook up to 3 Firepods to the same machine for a total of 24 tracks. The only downside is no optical in/out.

I'm using it with an HP 64bit laptop (around $900) and an external firewire drive. I love it.

[cgarges]

I've done a number of live jazz recordings with a very reliable and cool little setup that a friend of mine owns. It's based around the Akai DPS16 (I think) recorder, which is a no-frills, no-nonsense, simple recorder that will do 8 tracks simultaneously. The user interface is pretty friendly, especially for someone who has a good grip on routing, and it sounds fine. Along with that, I've used the Presonus M80 (I think) 8-channel mic pre. It's a pretty cool-sounding box for the money and has some nice features like individual polarity reverse, high pass filter, and phantom power on every channel. It also has a cool mix buss on it, which I use frequently to submix a snare drum mic and overheads to a pair of tracks. The mix buss also has a aux send on it, so you could "trick" it into actually having two mix busses, I think, although I haven't done this. This friend of mine who owns this stuff got all of it, a custom 50' 16'channel Mogami stage box/snake, a few cool mics and a pair of Tannoy Reveal active monitors for less than $8000 and we've both made some really cool recordings with this setup. Never had one problem with it and it takes about an hour to setup and get sounds, depending on the layout of the room.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[jmligt]

I do a lot of remote recording with a digi 002R and a m-audio octane in a rack case along with a powerbook. Usually bring a splitter box and a sixteen channel snake to split at the stage, one to my setup one to the FOH. I'll usually bring a few mics along too, especially if it's at a smaller club where I know they won't be micing everything. Everything fits in the trunk of my small car and usually only takes a trip or two to get everything inside.

[Brian]

I like the presonus stuff, don't drop it HARD though.

[logancircle]

I'd sell you my MOTU 828 mkii. Two of those bastards hooked together, or one hooked up to many other choices via lightpipe and you'd have 16. A lot of people run a Digi 001 or 002 and use 8 more ins via the MOTU's optical out.

[b3groover]

I've done a number of live jazz recordings with a very reliable and cool little setup that a friend of mine owns. It's based around the Akai DPS16 (I think) recorder, which is a no-frills, no-nonsense, simple recorder that will do 8 tracks simultaneously. The user interface is pretty friendly, especially for someone who has a good grip on routing, and it sounds fine. Along with that, I've used the Presonus M80 (I think) 8-channel mic pre. It's a pretty cool-sounding box for the money and has some nice features like individual polarity reverse, high pass filter, and phantom power on every channel. It also has a cool mix buss on it, which I use frequently to submix a snare drum mic and overheads to a pair of tracks. The mix buss also has a aux send on it, so you could "trick" it into actually having two mix busses, I think, although I haven't done this. This friend of mine who owns this stuff got all of it, a custom 50' 16'channel Mogami stage box/snake, a few cool mics and a pair of Tannoy Reveal active monitors for less than $8000 and we've both made some really cool recordings with this setup. Never had one problem with it and it takes about an hour to setup and get sounds, depending on the layout of the room.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I have a Presonus M80. On that link in my other post, the bottom four tunes (not the first three) were recorded using mainly the Presonus M80 going into a MOTU 2408 mkIII into my desktop running Cubase SX.

The top three were done using the Presonus Firepod and it's preamps going into my laptop running Cubase LE (which comes with the Firepod). I think the top three sound better. Although I do like the M80 a lot. I've also used it in conjuction with the Firepod.

I also used to have an Akai DPS16 that you mention. The mix bus on it sucks. I know because I did an experiment where I mixed a tune using it's bus, EQ, effects, etc. Then I exported the RAW tracks out to a ZIP drive and loaded them into a computer I had at the time running Cool Edit. The Cool Edit tracks, once summed, with no effects, no EQ, sounded better. More open, better transients, better detail.

Just my opinion.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I can't say much about programs and interfaces (being a tape guy) but I do lots of mobile work with bands and the best set-up i've found is a rack of pre-amps and a small (8-12 channel) mixer. The mixer is only used for monitor & headphone mixes so it doesn't really matter what it is (as long as it's got some aux outs).