Digital Recorder

[Peter]

I am in a pickel. Well, not literaly, but I have just found out that a local band would like to have me run a recording session for them (that's good news!) the bad news is, I dont have a digital recorder! So, most of this afternoon has been spent looking arround the internet for the best digital recorder I can find, and now I would like your advice.

I will be using this recorder for a w i d e variety of things, from some studio type sessions, where it is ok to do multiple takes, but probably more of the stuff will be 'live' where I will have to get as many tracks recorded as I can in the one pass I have, and then edit later. I am hoping/expecting to get about $800 from the band for equipment, and anything overthat is out of my pocket. (which is a good deal, but they probably wont pay much for my hours but when they are chiping in for my equipment, i dont mind) So, probably arround $1200 is MAX, but I would probably prefer not going above $1000.

I have been primaraly looking at the "Zoom MRS1608 16-Track Digital Recording Studio" (
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ZOMMRS1608) with the CD drive and the USB upgrade. I like the fact that it has 8 XLR ins, which many others dont have. Other cheeper recorders do not seem to let you record as many tracks at the same time (most allow two, unlike this one's 8) Am I thinking correctly that going with a smaller number of recording channels will end up hurting me bad when i am recording live stuff?

If I were go up in price, it looks like you get into recorders like the "Mackie SDR2496 24-Bit 24-Track Hard Disk Recorder" http://www.zzounds.com/item--MACSDR2496 which are more just for recording alot of stuff without the editing features offered on the other console. This option would proabaly be better for a live recording situation with a post mix done on a computer, right? (about this model, it doesnt seem to have any level controls, does it do all that for you? is that something these higher end models do?)

I guess I would just like to scrape your brains about digital recorders, get your opinions, and any advice you have to give me. Please feel free to suggest other models or brands, or cheaper, reliable, places to get these devices. Thanks in advance! (Did I mention that this band would like to start recording next week if possible?! so time is a bit important! :-) thanks!)

[DMXtools]

The SDR2496 is a hard-disk substitute for a 24-track open-reel studio recorder. No level controls because you're expected to use your mixing console for that.

On the MRS1608 - it lets you record up to 8 tracks simultaneously. You can do a pretty good recording, either live or studio, with that. For live, though, I'd also get a small, cheap mixer that would let me take 6 or 8 mics and mix them down to two tracks. Use that to do a good stereo mix of your drums on two tracks of the MRS1608 and you've got enough tracks left for bass, two guitars, a keyboard and two vocals. It leaves you with a lot of freedom when you mix down and the drums will sound better (assuming you really do a good drum mix live) than if you tried to catch the whole kit evenly with just two mics.

John

[Peter]

Thanks DMX Tools!

Anyone else?

A teacher at school today suggested i go with something that will bring the audio right into my my laptop, basicly just an interface between the mics and my laptop. I dont know of any examples of this or if they are any good. If anyone has ideas about this I would appreciate it. Thanks again!

[OldGrover]

If you've got a decent computer already, you could pick up something like a MAudio Delta 1010 - that's a PCI card that has 10 line ins, 10 line outs (2 channels digital, 8 analog), 24 bit digital recording. I've got a Delta 66 and it does quite nice recording.

And pick up something like Cubase (software package) to handle the actual recording.. that'd give you 8 lines recorded, but it isn't XLR, it is quarter inch.

Glancing around, that'd be about $450 for the 1010 and about the $500 for Cubase. That'd give you a half decent recording /and/ audio editing package, less, of course, monitors and all the nice to haves like midi control platforms and stuff.

Generally in that case, you'd be running feeds from the FOH mixer, but if that's not an option, you'd need a mixer to provide sufficient pre-amps (and probably, as DMX Tools suggests to mix down the drums to 2 channels)

Of course, all this is predicated on you have a PC you could use for the job There are Firewire and USB Multi channel audio cards that'd work with a laptop, but I've never seen one with decent latency. I am, however, about a year+ out of date in the home recording field. You could ask the 'Home Wreckers' over at Home Recording BBS - http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/ - they'd be up to date on this stuff.

-OG

[soundman1024]

Alesis has a 24 track hard disc recorder, much similar to the Mackie, at a lower price. You may look into it.

[OldGrover]

As well, with regards to your laptop, if it has firewire (stay away from the USB ones, they are generally aimed pretty low) - MAudio has a Firewire1814 (18 in, 14 out) at http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...base_id/112605
which is about $600. Note that only 8 of the 18 are analog and thus available right away, most of the rest are ADAT style light pipes. You can, however, get additional components that will take, say, 8 channels of analog and turn them into ADAT, so this option might have some expansion potential in the future.

I've never used this gear, though, so no personal recommendation

-OG

[spiwak2005]

I've used some of the Roland VS series recorders and they are really nice. This one (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...se_pid/241058/) is an 18-track recorder with the integrated digital mixer and it's $999 from Musician's Friend. It is on the high end for your price requirements but it's an incredible deal. It comes with a great onboard effects processor and an internal CDRW drive. This would serve you very well for your current project and many more for years to come.

[Peter]

again, thanks a bunch! I have a realy beefy laptop, although it has no Firewire, so i would have to go with a USB option. One of the things holding me back from the PC option is, I dont have a studio i work out of, I cary my equipment with me (and computers have a tendancy to be heavy) so the laptop works out well.

I cant look up all the products you suggestd right now b/c i am about 20 mins away from the start of a DJing rig, but i will be sure to look at them when i get home

[blsmn]

I have the Alesis HD24 and use it for a whole range of tasks - and it works great for all of them. What type of mixing console will you be using when you record live? Does it have direct outs? That is how I record all the live shows and then simply mix back down through the console later and burn to a CD. The HD24 does have a Fireport option - just pop the drives out of the machine and into the Fireport and you have a Firewire connection to a DAW. I have not used it - I personally like mixing back down through the console - but from what I understand it works well.

I just can't bring myself to record directly to a laptop - working with computers daily I see just how unreliable that realm is - but I took the jump from ADAT to the HD24's hard drive and have not had any problems what so ever in the year I have been using it. It also works real slick for recording multi-layered sound cues for shows where they are called for. You can also record all the sounds cues for a show to it and use it that way. I'd at least take a look at it....IMO

[Radman]

I would go with either the multitrack computer interface witha a laptop, or the mackie.

With the mackie, there are lots of editing tools built in. I'm pretty sure that you can hook up a monitor and a keyboard and mouse. This is usefull in a live situation if you already have a mixer and plan on using the direct outs, then say when you get home you can edit, transfer to computer, master, whatever.