View Single Post
Old 10th January 2007   #1
foldback
Lives for gear
 
foldback's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Los Angeles, Southbay Area
Posts: 1,109

Thread Starter
Talking What do you use to do remote recording?

Hello all.

I've been using several Alesis HD24 and HD24XR for remote recording. These decks have performed very well for me but I'm interested in offering other options.

I'm far away from abandoning my HD24 decks, they sound good, work reliably, compact, inexpensive, light weight, easy to make backups, easy to audition tracks and power efficient.

I use the Fireport accessory to transfer recordings from the Alesis drive carts to my Protools rig in my studio for editing. Everything is OK in my little recording world, right now.

But I am concerned. Here are a few reasons.

What happens when ATA drives become extinct?
When will Alesis discontinue the HD24? and XR?
Will they develope drivers to support OS-10.5?
Will the machines ever evolve or get better?

A while back I looked at building a Mac recorder with Apogee converters and using Protools in my RV (recording vehicle). I also did some inquiries about using the Motu 24io and Digital Performer. I could not find a dealer who could tell me for sure these combinations would work reliably. The computer setup is a lot bigger and more complicated to set up but it has one big advantage, RAID hard drives whichh can cut disk access in half (but doubles the chance of drive failure).

Live recording lives or dies with reliability. Imagine trying to talk your way out of an equipment failure after the band just played the best show of their lives. It's never happened to me because I go to extremes to back myself up and my gear has never let me down.

Live recording has very specific demands, we need to be able to lay down LONG continuous tracks or have two machines that we can switch between for shorter individual recordings, plus two more machines for backup.

Live concerts don't usually stop to let the recording guy make adjustments. The show happens and we need to record it. I always record 24 tracks with two machines, one is a redundant backup. If the show is really long then I use two stacks of two machines so I can switch stacks and give the hard drives a chance to cool off. Now for the fun.

What do you use?
Has it been reliable?
Would you buy it again?
Has it ever let you down?
Does it sound good?
How do you back yourself up?

Many thanks to all the folks in the GS high rise corporate tower that make this forum possible. You all ROCK!
foldback is offline   Reply With Quote