Remote recording on 2"?

[Jay Kahrs]

Steve, back in the day I'm guessing that everything got tracked on 2" tape with 14" reels at about $300 a pop. How many shows still get tracked to 2"? When they are, is it a client choice or your choice?

[Remoteness]

Ahhh, back in the days, when everything "always" sounded great...

Yep, everything was tracked to 2" tape, except for a few Sony DASH gigs we did here and there. Analog 2" on 14" reels loaded with 5000' of tape was the way to record live. Dolby SR @ 15IPS was the "choice" way to record live multitrack back then. Some clients even recorded at 15IPS with no noise reduction. Crazy right.. it was a standard for many.

A 14" reel gives you double the amount of time of a 10.5" reel. That's about 33 minutes per reel @ 30IPS, double that @ 15IPS.

The recordable media choice has always been up to the client, unless I'm producing the project. Then the media choice is left up to me. Unfortunately, to many executive producers and/or clients, economics speaks louder then the sound quality achived by using 2" media. Bean counters love MDM's and PT, et cetera, etc.

At $375.00 per reel, the tape bill can cost more then the mobile unit's day rate. From Black Gospel to Rock n' Roll, our clients didn't mind paying for 2" tape until the MDM's came to town. It took a fair amount of time, but things changed in a big way (as we all know now) when the MDM option was available.

With the Advent of ADAT and DA88 machines, many clients went for the switch. Over the years, more and more clients went for the modular digital machine alternative. The only clients that stuck with the 2" thing were our big budget Jazz dates and every heavy metal/hard rock session. But things changed since then...

Every Roadrunner Record project we did was on 2", until we were hired the record Jerry Cantrell back in June 2002. I took me some time to recover from it. I could not believe they requested DA*8's over 2" analog. With 24bit @ 48K or better, many clients say, "why bother." I beg to differ, but no one is listening.

[Jay Kahrs]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Remoteness

+Some clients even recorded at 15IPS with no noise reduction. Crazy right.. it was a standard for many.

** You making fun of me?!? I record most projects in here on 2" at 15ips no NR. I've also had very few noise problems.


+At $375.00 per reel, the tape bill can cost more then the mobile unit's day rate.

**Well, at $375 for an hour vs. about $30 for 24-tracks of DA-X8 which run for about two hours it's a tough sell to a lot of people. Even though I love the sound of tape that could be really cost prohibitve if your recording a few shows. Just the run times alone and not having to swap reels in the middle of a song is easier. How is the audio between two decks managed? Were the outputs of the console or preamps multed to both decks?


+Every Roadrunner Record project we did was on 2", until we were hired the record Jerry Cantrell back in June 2002. I took me some time to recover from it. I could not believe they requested DA*8's over 2" analog. With 24bit @ 48K or better, many clients say, "why bother." I beg to differ, but no one is listening.

** Everyone but the bean counters... When and what was the last thing you recorded on 2" tape?

[Remoteness]

Yeah, I have recorded many 15 NNR 2" masters my friend. So, I hear you. But...

Recording live ballads can be a noisy proposition. In the studio, you can adjust the feeds to the 2" to maximize the signal to noise ratio. Live, you don't always have that option! You adjust for peaks across the whole show, and not as per each song.


Yes, the running times alone can be an issue, but most major mobile units have dual machine operation. We start the second 2" when we know there's not enough tape left to complete the recording of the next tune. If there's 3 minutes left on reel A, and the next song is 5 minutes long, we start recording on reel B seconds before the song begins.

Yes, the console and/or preamp outputs are multed to both decks. We bridge the inputs. We can record dual 24 track with no sweat.

The ASL mobile unit is setup for dual 48 track record. Meaning, we can record to, two 48 track DASH and/or two sets of six DA*8 machines. A dual record setup is usually used during continuious record situations, but can also be used as a backup device.

Man, the last 2" gigs were a long time ago. The first of the last two gigs was during the remaining days of the "Wetlands Preserve" in NYC, before they closed the club down for good. The date was August 23rd, 2001, the artist was Robert Randolph. The actual last 2" recording was with Leona Naess at the Mercury Lounge, NYC, NY on August 29th, 2001. Both sessions were recorded on Quantegy 499 @ 30IPS NNR.

A few days later, on 9/3/01 we recorded Kei Kobayashi Quartet w/ Seamus Blake via a Sony 3348 with DA88 backup, live from the Blue Note Jazz Club, NYC, NY for NHK-TV. Except for a few Sony DASH and Pro Tools dates, we have only recorded with DA*8's. Tascam DA98HR, DA78HR & DA88 has been the medium of choice for most of our clients.

It's pretty scary, but true.

[Jay Kahrs]

Now that's a beautiful sight. Did it totally suck getting the decks in and out of the truck? I know moving my JH-24 around is a bitch.

BTW, I'm doing FOH for Robert Randolph tomorrow night. Should I say hi for you?

[Remoteness]

Yes indeed, a very beautiful sight...

No, it doesn't suck at all. We have a one person lifter that gets the gear in and out with no sweat. This lifter can lift up to 750 lbs. of gear, five feet in the air. Once you clear the doorway, you just roll it into the truck, drop it down and remove the lifter.

In the old days it was a bit harder to deal with since we only have a ramp. You needed at lease two people to get it in/out of the truck.

Sure, say hi to Robert and the band for me. They were really nice guys...