Seeking advice on new remote recording rig.

[Beaker02]

Currently I have been tracking shows live off my console in stereo to a laptop running Sound Forge 9 via a USBpre. I now need two things. 1. a setup for doing remote 16 track recording of my shows and 2, a setup that will allow me to track 16 channels into my laptop without an external console, and then mix the 16 down to stereo in the same laptop. I also need recomendations on lightweight powered studio monitors for the feild. thanks in advance for any and all responces.

[rwhitney]

NHT powered monitors are very popular for remote audio/video. They tend to be a little heavy for their size, though.

There are plenty of firewire audio interfaces. If you're not married to ProTools (like I am) I'd check out the Apogee symphony system.

[sonare]

You did not mention your budget nor if your laptop was a Mac. If so, 2 of the Metric Halo 2882 with external micpres will work wonderfully.

I use the DAV Broadhurst Gardens 8ch 1U micpres, and the A/D in the Halo blows awayt he usual FW interfaces.

Rich

[rwhitney]

Originally Posted by sonare

...Metric Halo 2882 with external micpres will work wonderfully.
Rich

Do you know if the 2882 will work as an ADAT interface to the Digi003? With the 2882 chained to the 003 firewire port?

[sonare]

I cannot answer that, but they can:

Welcome to Metric Halo

[Beaker02]

Originally Posted by sonare

You did not mention your budget nor if your laptop was a Mac. If so, 2 of the Metric Halo 2882 with external micpres will work wonderfully.

I use the DAV Broadhurst Gardens 8ch 1U micpres, and the A/D in the Halo blows awayt he usual FW interfaces.

Rich

Budget: 2K for the pre's. I have the laptop (It's a Vista PC). 1.5K on the speakers.

[Beaker02]

I know I can record multitrack into the laptop, but is there software that will allow internal mixing to two tracks? i'm trying to eliminate taking a console on the road. Thanks.

[pkautzsch]

Well, most DAWs can export a stereo mixdown way faster than realtime. So you could just set up your rough mix, press "export", and a few minutes later you're done. My MOTU stuff can record its "Mix 1", so you can set up a mix in the interface's mixer software and select that as an additional input in your DAW, as an alternative to exporting right after the last song.

Another option to record would be getting a reliable HD recorder and transferring the files to the computer after the fact. This will eliminate the risk of computer crashing, and of firewire plugs disconnecting which is quite possible. Firewire has not been designed for remote recording...

[rwhitney]

Originally Posted by sonare

I cannot answer that, but they can:

Welcome to Metric Halo

Apparently it can. Here's an answer from MH-Labs on 05/27/07:

"Thanks for your email. Having both devices connected to your computer, or in a chain shouldn't cause you problems. Whether they will work in conjunction the way you expect depends on what you wish to do and what host application you are using. MIO Console cannot control the Digi 003 (just the MIO), but the two devices can certainly pass signal to one another, through a SPDIF connection, for example.

I hope this helps. If you have any other specific questions regarding your setup, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,

Jon Stern
Metric Halo Support"

[mrufino1]

Have you checked out reaper for software? It will do what you are asking and you can try it uncrippled for free, license is very inexpensive. I am in the process fo switching from protools m-powered to reaper and the more time I spend with reaper the more cool features (useful features, not window dressing) I am discovering, such as the ability to assign and enable recording inputs while it is already running. And then, as has been said, you can mix in reaper (or any recording program), then bounce to disk, faster than real time (except in protools, which is real time only), and you will have your stereo file. I just bought a presonus firepod with another on the way by the end of the week pending some sales. I have used it before and was very pleased. Not in the same league as some of the other interfaces mentioned, and those DAV pres will most definitely be nicer, but the firepods will serve my low end needs well (I hope!). If your needs are not high end maybe these would work for you as well. I'm also going to be getting my other 8 channels of transformer isolated splits, so I'll have a complete 16 channel system, no more y-cables for me, making soundmen everywhere happy! Hope that helped a little.