What was your first (classical/acoustic) remote recording setup?

[d_fu]

This is mostly for the classical recordist 'round here...
What was the first (self-owned) setup you went out to record with?

I started about 15 years ago with a pair of AKG 460s (with omnis and cardioids), a Behringer stereo mic preamp (which wasn't bad at all), and a Tascam DA 30...

[EDIT]
Like Ben, I also had a Mackie 1202 and two more AKGs (a 414 EB P48 and a 451), the stereo mix going into the Tascam.
The 1202 is still sitting at the bottom of the case I keep my mics in, as last-resort backup for a 4-channel-recording...

[DCtoDaylight]

Well...I once recorded a concert on my old Roland VS-880, but the mics were borrowed from a friend, so that doesn't meet the criteria.

My first (and so far, only) true remote rig is:

Metric Halo ULN-2
2 x Toa KY small-diameter condensers (owned them since the early '90s)
MacBook Pro running either Logic Pro or the Metric Halo recording software
Sabra-Som stereo bars
Various Stands, including homemade mic extension of camera tripod
Canare/Switchcraft cables from Redco


Of course it's a work in progress, and it would be lovely to have more microphone options, but it makes a very decent recording.

[hughesmr]

I started with a matched pr of EW QTC1s and an EW LAB102 pre, a Tascam DAP1 DAT deck and a Phillips CD recorder!

The Tascam is still sittin' in my closet if anyone wants it, reserve bid only $40!!

[springer]

First one was with 2 Audix TR40's into a Oade modified PMD660. Still a very nice combination to listen to.
I often wonder why we don't hear more about the TR40's. Designed as a test mic but VERY musical and pleasant on many demanding acoustical sources.

[fifthcircle]

I started about 15 years ago as a student recording with a pair of SM-81 mics and an original Mackie 1202 mixer. Recording was done to a Panasonic 3700 DAT machine. I got the opportunity to work with some great musicians and great groups early on which allowed me plenty of time to learn to use my ears. When I moved to Los Angeles in the late 90's, I started going high end learning about good pres, converters, and mics.

These days, I'm outfitted pretty well, although it seeems like it is never enough. sigh....

--Ben

[Oli_W]

Well I'm just starting out... recorded my first full orchestra on my own on saturday! Sounded surprisingly good considering...

...
KM184s main pair (ORTF)stike
TF27s for a couple of spots (Woodwind)
TLM193 (I used it on double basses)
audix i5 on timpani

all going through Focusrite Octopre LE dfegad
TRUNCATED to 16bit Fostex D-90 (8 track)
through a behringer line mixer fuuck to a Zoom H4 for backup.

I'm currently looking at DAV bg-1 and Oktava MK-012s

[Empiria]

Oktava MK-012MP, DAV BG1 and Tascam DV-RA1000.

[tsvisser]

Otari MX-5050 and some piece of crap dynamic mics, I forget which, but probably some combination of Shure, AT, and Beyer. I see a lot of people here right out of the gate using A+ equipment - must be nice.

[John Willett]

I started with a Tandberg 3300X half-track stereo open-reel recorder, a pair of Beyer M67N microphones and a pair of AKG K60 headphones (still have them all somewhere).

This was in the early 1970's.

[Shadow_7]

A laptop, an M-Audio Mobile Pre and a single AT4033a.
(not really classical though, and unpaid, just farting around for friends)

I've worked up to.

A Korg MR-1000, and a pair of Avenson STO-2's.
(all of the same from above)

The next rung on the ladder for me is likely.

A Korg MR-1000, and a Crown Sass-P MK II in combination with an HD camcorder.

But I'm open to suggestions. Battery powered (3+ hours), and mobile (one person, one trip) are king. For me classical is a brittish brass band, or brass quintet, or drum and bugle corps.

I'm not looking at making a living, I'm just trying to outdo the so called professionals out there that think that recording video in the rain without a rain cape(or ziplock bag, or rain-x, or rag) qualifies as a professional product. IMO, it's cheaper to do it all myself, than to trust the critical stuff on "pro"s like that.

[Shadow_7]

Actually I started with a laptop and a Sony MDR-V600 headphones (as the mic). Then upgraded to some giant squid lavalier mics. Then added the battery box. Then went to the Mobile Pre and friends.

[NorseHorse]

This is how I made my first piano recordings.

[David Rick]

The first classical rig that I owned myself included a SV-3700 (still have it, still hate it!), a Mackie 1202, and a used pair of AKG 414's.

From there I upgraded over the next several years in this order:

1. Millennia HV-3 preamp (still have, still use)
2. Symmetrix 20-bit ADC
3. Prism bit-splitter on Tascam MDM (still have for playing archival stuff)
4. DPA (actually B&K) 4006 pair + second Millennia (original owner got divorced)
5. Benchmark 4-channel A/D/A (still have, won't do 88.2 -- no reasonable offer refused)

Prior to that, I owned a Marantz portable cassette deck and some Shure electrets (all really noisy).

My first multitrack was an 8-channel Tascam Syncassette. I still remember the first project I did on that machine, because it sold 5,000 copies off the stage.

Of course I made classical and jazz recordings clear back in high school on Teac 3340S with a really horrible Sony mic mixer and a pair of AKG dynamic mics. Flying those mics in ORTF on a 20 foot ladder did a lot to cure me of a fear of heights!

David L. Rick
Seventh String Recording

[Ozpeter]

'Reps' mono reel to reel, Film Industries ribbon mic.

Gig was the Roger Wagner (UCLA?) Choir performing in a London church in 1969. I still have the tape somewhere here.

Actually the first portable recorder I owned was an Emi model, with small reels, valves, and batteries which powered it for something like seven minutes. I don't recall using it for anything serious... the battery life was no problem as the small reels running at (I think) 15ips ran out sooner.

Geeze, you young whippersnappers don't know how easy you have it!

EMI L2B? See YouTube - EMI TR-90 portable reel to reel tape recorder - it's the small one box portable at 1'20"

Also see Vintage recorders for a good description and photos. I guess mine was the L2C.

[henryrobinett]

My first remote rig is not too dissimilar from the one I use now.

Metric Halo 2882+dsp with Milllennia HV-3D, and Millennia Quad to MOTU 1224mkII via adat. ULN-2.

Powerbook 1.67 using Metric Halo Record Panel.

I only started this about 5 years ago. Jazz mainly.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by Ozpeter

'Reps' mono reel to reel, Film Industries ribbon mic.
Gig was the Roger Wagner (UCLA?) Choir performing in a London church in 1969. I still have the tape somewhere here.

Please post a sample...

Geeze, you young whippersnappers don't know how easy you have it!

Can't really say that's what I'd think of myself as, but then I was three when you made that recording...

I had some other setups with a Sony WM-D6C recording Walkman and Sonyand Aiwa stereo mics, and later a pair of Radio Shack PZMs, recording numerous Indian Classical Music concerts just for private purposes, but I did invest in something half-decent before I went and started advertising my services...

[AAsa]

Sony PCM 501, a Sony Beta deck, 414s and k240 headphones.
For pres I used a little 4 channel thing that Sony gave away when you bought the PCM.

I still have it.

You could do edits between 2 video decks, but mostly I'd dump to 1/4inch and get out the razor blade.

don't miss it.

[jnorman]

Teac 3300 half-track and a fizzy pair of nakamichi electrets. circa 1972. i think i went backwards from there...sure did love that 3300, 70dB S/N at 15ips, watching those 10" reels turning...

[AdamJay]

with my first rig came my first gig ... I did a 7 piece rock band in an outdoor beer garden (about 250 people). Not really acoustic, but pretty organic.

4 channels of Phoenix DRS, and a ULN-2 going into two Metric Halo 2882's. a whole bunch of Beta 58's, AT4041's, D112, 421's, 57's, m201 (which the FOH guy hated!) a TC30k as a crowd mic. The bassist had a big 32 channel Whirlwind splitter that i used. The fantails were protected with purple Crown Royal bags!

The recording came out great, other than running out of channels with the second percussionists' rather large spread... unfortunately i could only give him a single LDC which was positioned too high and just hope the monitors stayed low.
It was the first time i hired an assistant as well.
The band used it for a DVD. there are a couple exerpts here on youtube i just discovered:
YouTube - The Elect - Use Me Up
YouTube - The Elect - You See The Trees

I didn't do the mix, they only hired me to track it live.
I still can't get "werewolves of london" out of my head though... and that was years ago...

[Biber]

Hello,

My first setup was a pair of KM140 into Mackie 1202 into a rented Tascam DA30

I bought the mics used really cheap from a closing privat Radiostation and the mixer from a friend. the tascam later was replaced by a used panasonic 3900, also really cheap from the radiostation.

The KM140s are still my main mics

[Thomas W. Bethe]

RCA 77DX into an Ampex 601 tape deck with Scotch 111. Ohio University Glee Club in the Galbraith Chapel. First acoustic recording for me and the date was 1963.

From there it was all up hill.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by AAsa

Sony PCM 501, a Sony Beta deck, 414s and k240 headphones.
For pres I used a little 4 channel thing that Sony gave away when you bought the PCM.

I still have it.

You could do edits between 2 video decks, but mostly I'd dump to 1/4inch and get out the razor blade.

don't miss it.

This is similar to the kit I upgraded to in 1983.

Sony PCM-F1 with a pair of F1 Beta transports - an HHB "CLUE" editing system and a pair of Sony C9 transports added later.

This was many years before an affordable computer came along, of course.

8 or 10 years later I changed to a pair of Fostex D-1 DAT recorders.

Now I use a NAGRA VI.

[zoom]

It was nearly 20yrs ago:
Sony Walkman DAT TC-D3, Neumann BS 48 i-2, a pair of Microtech Gefell UM70s and a Beyerdynamic DT880s

This was a kind of a minimalist tinker setup but it worked fine and was perfectly mobile and independent from the power socket. the complete 2channel equipment fitted in a small bag. The mics went unbalanced from the BS48 into the recorder.
The DAT-recorder is still in good working order in my locker, probably I will need it one day - who knows? :-) The Neumann P48 supply was hell expensive (half the price of the recorder) and nowadays you get a suitable preamp for that money. The UM70s (also a big investment for me) are until today my only two large-diaphragm mics in my collection. They are not my microphone workhorses but sometimes appreciated for their sound.
This was my first serious recording setup, of course I played with a cassette recorder when I was a child...

cheers
stefan

[GZsound]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

RCA 77DX into an Ampex 601 tape deck with Scotch 111. Ohio University Glee Club in the Galbraith Chapel. First acoustic recording for me and the date was 1963.

From there it was all up hill.

What is remarkable is that you actually remember the details..!

My first recording was around the same time, 63 or early 64 with a Wollensack mono reel to reel recorder and a single mic.. And I have not one clue what mic or kind of tape we used.

Set the mic and the tape deck in the middle of the room and hit "record"..

[pkautzsch]

Pair of KM183s into dbx 386 pre/AD, via SPDIF onto a DA-20 II. Still have all, but don't use the DA-20 too often.

[Corran]

Cool thread.

My first remote recording with my own equipment was with a Rode NT-4 main mic and two Oktava MK-219's as outriggers into a Yamaha mixer, into a Lexicom Omega USB interface to a junk laptop.

After that laptop crapped out on a concert once I bought the Korg D888 8-track harddrive recorder and used it for a good 3 years. I'm trying to sell it now as I just upgraded to the HD24XR.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by GZsound

What is remarkable is that you actually remember the details..!

My first recording was around the same time, 63 or early 64 with a Wollensack mono reel to reel recorder and a single mic.. And I have not one clue what mic or kind of tape we used.

Set the mic and the tape deck in the middle of the room and hit "record"..

I cheated I wrote it all down. I use to keep track of the recordings I did but I sometimes forgot. In this case I did since it was my first acoustic recording. I keep a small loose leaf notebook with sketches and setups and with problems and kudos listed. Sometimes it helps me remember why I did something or why I would never do that again. YMMV but it always seemed like a good idea.

[mixedupsteve]

I had a Lafayette 3.5 in 1/4 stereo tape deck. Then I moved up to this:
Akai 4000DS.

[loujudson]

Easy. Sony 464 CS 1/4 track deck with its original mics. Later I got a pair of F-67 omni dymanics ($17 each!) and made my first record (Tamalpais High School Choir doing the Vince Guaraldi Jazz Mass, 1967. I was the bass player too).

I still have a copy of the record!

Lou

[d_fu]

Guys, please post some clips of those recordings from the sixties...
My first orchestral recording is from '94 (Weill and Strauss), nothing very special, but I'll dig it up if there's interest.