portable recording esssentials

[anabolique]

If you were just starting to record small chamber ensembles and have basic equipment (some microphones, audio interface with 8 preamps and computer- no standalone recorder at the moment) , what would be your choice of devices to fill the case for 2 or 4 rack devices?
Which piece of gear would be essential to sit next to rack audio interface? Just to make things clearer, aim is recording only , not live sound reinforcement.

Maybe some type of analyzer, something for metering, monitor controlling? Or what should be choice of 4 devices? UPS maybe, electricity stuff?

I need some ideas, live recording is not really my field...

[JonesH]

Originally Posted by anabolique

I need some ideas, live recording is not really my field...

Make it yours

UPS is definitely a nice and essential thing. Check out the tags!

[RubixGroove]

Exactly what interface are you workin' with?

[WVUtubadude]

It looks like you have the essentials. I would go for a UPS. In fact, I need a replacement since my old one got ruined when some water got in my basement.

It has saved my neck twice, on the same night even. The electricians report on which outlets went with each circuit wasn't quite accurate, causing the breaker to trip from the PA and me running on the same circuit

[philper]

Originally Posted by WVUtubadude

It looks like you have the essentials. I would go for a UPS. In fact, I need a replacement since my old one got ruined when some water got in my basement.

It has saved my neck twice, on the same night even. The electricians report on which outlets went with each circuit wasn't quite accurate, causing the breaker to trip from the PA and me running on the same circuit

One of my fave recent recordings is of a band playing at a festival, recorded via direct outs from the FOH console. In the middle of a song someone hit a plug or something, and the whole PA and back line went down. My rig was on a UPS which A: kept my computer system from crashing since the interfaces would have gone down, necessitating a time-consuming reboot and reopening of the apps, as well as a long session after the show finding and renaming the audio files, B: kept a 2nd recorder, rolling on the audience mics only, rolling through, so you could hear the completely non-electric sing-along that happened w/ the band and the crowd until the PA came back up and the band powered back into their song. It was a nice moment--totally courtesy of the UPS. Another reason to use a UPS, is that it allows you to keep your rig powered up while you try different AC connections. I've had locations where something nasty was sharing the first few circuits I tried, and I could quickly move my AC line to another outlet and listen to that w/o all the tedious rebooting in between.

Philip Perkins

[ghellquist]

Originally Posted by anabolique

... record small chamber ensembles ..

This to me spells straight to stereo. Meaning a really good main pair, high enough mic stand, a good sounding room. Send this into a a good quality mic preamp and a AD converter. You will benefit from having really good listening equipment on location (high quality head phones can do, but some decisions are difficult to make without monitors). Spend quality time in finding the exact right positioning of the mics and the players and there you go.

Tidy things up in post, todays classical records often has a lot of cuts meaning that you might need a lot of takes and also very good skills in keeping your notes.

// Gunnar

[pkautzsch]

Originally Posted by anabolique

If you were just starting to record small chamber ensembles and have basic equipment (some microphones, audio interface with 8 preamps and computer- no standalone recorder at the moment) , what would be your choice of devices to fill the case for 2 or 4 rack devices?
Which piece of gear would be essential to sit next to rack audio interface? Just to make things clearer, aim is recording only , not live sound reinforcement.

Maybe some type of analyzer, something for metering, monitor controlling? Or what should be choice of 4 devices? UPS maybe, electricity stuff?

I need some ideas, live recording is not really my field...

The most essential things in remote recording are UPS and Backup Recorder. Both usually aren't really used, but Murphy says: if you don't have them with you, you'll need them.

Most 8ch interfaces do have some kind of monitoring system. However, I do prefer monitoring through the DAW. Yes, this will give you latency in your headphones, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as you can more clearly hear what you're actually recording. Metering should be done in the DAW anyway, as that's what you're recording to. More sophisticated analysis/metering can be done with plug-ins then - those usually don't need lots of CPU, so I'll confidently have some scope plugin in the master when recording. (You can judge spectral aspects on headphones, but you can't really judge stereo image, therefore I like to see the stereo spread)

What interface is it you've got?

Originally Posted by ghellquist

This to me spells straight to stereo. Meaning a really good main pair, high enough mic stand, a good sounding room. Send this into a a good quality mic preamp and a AD converter. You will benefit from having really good listening equipment on location (high quality head phones can do, but some decisions are difficult to make without monitors). Spend quality time in finding the exact right positioning of the mics and the players and there you go.

Tidy things up in post, todays classical records often has a lot of cuts meaning that you might need a lot of takes and also very good skills in keeping your notes.

// Gunnar

As OP already has an 8ch interface, he should probably keep it (if it's not one of the very cheap ones). But as a backup recorder, a 2ch device, maybe even just a handheld recorder fed via SPDIF or analogue Line level would be sufficient.
Second the "loudspeaker" suggestion theoretically, although in most cases I find the "control room" hasn't got enough isolation from stage.
Second the "good preamp/AD for main pair" suggestion as well.

[tuRnitUpsuM]

a back up plan ! or two !!

[anabolique]

Yes, I get that monitoring stereo image is not really good with headphones... but I would try my late -night mixing solution : 112dB Redline Monitor plugin. Its a "crosfeed" speaker simulator. Maybe it helps...

[GuySonic]

My tact is different from the studio driven multitrack mic configuration for recording live sound 'out of the box.' You can greatly lighten up on your setup time and amount of gear carried into a remote session using a single mic into even a battery operated preamp/recorder.

I start with my own custom stereo-surround mic that allows recording everything exactly like heard from the chosen mic position. Seems to work well enough and allows a very quick setup, consistent quality sound capture, and little or no effects editing as everything is already acoustically mixed as it was presented to this one microphone array.

Agreed this is not for everyone or everything, but especially effective for small performing groups, and having had no dissatisfied customers in 25 years of using this approach. Most not familiar with this type of mic array would agree after hearing some of the posted session results.

Best way to understand the single stereo-surround mic approach to live sound recording is to visit the hundreds of sample recordings posted on my site. http://www.sonicstudios.com/mp3_2slp.htm#sessions

All examples have gear configuration notes, and many with session photos so to know how/what was being used to produce the mostly raw or very lightly edited examples.

Working out of the box, and particularly working with live sound in remote places takes ‘thinking out of the box.’

[ohmoka]

Back up recorder!

[audibell]

Originally Posted by philper

" I've had locations where something nasty was sharing the first few circuits I tried, and I could quickly move my AC line to another outlet and listen to that w/o all the tedious rebooting in between."
Philip Perkins

I agree on pulling the plug with a load - there's really no other way to know whether your choice of UPS is going to save or ruin your day. After pulling the UPS edison out of the wall, I have recorded 8 mics at the shop for two minutes and compared the files to the same content recorded with the plug back in. No clicks, pops or squeaks. The location power might, of course, present a different scenario but there's usually not enough time to do this unless it's a rehearsal. Turning off in software, the APC's beeper alert is helpful - it winks anyway.

A 3700 DAT taking an output 2-mix saved my rep with a client once - with a bit of EQing, the DAT section bridged the multi-mic gap where phantom power started to short out one of the sound cards - holding a mic cable just so until the intermission solved it but the DAT covered the gap until I could change the cable. Even Switchcrafts grow "hairs" inside which eventually pass the naughty little electrons.
WT

[panatrope]

I've probably said it before, but battery-power gear has many advantages. In my dotage, I'm increasingly less inclined to hump around another heavy piece of gear like a UPS.

My preferred configuration is to run the main pair to the Nagra V (but it could be any self powered device with an analog and/or digital out) then to the multitrack - with additional mics via a battery-capable preamp set - with battery capability interface and then a laptop (also runs on battery). But even if the mains are secure, I will still use the Nagra 'coz it sounds nice, and it will still provide a recording of the main pair if the laptop hiccups.

Of course, on simple jobs (stereo pair only) there is no possibility of mains interference, no possibility of some uninformed person pulling the plug out of the wall - and one less cord to pack up at the end of the gig.

[BFSound]

Id say UPS for sure, i got one and was doing a test 2 track recording with a new system and there was a guy doing live web casting of the set and 3/4 the way through lost power from the same source i was using (not the ups but outlet) and i would have never know but his shit dropped off right away.

Gosh those things are life savers! thumbsupthumbsupthumbsup