Help needed! Portable recording sollution

[Arnenormann]

Before I start writing I want to apologize for my broken norwegian-english.

I started my journey in audio-production about 6 years ago. I played guitar in a band and we were going to record an EP. I loved the whole concept of recording! The only thing that bugged me out was the whole "recording on a click" process and tracking instruments individually. To this day, I go as far as i can to capture bands or artists together, because I believe that it capture nuances and feelings easier.

My idea is to capture bands where they are: the garage, bomb-shelter or local church! I want a mobile setup with acoustical treatment to capture a dry sound (with a help from portable acoustic treatment) when the room is shitty, or to capture the greatness of a room when it´s possible.

I primarily want to record rock/rnb/pop. So my question is this: What do I need to get an decent/good sound (apart from mic-placement and mixing skills, obviously)?

My own idea is this (apart from transportation):

Recording:

Interface:
-Presonus studiolive 24
-Macbook Pro 15" (allready own an i7 16 GB ram iMac for mixing)

Mics:
-AKG D112
-Røde NT5
-RØDE NT1- A
-Sennheiser MD421II x3
-Sennheiser e906 x2
-Shure Beta 52A
-Shure SM57 x3
-Shure SM81 x3

I allready own:
-Blue Kiwi
-SE-Electronics SE2200T

Misc:
-Mic-stands
-Cables
-Headphones x6 (Suggestions??)
-Headphone preamp for 6 headphones (Suggestions??)
-Carry cases

Acoustics:
-ClearSonic MiniMega (drum booth)

MiniMega
-ClearSonic Full-STack AmpPac:
-AmpPac 11
-AmpPac 21
-AmpPac 31
-AmpPac 41
Amp Isolation

I allready own:
-Se ReflectionFilter
-some huge-ass carpets for the ground
Amps:

Guitar:
-Marshall Class5
-Marshall MA50C

Bass:
-Marshall Haze MHZ15/MHZ112

Keys:
-Roland KC-550USD

Instruments/Effects:
Allready own:
-Gibson les paul goldtop custom
-Fendert Am. Strat
-medicore Yamaha el-bass
-Taylor Acoustic guitar
-Nord electro 2
-61-key midi-keyboard
-Tamb and shakers
-NI-komplete 7 (soft-synths, guitar rig and kontakt 4-sampler)

I don't think I want to spend more money on instruments

I currently don't own any effects. Decent setup for guitar/bas/keys?


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what do you guys think? Do you think this will work for a mobile rig? Are there any major wrong priorities? What would you change??

Budget:
30-35 000 $

[rprecording]

Wow...you're gonna need a bus or a dumptruck to carry all this around.

The equipment list you give makes me wonder if you're going to be a location recordist or a cartage company? If you plan on working alone most of the time (very likely) then you'll find that load in/setup time can expand exponentially as you add more gear to the rig. Building a rig that's compact and flexible; that you can lift in and out of your vehicle by yourself and set up in a very short time is the trick.

I'd suggest that you consider dropping the instruments, guitar amps, iso booth etc.. and focus on the recording rig. Let the band provide the instruments.

The Studiolive looks like a pretty nice piece of gear but I just read another post (in this forum) about a Behringer X32 that you might consider as well...looks pretty interesting and supposedly will record directly to SD card so no laptop needed. Drawback being that neither system gives you a backup recorder. Whether that's important or not depends on the type of job's you get. Recording a band in their rehearsal space, you'd have an option of them playing a tune again...in a live show environment, that's not an option.

If you've not done multi chan location recording before I'd suggest you start off simple. A laptop and perhaps a Focusrite Saffire interface (pro 40 or the Liquid Chan 56). I've heard good reports from folks on these, they'll give you a fair number of mic pre's/line in's, interface with the laptop etc... and can be used to provide headphone mixes with reasonably low latencies.

You could pick up an additional mic pre unit and connect it to this via ADAT to expand your in's.

Your mic list is a good start for rock band type stuff. You'll need a mic splitter (ART S8 works well), a few stage snakes, lots of mic cables and mic stands.

Lots of headphone amps out there. If you watch Sweetwater/Musicians Friend etc... you'll often find package deals where you can get 6 chan headamps with 6 pairs of headphones...

headphone amp packages Search | Musician's Friend.

Cheap headphones yes but usable and whatever you get will get beatup thru use so I wouldn't spend a fortune on them (and for that type of monitoring you dont need audiophile level cans).

You might pick up a book about location recording...

Amazon.com: Recording Music on Location (9780240808918): Bruce Bartlett, Jenny Bartlett: Books

...is a good one.

Based on my experience....

Start simple. Whatever system you start with will not be what you end up with. Every job you do, you'll discover something that you hadn't anticipated and you'll want to modify your system to accommodate that in the future. After your first few job's you'll have a much better understanding of what works and what doesn't and your system will start to coalesce.

It's a lot of fun but it can be addictive!

Good luck

P.S., I have several pic's of my rig on my web site. Also, if you go to the "Session bLog" page on my site I posted a pretty good writeup that describes upgrades that I just did on my rig. You might find it usefull.

[Chris Martins]

I'd stay clear of the Haze for bass recording... Get a good, simple yet powerful enough bass amp ( anything in the 50/100 watt range, solid state is fine for bass ), you'll be much better off and the bass player will be happier...

[GuySonic]

Suggest a simpler more direct approach to location recording using a baffled HRTF stereo-surround mic that records exactly as heard from the mic position. This in my and many other's experience produces the best recording possible in difficult situations with only minutes of gear setup time.

Many hundreds of live performance recordings done in this manner with gear used notes posted on my site at: Sonic Studios MP3 Page 2 with Ambient Stereo-Surround Session and Live Performance Recordings

[Chris Martins]

The Behringer X32 is loaded with 32 preamps ( good quality ones too ), and records straight to USB drive. I think it's probably your best possible startup system. Just grab a pair of good headphones and a few mics and you're good to go. I know I'd go that route if I was just starting out and let the bands manage their own equipment ( amps and FX and the such ).

[Arnenormann]

How Are the preamps?

[turtlejon]

as far as portable recording, i agree with everyone about how much equipment is necessary. i really enjoy the metric halo interfaces for portable work. the line outs are strong enough to run loud headphone mixes, it has nice preamps, easy integration with the mac, very flexible routing, etc., all in 1 rack space. runs on 12v dc power in case you do "bush work." maybe a set of genelec 8020's for portable listening (add a sub for proper mixing.) my 8 ch portable rig fits in an overhead bin on an airplane, except for the mic stands. i can expand to 16 with a backpack. if the band doesn't have enough mic stands, i have a bag of them as well.
i never seem to need more than 16 inputs at once, but i'm sure some bands will...
and really, any band should have their own instruments, or could rent them.

[JEGG]

Arnenormann-

As others have said, your list is a big one when cartage and setup is considered.

Won't you be duplicating mic's, stands, and cables, that are already there for the live system? If that's the case, might you be getting in the way (of the house and house sound person/system)? And laying down large carpets is a whole other logistical project.

Is there any way of saving yourself lots of time, labor, and money by using using what's already there for the PA-getting friendly with the house equipment and personnel and getting some splits from them, and then adding a few (only) of your own mic's/stands? Get a mic splitter for the occasions when the house doesn't have one, be ready to give the "direct" side to the house.

I admire your enthusiasm, but your list seems to require a large vehicle and a small independent crew, lots of time, and will rely on superb diplomatic skills with the house-and that's assuming the house personnel are completely cooperative *and* the house schedule will permit your setup. And that doesn't allow for anything going awry, which will happen.

In any case, I would consider a dedicated HD recorder rather than a computer based system.

Sorry if I am being pessimistic. If you have the passion for it, go for it.

[Lazerface]

Originally Posted by Arnenormann

How Are the preamps?

The X32 isn't out yet, they're saying Q2/Q3 this year. Its rumored to have Midas preamps, which would make this a killer board! But its still just a rumor.

The acoustic isolation bits might be nice for recording a band in a rehearsal/studio situation, but you most likely won't be able to use them when it comes to a live performance. Those are the 2 main situations when it comes to location recording, and it sounds like you want to bring the studio to whatever room the band is in.

[Hornblower64]

More specific information will yield better and more appropriate advice. Instrumentation: trio, quartet, quintet? number of voices? Gear budget?

Fewer channels makes for better quality per channel, less setup time, and fewer phase issues. A recent rock setup:

Room/Kit - (2) SDC omni's (MKH8020)
Vox - LDC tube (CS-1)
Guitar A - SDC card. tube (Ela M 260)
Guitar E - SM57
Bass - D.I.
Keys - D.I.
Kick - D-112

Old Klipsch Heresy's (tilted 45 deg.) for cue (no headphones)
DAV BG No. 1
Digi 002R
MacBook
Tannoy 600A

All live - and all you need - really. Using a good omni for the kit eliminates the need for drum spots. Only 8 channels with little mixing and no processing, no reverb as the room, with careful setup, provided all that was needed.

A simple setup can work really well.