Location recording with looong record time

[octatonic]

Hi all,

I have to record some corporate conferences that run 8 hours a day for 1-2 days (or longer)
At the moment they are using 90 minute cassettes and then giving those cassettes to a staff member to transcribe.

I need a device that can record for up to 8 hours a day non-stop, or as long as we can do these days, that is not prone to crashing (like a computer) and can easily be transferred to MP3 (ideally by a 1 click process).
I had an idea of using some sort of stereo recorder that is HD based that can be mounted via USB or FW and dragging a wavefile to itunes to convert to MP3.

Does such a device exist?

James

[nbrecording]

Originally Posted by richmondjames

Hi all,

I have to record some corporate conferences that run 8 hours a day for 1-2 days (or longer)
At the moment they are using 90 minute cassettes and then giving those cassettes to a staff member to transcribe.

I need a device that can record for up to 8 hours a day non-stop, or as long as we can do these days, that is not prone to crashing (like a computer) and can easily be transferred to MP3 (ideally by a 1 click process).
I had an idea of using some sort of stereo recorder that is HD based that can be mounted via USB or FW and dragging a wavefile to itunes to convert to MP3.

Does such a device exist?

James

The Alesis HD24xr can cover this kinda work.

[Bixby]

How about this:

http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.a...9&SubCatID=179

Record MP3 straight to flash card.

Just get a big flash card.

[0VU]

Putting aside computer based solutions to this, even though they're now more or less reliable enough to do the job most of the time, there's lots of stand alone hardware capable of doing this. It ranges from cheap consumer quality boxes to some very serious pro hardware, with build quality, reliabilty and feature sets, which vary accordingly. Ignoring the really cheap/nasty consumer boxes of dubious quality, some of the better options include:

Portable recorders (which usually have inbuilt mic pres (of varying quality); and some kind of PC transfer facility, amongst a huge range of other options/possibilities) in no particular order:

Sound Devices 744T/722 which record to an internal (not intended to be routinely swapped in/out) HD and can mirror record to a removable CF card for extra security. (They also make a 704 and 702 which only run to CF cards.)
Nagra ARES BB+
Nagra ARES C
Nagra V (May be fitted with a CF card OR a Removable HD which may be connected directy into a PC via various adapters.)
Fostex FR-2 removable 5GB HD and CF card slot
Tascam HD-P2
Marantz PMD-670/PMD-671 (Both capable of recording directly to MP3 format in addition to linear files)
Zaxcom DEVA (various machines)
HHB Portadrive
Aaton Cantar

Rackmount options (which tend not to have inbuilt mic pres) include things like the various Fostex DVD recorders, Tascam DV-RA1000, Alesis Masterlink, Marantz PMD570, a few different broadcast HD recorders/loggers which can run for hours/days/weeks according to the required quality, and rackmount versions some of the Nagra machines. EDIT: Almost forgot - Genex MO/HD recorders are well put together and could be useful, though I've had a few nasty surprises with 8500 crashing, especially when recording to an external drive.

Alternatively, and cheaper, but involving a few more mouse clicks, you could use one of the many HD multitrack recorders. Run in two track mode, something like an Alesis HD24/HD24XR, run for days/weeks onto a cheap removable IDE drive that can then be connected to a PC for quick transfers to an editor/MP3 converter. I've used several of these machines, both portable and rackmount for long speech/conference/music recordings, most recently the HD24XR/FirePort combination, and it was as good as any of them.

You'd need to check the details on each of these machines as feature sets vary considerably. Some also have limitations upon how large a file may be recorded in a single chunk, hence the maximum continuous recording duration. Sometimes the recorders may be set automatically to split very long recordings into smaller files, maybe incorporating a brief overlap to assist in re-joining them with an external PC editor; other machines require the user to keep an eye on durations and manually stop and restart to keep file lengths within limitations; some can record very large files with the ony limitation being drive size. With any of the ones I've used, it only takes a few seconds to stop and restart, e.g, between speakers at a conference or during applause in a long gig, so missing anything important hasn't been a problem. Some of the machines even incorporate a pre-record buffer which can cover/catch up on a brief stop/restart so nothing is missed.

With any of these, it'd probably be wise to dual head the recording, even if just onto a laptop. When all's said and done, they're still computers, albeit dedicated/embedded/optimised ones, and, if the recording is important, should be considered no more trustworthy than any other recording system where you can't see things moving and listen properly "off tape". (Some of the more expensive machines offer read after write confidence monitoring but you might prefer simply to buy a couple of the cheaper machines and trust them not to both crash at the same time.)

Or you could just go for a couple of laptops running independently with some kind of audio interface.

[T.RayBullard]

there is also the edirol r-09, edirol r-4, edirol r-01, maudio microtracker, and the 8 channel sonosax mini8r2 also the sony PCMd1


the edirol r-09 is small, easy to use, and works great!

I just had one in my hands just for grins and giggles.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by 0VU

Putting aside computer based solutions to this, even though they're now more or less reliable enough to do the job most of the time, there's lots of stand alone hardware capable of doing this. It ranges from cheap consumer quality boxes to some very serious pro hardware, with build quality, reliabilty and feature sets, which vary accordingly. Ignoring the really cheap/nasty consumer boxes of dubious quality, some of the better options include:
snip

Tascam HD-P2

snip

You'd need to check the details on each of these machines as feature sets vary considerably. Some also have limitations upon how large a file may be recorded in a single chunk, hence the maximum continuous recording duration. Sometimes the recorders may be set automatically to split very long recordings into smaller files, maybe incorporating a brief overlap to assist in re-joining them with an external PC editor; other machines require the user to keep an eye on durations and manually stop and restart to keep file lengths within limitations; some can record very large files with the ony limitation being drive size. With any of the ones I've used, it only takes a few seconds to stop and restart, e.g, between speakers at a conference or during applause in a long gig, so missing anything important hasn't been a problem. Some of the machines even incorporate a pre-record buffer which can cover/catch up on a brief stop/restart so nothing is missed.

With any of these, it'd probably be wise to dual head the recording, even if just onto a laptop. When all's said and done, they're still computers, albeit dedicated/embedded/optimised ones, and, if the recording is important, should be considered no more trustworthy than any other recording system where you can't see things moving and listen properly "off tape". (Some of the more expensive machines offer read after write confidence monitoring but you might prefer simply to buy a couple of the cheaper machines and trust them not to both crash at the same time.)

Or you could just go for a couple of laptops running independently with some kind of audio interface.

Hi 0VU,

thanks for your comprehensive reply- that is awesome.

I think the Tascam HDP2 is going to suit my purposes- I will be flown around the world to do this so will need a fairly portable solution.
I didn't realise you could get 8GB flash for about $170.
The HDP2 and a couple of these 8GB cards and I am set.
I like the AES interface and wordclock on it also- I could use this as a studio master recorder.

Any major caveats with the HDP2?

JR

[T.RayBullard]

I think youve made a wise choice. That box is very easy to use, and rock solid(like the DA-p1)...and should you decide that you dont like the way the analog stage sounds, and want to use it for music/mixdown purposes, my friend Doug at www.oade.com has some brilliant analog stage rebuilds/mods for it..He is quite the modding guru..
(as well as the other recorders mentioned)

Originally Posted by richmondjames

Hi 0VU,

thanks for your comprehensive reply- that is awesome.

I think the Tascam HDP2 is going to suit my purposes- I will be flown around the world to do this so will need a fairly portable solution.
I didn't realise you could get 8GB flash for about $170.
The HDP2 and a couple of these 8GB cards and I am set.
I like the AES interface and wordclock on it also- I could use this as a studio master recorder.

Any major caveats with the HDP2?

JR

[T.RayBullard]

oh yeah, comments from users about the P2

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=65470.0

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=63681.0

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=58807.0

[0VU]

Originally Posted by richmondjames

Hi 0VU,

thanks for your comprehensive reply- that is awesome.

I think the Tascam HDP2 is going to suit my purposes- I will be flown around the world to do this so will need a fairly portable solution.
I didn't realise you could get 8GB flash for about $170.
The HDP2 and a couple of these 8GB cards and I am set.
I like the AES interface and wordclock on it also- I could use this as a studio master recorder.

Any major caveats with the HDP2?

JR

I don't have much experience with it - half a dozen concert recordings or so - but no problems that I can think of. It struck me as a solid, straightforward box that did what it did without any fuss or unnecessary complication. I had no reliability/operational problems with it and the file transfer to PC was easy to do and quick (I mostly put the CF card into the card reader I have in my PC rather than using the firewire interface but I did try it out and it worked fine on a PC running XPPro.) I'd still however want to use another recorder of some sort as a backup on any recording where someone would complain if I failed to get the recording. At the price, for any sensibly paid work, you could justify, and do a lot worse than, another HD-P2 - or as I said, if you already have a laptop, that'd probably do as a backup - just use a separate interface and do a proper parallel backup rather than relying on a daisy chain from the Tascam. If you do, it'll never be the back end of the chain which fails; one down all down :(

All the people I know who've worked with the Tascam more often/for longer are agreed in liking it very much. One of them ditched a Marantz machine that he'd only had for a few months in favour of the Tascam after using it for only a day or two. There's been a couple of good reviews of it online - a few minutes on Google should turn them up. Hugh Robjohns reviewed it very favourably in the July edition of Sound On Sound but to read that online before it falls into the free online content in about six months time (don't quote me on that timescale) you'll need a web subscription (I'm not sure whether you can just pay for a single article/issue), or you might still be able to find a copy of the magazine on a newsstand.

I was using it via external mic pres/ADCs but when I tried out the internal pres/ADCs I was pleasantly surprised. They're not going worry decent outboard units (I used, at various times, Crookwood/Millennia/DDA/Sonosax pres/mixers and dCS ADCs) but are perfectly functional in a clean/inoffensive/characterless/bland (in a good way) style, and in most normal/non-critical applications wouldn't be a problem on their own. They're much better than the run of the mill preamps found in most portable recorders at around this price - and some far more expensive units - and I'd happily use them to record speech/interviews/non quality-critical music.

If you want a step up in quality without shelling out a load more cash, I'd second Teddy's recommendation and look to Doug Oade for one of his modded units. I've not heard his mods for this machine but I have heard them on others and if his HD-P2 is similar it'll be well worth the money. It's not expensive for what you get and with one of his modded machines you also get his rather fine backup and customer service.

If you find yourself doing more critical recordings requiring better pres yet still needing good portability, then you could add a really nice portable mic pre - the DAV BG1 would probably be the prime contender. Even with the internal ADCs (especially with an Oade analogue stage mod) this would give you a more than adequate sound quality. For even more critical work, something like a Benchmark or Mytek ADC wouldn't be wasted on a recorder like this and it'd still be comfortably carryable.

The only slight negative is that CF cards are still much more expensive per GB than hard drives so if you want to record a lot of higher resolution programme it could get expensive. On the plus side of that, CF cards are more or less shockproof, run cool and silent and are falling in price all the time.

All in all I reckon you'd have to spend quite a lot more to get anything noticably better.

[T.RayBullard]

http://www.zaxcom.com/hotnews/zfr100_news.htm

this might be up your alley too...the new offering from Zaxcom..

[Baithak]

Hello RichmondJames,

For your application, the Marantz420 may be better suited. Not only does it record directly to MP3 and Wav, you also have the option of recording mono/stereo and then burning it to the CD on the built in recorder.

Of course you can transfer the file via the built-in USB, use as a studio back-up with the built in SPDIF io. Has a built in speaker to do a quick check and a built in mic too!

Oh and Oade brothers sell this one too.

Chandra