Best setup for mobile, 16 channel, project studio

shapshankly · 14th September 2006

Hello everyone, long time lurker and irregular poster here!

I'm currently looking into setting up a decent, project studio level, mobile recording unit for a school that I work at.

We're talking roughly £1400 to play with here.

We have a decent range of mics to play with (Studio Projects, Rode, Shure, AKG and a Groove Tubes) so that isn't too much of an issue.

What would you recommend as a basic way of getting 16 discrete channels for mobile recording?

So far I'm looking at something along the lines of 2 x focusrite octopre le (one with AD/DA card) and a motu 828 MK2 using the ADAT in to get the full scope of inputs needed.

The main use is going to be tracking a swing band, a big band, an orchestra, a choir and other bits and pieces of contemporary music around the area.

We have a decent laptop that we can use, and the software is all sorted and paid for already (we're not using Pro Tools - they teach using Sonar)

Cheers in advance!

Confusionator · 14th September 2006

Shap,
For what it's worth, I was going to recommend a MOTU 828MkII with a Presonus interface and the Mackie 800R. That just tells you that we're thinking along very close lines.

I like your approach. The *only* recommendation I would give would be to get two different 8-channel preamps. The reason is, this can help educate students' ears to the nuances that different pieces of equipment bring. But really your approach is perfectly good.

Go for it!

14th September 2006	#1
shapshankly Gear interested Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Nottingham, UK Posts: 9 Thread Starter	Best setup for mobile, 16 channel, project studio Hello everyone, long time lurker and irregular poster here! I'm currently looking into setting up a decent, project studio level, mobile recording unit for a school that I work at. We're talking roughly £1400 to play with here. We have a decent range of mics to play with (Studio Projects, Rode, Shure, AKG and a Groove Tubes) so that isn't too much of an issue. What would you recommend as a basic way of getting 16 discrete channels for mobile recording? So far I'm looking at something along the lines of 2 x focusrite octopre le (one with AD/DA card) and a motu 828 MK2 using the ADAT in to get the full scope of inputs needed. The main use is going to be tracking a swing band, a big band, an orchestra, a choir and other bits and pieces of contemporary music around the area. We have a decent laptop that we can use, and the software is all sorted and paid for already (we're not using Pro Tools - they teach using Sonar) Cheers in advance! __________________ Shap Shankly http://www.myspace.com/shapshankly http://www.virusb-23.co.uk http://www.nuskoolbreaks.co.uk

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14th September 2006	#2
Confusionator Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 591 1 Review written	Shap, For what it's worth, I was going to recommend a MOTU 828MkII with a Presonus interface and the Mackie 800R. That just tells you that we're thinking along very close lines. I like your approach. The only recommendation I would give would be to get two different 8-channel preamps. The reason is, this can help educate students' ears to the nuances that different pieces of equipment bring. But really your approach is perfectly good. Go for it!