Thoughts and issues re using MacBook for recording audio

[Philip Perkins]

I've done a great deal of audio recording on computers, on location mostly on a 12" Powerbook G4 w/ Metacorder.  That won't be happening anymore because that computer was stolen off my sound cart on a job today.  My other computer is a 1 year old MacBook 13" 2.16 Core Duo, and that is about to be hosed off and made into my audio computer.  Any one have any caveats about using this model (or MacBooks in general) w/ Meta or Boom recorder?

thanks

Philip Perkins

[old school]

Wow. Sorry to hear of your loss. Hard to imagine. I hate thieves. A swift kick in the nuts to all who steal.

CrewC

[Philip Perkins]

Thanks, I'm just glad they didn't get the Metacorder dongle as well.

Philip Perkins

[Darren]

Philip, I too, am so sorry to hear this.  My computer lives on my cart full time and is tethered by a security cable.  Even so I'm always fearful that somone will find it too tempting.

All of my rack gear is now fastened using "tamperproof" screws and during any type of walk away, usually including lunch, I install the locking front lid on my rack as well.

Hopefully whomever you were working for will cover your loss.

My understanding on the Intels from David M. Is that they work fine with the exception of the timecode not showing up on the sound reports when files are dragged and dropped into a Metacorder sound roll from another machine.  This works perfectly on PowerPC machines. 

[Richard Lightstone, CAS]

Sorry to hear that Phil.

I use BoomRecorder on an Intel Mac Mini and all audio files are stored to a 1Tb G-Tech drive.

It's on  a shelf of my cart and probably not too visible to thieves.

My regular Mac is cable locked to my little auxillary cart. So far it's still there.....

RL

[Kevin Sorensen]

I think that on set theft is becoming one of the issues that needs to be pushed to the forefront of our discussions. Working fly by night shoots and day-playing, sound folk seem to to be easy pickings for the klepto-minded, who are also inhabiting these transient forms of employment.

I have had a lav stolen off of my cart while i was sitting in front it ! Its not so easy to get reimbursed by the production company and you risk ever being hired again if you push the issue. That was my experience.

So, never leave your cart unattended, pay as close attention as as possible and yes, suspect everyone.

Now i think i know why some of the older mixers i used to work with stayed so far away from the set !

Oh yea, an thank God for Spell Check.

KKS.

[RPSharman]

Philip,

I used an old 12" G4 iBook with only 1GB RAM for Boom Recorder for several years until it died on the last show.  I replaced it with a new 13" MacBook Core Duo with 4BG RAM.  It has worked flawlessly so far.  Even the old laptop ran well, but with occasional random overload.

Robert

[graham]

i have no trouble with my 1 year old macbook and boomrecorder. i upgraded to 2gig of ram. have done 18 tracks via usb to external hard drive. The issue i have is that one USB port does not work as well as the other. It might be because the external drive is bus powered, but one would cause aborts every once in a while. The other is solid. I disabled dashboard and dont let it go in sleep mode. Sorry about your old laptop.

[Guest BobD]

I think that on set theft is becoming one of the issues that needs to be pushed to the forefront of our discussions. Working fly by night shoots and day-playing, sound folk seem to to be easy pickings for the klepto-minded, who are also inhabiting these transient forms of employment.

I have had a lav stolen off of my cart while i was sitting in front it ! Its not so easy to get reimbursed by the production company and you risk ever being hired again if you push the issue. That was my experience.

So, never leave your cart unattended, pay as close attention as as possible and yes, suspect everyone.

Now i think i know why some of the older mixers i used to work with stayed so far away from the set !

Oh yea, an thank God for Spell Check.

KKS.

transient forms of employment.

Welcome to the film industry!!!!!  Well said.....   

[ptalsky]

Philip,

I've been working with Boom Recorder on a MacBook with just the original 1 GB of memory and it has worked very well for me.  I just finished a feature where I was recording 8 tracks almost all the way through, plus a mix track and it held up very well (turned in 178 GB of sound files...a new record for me.)  :-)

Phil