Carry-On Multitrack w/ TC and backup

[Philip Perkins]

I just did some multitrack recording for a 3 camera doco shoot of the premier of a major new work by the Kronos Quartet at the Kasser Theatre at Montclair State Univ. in Montclair NJ.  Due to the usual tedious exigencies of time and budget, I had to go directly from the airport (Newark) to the theatre, set up and start rolling, and then keep rolling for the next two and a half days as the performance came together in final run-throughs, a dress rehearsal, more run-throughs and the premier itself.  Since it was the process of putting the piece together that interested the filmmakers (more even than the premier ) we needed to be rolling most of the time.  To cover the large array of custom built instruments (by the composer, Gerhard Trimpin), as well as playback, live electronic and effects feeds from the sound designer I needed a lot of tracks.  To make sure I could get up and running right away I needed to carry on what I absolutely needed to record on the airplane--couldn't risk lost baggage.  It may not seem so remarkable to you whippersnappers out there, but to me, codger that I am, the idea that I could get an 18+ track recording rig w/ TC sync and mics into a carryon bag and a briefcase was pretty interesting.  Into the standard legal size rolly carryon--MOTU 8pre and Traveler, SD 702T, Tascam HDP2, power supplies, firewire and TC cables, 2 Schoeps MK4s, 2 Schoeps MK41s, a Neumann RSM190i, matrix, cable and breakout, two Sanken CUB1s, and a bunch of XLR Y cables (never seem to have enough). In my briefcase/bag: 12" G4 powerbook w/ Metacorder dongle, power supply, two large Avastor and one pocket type Firelite FW drives and power cables.  I checked a case w/ tools, adapters, jumpers, yet more Ys, etc etc.  I was able to get the venue to add a local rental of a 20 pair snake/box/fan and a big pile of 25' and 50' XLR mic cables to their order as well as some dynamic mics, and that was all waiting for me at the theatre.  I found a table in the wings and AC on the same circuit as the house console and was in business--later getting mics flown and on stands from the hall as well as getting several feeds from the house console.  Metacorder recorded 18 tracks, and the 702T and the HDP2 provided backup recordings of the main house pair and the board feeds (the 702 made TC and clock for the whole system as well).  Each night we'd clone drives, and at breakfast the morning after the premier I gave the director the "pocket" drive with about 60 GB of tracks, PDF reports and text file notes on it.  The lead up to this job was fairly stressful with all the uncertainty and changes to the show up until the last moment, but the recording aspects went very well with a lightweight package and no excess baggage charges.

Philip Perkins CAS

[Noiz2]

Philip,

We  should talk.  I'm putting together a similar kit for recording some concerts and talks for a pair of docs.  I'll be using Boom Recorder but otherwise looking at a very similar setup.  I will also need to go mobile for some ENG style interviews also, but I think I can get it all on carry-on.  Shocking.  Imagine trying to haul a 24 track Ampex and mixer in to the overhead bin...

SK

[Bash]

Not sure how often you will come up against a similar set of criteria, but I have been doing a lot of stuff recently with a SADiE LRX 2. It is about the size of a telephone directory opened up and turned through 90 degrees. It has a platform on the top at the back to sit your laptop upon. It has (moving) faders on the frontmost panel, which you can flip around in banks of 8 channels in order to set Ip levels, Pan positions, and Op levels (to a 2 channel mix).

There is no processing of audio done within the laptop, it is all done in the SADiE, so you dont need a silly posh spec of laptop, as it is just running the screen, and the data bussing.

There are 3 x slots in the back of the LRX. You can fit up to 3 x IP or OP cards into the LRX. The range of cards includes:-

1] Mic/Line IP

2] Line OP

3] AES IP & OP

4] MADI IP and OP

All of the above cards are 16 channels, except the MADI card, which takes up to 56 channels of MADI IP on a single BNC cable!! In fact if you use the MADI card there is still enough oomph left in the LRX to cope with 8 channels from a mic/line IP card, so you can take 56 channels from MADI, plus, say, 8 mics for the audience or whatever.

The LRX can direct your audio files to two different drives simultaneously so you can make a master and a backup all in one go, plus a mix to stereo as you go (for them to use, or as a guide, or whatever).

The LRX is slightly bigger than your 828 plus a traveller, but not much. It offers a one box solution to many of your criteria above. It sounds great and is easy to set up and use. It will run their cut down MTR software (which most people I have shown it to have learned in about 20 mins) or full SADiE 5 soft, so can be as simple or as complex as you wish.

I bought one for me about a year ago and love it. I loved it so much that we have now bought one to rent out. The rental machine is so busy that I keep having to send out my own to cover double bookings. I have now sent my own out so regularly that I had to buy it it's very own laptop last week!!

Kindest regards to all on JW's list, and big respect to JW for setting it up and maintaining it. Boy it is so much more grown up here than on RAMPS!! Why did it take me so long to come here?

Regards to all,

simon b

The LRX 

Philip,

We  should talk.  I'm putting together a similar kit for recording some concerts and talks for a pair of docs.  I'll be using Boom Recorder but otherwise looking at a very similar setup.  I will also need to go mobile for some ENG style interviews also, but I think I can get it all on carry-on.  Shocking.  Imagine trying to haul a 24 track Ampex and mixer in to the overhead bin...

SK

[Jeff Wexler]

Not sure how often you will come up against a similar set of criteria, but I have been doing a lot of stuff recently with a SADiE LRX 2.

Regards to all,

simon b

 

Thank you Simon for the report on LRX 2, and WELCOME! I spent some time with this unit at Coffey Sound and at NAB this year. It is very impressive and very powerful with more capabilities and I/O than almost anything else out there. I asked the man from SADiE how much of the SADiE systems are in use in the US (because I have been very familiar with its extensive use in Europe in post production) and surprisingly it is in use here (but exclusively in post and primarily mastering). My feeling is that it is a system that is really overkill for most of work (thankfully I don't see the need to record 56 tracks!) and a little pricey if the work is simple and conventional. For me, of course, the price is even higher, financially and emotionally --- I would have to by a PC laptop AND run Windows) so a BoomRecorder, Metacorder, RME, MacBook Pro type setup would be preferable. The SADiE system is WAY more capable and flexible than any of these other systems and also I do like the return to the HARDWARE handling the processing and the host computer just handling graphics, screen and operational tasks.

What I see in the LRX 2 is really a powerhouse studio in a box, suitable for larger scale high track count recording (concerts, reality shows in fixed locations, etc.) and a familiar look and feel for those already well versed in the SADiE software (which is not, of course, most people here in the US).

We'll have to see how it all plays out.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

[Jeff Wexler]

Simon may be too humble to point us to his excellent review of the SADiE LRX 2, so here it is (and I have added an image of the unit here just to let people know what it looks like.

http://www.sadie.com/products/lrx2_review.html

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

[Philip Perkins]

I've been a Sadie user for about 10 years--it is the "tractor" on my audio post business "farm".  I like the LRX2 a lot, but unfortunately there is generally much less money to be made in location music recording than in film sound even, so I haven't been able to consider going that way.  There are a couple of LRX2s around here--mostly used for classical music recording, making tracks that are then edited and mixed in the larger Sadie H64.  I haven't been able to test the Sadie mic pres in any meaningful way yet, but I do like their convertors, their support is excellent (even many years after purchase) and software upgrades are free and fairly frequent.  However, for bang for buck it is pretty impossible to beat a MOTU/laptop/Boom Recorder combo, and it all fit into a legal carryon.

Philip Perkins

[John Blankenship]

Another SADiE (in the post side of things) user here.

Once you get acquainted with the software it's extremely fast (and dare I say it...fun!) to use

John Blankenship, C.A.S.

[Bash]

Just to emphasize again that the MTR software is like a one screen SADiE - it is SSSOOO simple both to learn and to use.

Also to mention that the LRX2 base unit is pretty darned cheap (well it certainly is over here in the UK where it is made pound vs. dollar might scupper that slightly!!). Also that you only need one slither card to be up and running.

Thanks to Jeff for his pointer to my little piece wot I wrote about the LRX2.

<<

Once you get acquainted with the software it's extremely fast (and dare I say it...fun!) to use

>>>

Kindest regards to all,

Simon B

[Philip Perkins]

For those interested in this sort of high-track count music recording out-of-a-suitcase-on-location, Lynn Fuston is posting a blow by blow diary of the trip he'll be making to record a choir for a 3 camera HD shoot in Ghana.  http://www.3daudioinc.com/3db/,. thread is on "The Old Yellow Board" subforum, thread:

3D Travelogue 2007-Ghana, W. Africa.

Philip Perkins