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I am at a point with the gear and knowledge I have where I need to decide which direction I want to focus, so I can start justifying this expensive obsession. .

Based on the competition in my market it seems on location recording would be a good avenue to try.

I was wondering who has been doing this and if you could offer some insights/advice. .maybe help me spend some money.

I've got $2000 budget to "get mobile"
I'm taking an invetory of my gear and cables tomorrow so I'll have a little better idea of where I'm standing (this is purely a list of what I have/need to track on the road, mixing done back at the office(read: my bedroom))

Nuendo based Daw PC (i'll need to rackmount the pc) $?
8/4 snake
8ch interface
2 sm57's
1sm58
3 e604's
1 d112
1RODE k2
misc. cables

still looking to get:
8-16ch mixer
pc upgrades
headphones
DIY cables
sound isolation baffles
gear rack
master control section

What else do i need to "get started"?

Also, could you guys offer some advice as to where to set rates starting out. Im thinking live-type recordings at the bands rehersal space, recording live shows, possibly with video later (but I dunno ) maybe thats another topic. .

Thanks for any help :!:

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zemlin Wed, 03/02/2005 - 10:44

Mic stands, DI, probably more snake, a UPS, a cart or folding hand-truck, maybe some portable speakers or monitors, furniture pads. I have a couple of camping tables so I always have a place to setup. I use a trackball for field work because you don't always have a good mouse surface.

My computer isn't rack mount - I just have a handle on the top of the case.

pr0gr4m Wed, 03/02/2005 - 16:01

The first thing I would do is increase the number of inputs. A drum kit can easily take up 6-8 mics. More inputs means more mics and cables and stands. Always have more cables than you will need because eventually, you will need them.

For live recording I would invest in a multichannel gate even though you could use the ones in Nuendo.

Ground lifts. I've done some pre-production recordings with bands in their rehearsal studios (warehouses) and those places aren't exactly wired for audio recording.

Blankets or old comforters and boom mic stands can be used to create some pretty effective baffles for isolating areas.

If you are recording in a club that has a house mixer, see if you can get a feed from that. Most clubs should have a way for you to tap into their board. Some times I've tapped into the monitor mixer, that way I don't interfere with the main mix in the club. If you can't tap into a board, you'll need a way to split the mic signals on stage so that both you and the house have signals from each mic.

imagineaudio Wed, 03/02/2005 - 19:20

hmm.....thanks guys, some of that stuff I didnt think of....but thats why I posted this topic.

pr0gr4m.....another 6-8 channels would be great, but I can add some more via ADAT later.....

What would you use to split the mics?

Ground Lifts.....that would have never occured to me.....can they be found on a furman rack rider or something similar?

Where would be a good place to get furniture pads/moving blankets? (cheap cheap)

Thanks zemlin.....I was thinking about UPS today and some folding tables......trackball mouse and handtruck 8-)

keep 'em coming..... :wink:

zemlin Wed, 03/02/2005 - 19:31

I have a bag for mic stands, rough totes for cables, mics, and one labeled "other stuff", a couple of tool boxes - one with wire ties, pliers, screwdrivers, tape, headphones - another one with t-bars, mic condoms, adapters of all shapes and sizes, mic clips, ... ...

My snake is ho-made - 16x3x100' - I have a garden hose real that I roll it up on. I take a 19" LCD screen with me - I carry that in a large laptop case.

pr0gr4m Thu, 03/03/2005 - 11:24

imagineaudio wrote: What would you use to split the mics?

You can find splitter boxes where each mic input is split and the same signal is sent down two cables. Whirlwind make them and I'm sure other companies do as well.

imagineaudio wrote:
Ground Lifts.....that would have never occured to me.....can they be found on a furman rack rider or something similar?

You can find them anywhere like Kmart, Wal-mart, Home Depot. All they are is a plastic plug adapter that removes the ground from the connection. You plug in a three prong cable into it and then plug it's 2 prongs into the outlet. I need them because in some places my laptop and hard drive can cause a lot of noise. I just isolate them with the ground lifts.

Kev... I recommended the multichannel gate only because I find it really easy and fast to use. I'll run all the drums and what have you through it and I see what's going on at a glance and I can adjust them all very quickly. If I were to use Cubase to do it, I would have to go through channel by channel and that would just take up too much time.

Kev Thu, 03/03/2005 - 12:41

pr0gr4m wrote: Kev... I recommended the multichannel gate only because I find it really easy and fast to use.

I just don't see the need to do it at the time of recording when you are tracking ALL signals from the stage to a seperate track.

Of course if you are good with the gate and prefer the sound of it to a plug ... then go for it.

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