That's basically what I've got going on, except my 1-room studio setup is in my house.
Monitoring? You need monitors. Headphones are OK for some stuff, but you really need decent monitors in a decent acoustic to do the critical stuff.

For working with headphones, I'm liking my Future Sonics in-ears the best lately. They're slightly dark, so I check with Grado cans (kinda' bright) to make sure the top end is OK. I rely heavily on my monitors to make sure stuff is right.

Also, I carry a little more than a rack with me when I go out.

There are a few bits missing from this shot - like a 100' snake and a second bag for mic stands.

Very cool! What type of monitors do you bring out with you?

I was thinking of picking up either some old DA-88's or like an Alesis HD system because I don't think I can trust a computer in the field.

Are you using a computer?

I don't monitor with speakers on location - I have Event 20/20bas at home. I have some little Klipsch speakers (SB1) that I sometimes take for playback, but I wouldn't mix with them. When you asked about monitoring, I thought you meant for mixing at home.

To monitor on location I use my Future Sonics with custom molded sleeves and wear some 31dB ear muffs over them. I don't hear nuthin' (within reason) unless it's coming through the wires. Works great for setting mic positions in front of a choir, orchestra, band, pipe organ, etc.

The black box on the far right of the picture is my DAW. I take that and a 19" LCD screen (in a Laptop bag).

I also have a big stack of furniture pads that will go on the road with me if I need to control acoustics or make some gobos.

Im mobile.

You're in a good place Arthur, if you're going to do it right, AND if you're not nec looking to make $$ right away.

I'd strongly suggest a tape backup like the DA-88 series in addition to the laptop. I run a Laptop with Samplitude/Sequioa, a CDr, AND a DA-x8 in the field. I can go as long as 1 yr with no problems, and then all of a sudden, something odd happens, and I'm glad I have the tape running. I'd love to retire it (and save some $$$ on the blank tapes) but it's not ready yet....soon, but not yet.

Where are you based, btw? Your location may indeed help you, depending on the situation in your area.

Me too Me too!

I mostly do Garage/warehouse bands. I work with one band who rehearses in this warehouse complex that has 10 other bands there. Once word got out that there was a guy who would come to their warehouse and record them, I had plenty of business for a while. Many of the bands weren't that good but that doesn't really matter. I hit a lot of the local clubs too to drum up similar business. Some of the bands are in it just for fun/experimentation and others are more serious.

I think there's plenty of that sort of business out there if you want it. Of course, it depends somewhat on how active your local music scene is.

I've kept my rig pretty small. I bring a laptop P4 2.8 Dell with external hard drive for audio. I have a MOTU 828 MKII which handles all the inputs I need. A bunch of mic stands, mics, some "not so impressive" preamps, cables, connectors, and a DI box or two. OH...CD burner on the laptop is important. After recording, every band member will want a rough mix.

On location I too just use headphones for monitoring, usually md280s...although I'm gonna have to try Zemlin's idea for more isolation.

I also use a couple gobos that I fasioned out of some office cubicle dividers. I might bring them to try and "isolate" a guitar cabinet or drumset.

At my studio @ home I'll do vocals, keyboards, guitars (if they are direct or acoustic) and mixdowns. It's also a MIDI production studio with a bunch of synths to fill my electronic music addiction.

So there is hope for me! Nice!

I'm located in the suburbs of Chicago (15 min outside of the city limits). So yeah...we have a pretty boomin' local music scene right now.

Now to start going through my gear to see what I can sacrifice to raise money for the side steps with gear.

I'd recommend getting 2 of the Alesis HD24s as they are small, lightweight and at $1300 each, quite a bargain. I wouldn't mess with a laptop. That way you can have a second 24 track recorder for the same price. Then you have real backup. All you need is 3, 1U, eight channel microphone preamplifiers, a 24 x 48 splitter and you are under way!

Doin' it in the field
Ms. Remy Ann David

I had three mobile systems
... now I have only one
The other two were left in the houses where I last recorded with them
the client loved the system so much they wouldn't let me take if back to the Factory.

Talkback and Monitoring and simple patching all based around 001 and ADA8000 or Ai3's ... depending on requirements ... synth's vers mic's
I leave a couple of my DIY mic-pres and they start recording using the methods I taught during the first record sessions.

Then the tracks are taken to a Pro studio for mixing and the addition of plugs and or outboard.

I find this the most efficient use of resources ... particularly money.
Money is only spent on the songs that warrant it.

pr0gr4m wrote: Once word got out that there was a guy who would come to their warehouse and record them, I had plenty of business for a while. Many of the bands weren't that good but that doesn't really matter. I hit a lot of the local clubs too to drum up similar business. Some of the bands are in it just for fun/experimentation and others are more serious.

I think there's plenty of that sort of business out there if you want it. Of course, it depends somewhat on how active your local music scene is.

Do you multitrack and do a separate mixdown, or do you record directly to stereo? And how much are you able to charge for a live recording to a local band?

if you're going to be doing a lot of live recording, esp "Long-form" tracking and stuff (concerts, sessions, etc.) you'll be accumulating a lot of data in a hurry.

That's going to mean storage issues, and plenty of time to get that stuff backed up and put into something easily workable. It sounds like no big deal NOW, but let me assure you that over time, TIME will be one of your biggest issues, should things get busy for you. (ANd it's likely they will, if you're good at what you do.)

Direct-to-disc - Tracking with a laptop to HD (assuming you've gotten yourself a good, bullet-proof system going) is going to save you a LOT of time when going to post/overdub/mixdown back at the studio. Otherwise, you'll have to pay someone or yourself to sit around and do tape-to-HD transfers. (Trust me, it gets old, realllllll fast. You'll be screaming inside over the time being spent to do something twice....the original recording, and then the transfer.....all while you COULD have been doing something more productive with your system.)

Meanwhile, your tape backups are just that: backups in case of disaster. Same with the CDrs. They will save your butt someday, but in the meantime, your Laptop and HD system will be the mainstay of your system, and it will save you money, time and space over the long haul.

I LOVE going out on a remote, capturing the event onto HD, CDr and tape backup, and then going (Sometimes later that same night) back into the studio with my FW drive, hooking it up to my main system, and jumping right into the project with my studio DAW. For fast turn-around times, like concerts and time-critical things, you simply can't beat it.

Once a regular/repeating client has filled up a 120 or 200 gig HD, I label it, put it on their shelf or in our warehouse, and then start fresh with a new drive. For about a dollar a gig nowadays (or less), it's gotten very cost effective to do this yourself, and not even bother the client about the cost of media; unless they want to buy-out the project someday. (Keeping their stuff archived for them has it's benefits as well; they always come back for something, sooner or later.....)

I've done entire productions on a Friday night with full multitrack recording straight to HD, and turned it around for a Sunday afternoon b'cast on the radio. I'd never have been able to turn something like that around with analog tape transfers; the time alone spent copying & editing would have killed me.

Several of my clients are considering the newest trend: Live CDs for folks as they leave the concert. We're planning at least one event in the near future where they will pre-sell a limited number of recordings of the first half of the concert, to be given out (packaged and even shrink-wrapped) at the door on the way out. Clearly, we'll need to have our ducks in a row on this one, but it can be done with the right preplanning and HD system.

With direct-to-disc, you'll be faster, more responsive and best of all, cost-effective enough to challenge your competition.

At least that's how it is for us. 8-)

Gilliland wrote: Do you multitrack and do a separate mixdown, or do you record directly to stereo? And how much are you able to charge for a live recording to a local band?

I record pretty much everything individually. Never really did any straight to stereo stuff. Since it's so easy, I just give each instrument it's own track. Hard drives are cheap, my interface can handle it, so why not. If they are just looking for a quick CD, I'll mix it down pretty much as is, maybe with few adjustments, to stereo and burn it. But I'll let them know that I've got a multi-track recording and if they want some studio time to really get a good mix, it's available. Some of the better bands will go for this which means more money in my pocket.

I've only done a couple of live show recordings and those were free. More of a trade off where I said I'd record the band and give them a copy of their performance...if they let me do it. It was more of a learning/training process for me.

As for what I charge I kind of gauge it band by band/project by project. Minimum is 25 bucks an hour which includes a quick mix CD. Some bands will have a full 45 minute set they'll play through and others will have a song or two and want to do overdubs and stuff.

JoeH wrote: Several of my clients are considering the newest trend: Live CDs for folks as they leave the concert. We're planning at least one event in the near future where they will pre-sell a limited number of recordings of the first half of the concert, to be given out (packaged and even shrink-wrapped) at the door on the way out. Clearly, we'll need to have our ducks in a row on this one, but it can be done with the right preplanning and HD system.

I LOVE this idea. This is huge! Talk about increased merch sales...this would be huge. If people can buy a CD from their favorite band from a show that they were at? And have it signed by the band? One could make billions!!!

Time to find a durable CD duplicator.

You are in a similar situation as I was faced with recently. Had to move out of the rental, couldn't afford to buy a house, couldn't afford to rent a house without picking up a roommate that I may not know/trust. For some reason, I loathe the idea of hauling my gear to the smelly local bars to record; and most of the recitals I can think of are at universities with their own recording departments. So.....I decided to buy a house (hopefully it passes the bank's appraisal/inspection). :lol:

Always good advice on this forum.

My only caveat would be to do a good business plan first and lots of thinking about what you want to do. I can relate a couple of stories,

We got underbidded recently for recording a local "Not for Profit" client that we had been doing since the early 1970s. The person doing the recording was $25.00 cheaper. Well he lasted about one year and went under and took all the archives he had recorded with him when he folded. He was trying to do it all, recording, mastering, duplication, graphic design and web site design and hosting and he was low balling it all in hopes that someone would take him up on providing it all. No one bit so he folded and we got back the job.

Recently we got a client that demanded we purchase a lot of equipment that we did not have. I had him sign a contract with us to provide recording for at least three years so we could pay off the equipment. So far he has stuck to his word and we paid off all the equipment the first year - so we are in the clear.

There are one or two really nice live on location recorders around here. They offer good services at reasonable prices. There are also a couple of really bad on location recorders that offer lousy quality at not so cheap prices. One of these places underbid us for a recording. We normally bring about $6 to 10 thousand dollars worth of equipment and 35 years of experience to the recording gig. This guy showed up with two SM58 microphones a pair of Shure mixers (should be called while noise generators) a DAT deck that was a consumer deck and a pair of RAT SHACK headphones. He charged the group 200 dollars for the recording and $15.00 for each CD and they had to agree to purchase so many CDs at this price. This was worse than a joke because the people got screwed and this was a once in a lifetime concert.

One more story.

We are doing multiple recording sessions for a musician client. He had a concert at a local college where they will be playing all of his music. I call up the college and ask if we can help or do the recording. The person who is in charge says no we have a perfectly good recording department here and we will not need your services. I went to the concert at the behest of the musician and it was a very nice concert. Then I heard the recording and it sounded like it was recorded on a RAT SHACK microphone hung in the middle of the hall. The musician was upset at the quality of the recording but could do nothing about it.

If you are going to go into the business make sure you are prepared both with the best equipment and with a good set of ears and a lot of business savvy since this seems to be a place were lots of people that really don't know what they are doing are working.

MTCW

There's an outfit here in Indy that sells low-ball recording services. $25 for setup and no charge with a minimum CD purchase. Hell, it takes me 2+ hours to setup for a live choral recording, and that's if I don't have to fly the mics.

My daughter sang at a concert that was recorded by these jokers - it was at a small, to-die-for concert hall here in town. I'd (almost) kill to record a decent choir in that space.

We bought one of the CDs to:
A) have one, since our kid was singing
B) feel out the competition

There are a bunch of mics hanging in that hall - I don't know what they recorded with, but the end result was total crap. Folks like that give small recording shops a bad name.

Regarding the bit about recording a concert and having live CDs available for purchase after the show - that's no small undertaking!!! I think you'd need several fire-breathing DAW setups - each one driven by a hot-shot engineer - and all the engineers would have to be able to mix to get a comparable sound without having time to reference what the others are doing. Just the time involved in calculating a mixdown, chopping up for tracks, editing out breaks, etc. - you'd have to be damn fast and damn efficient to pull that off with any sort of quality.

Even if you have enough outboard compression and other effects to run a separate mix for the recording and record only a stereo track - even a minimal about of prep work before burning CDs would be tough to pull off without having folks waiting around for an hour after the show to get their CDs.

The last few live CDs I've done have turned around in about 6 months. That's a schedule I can work to.

zemlin wrote:
The last few live CDs I've done have turned around in about 6 months. That's a schedule I can work to.

:shock:
Surely you jest? I would have people all over me for their stuff if I took that long, even with multitracking/overdubbing, test mixes, etc.

If I needed to turn them around quicker, I could. That's just how these have worked out. The clients haven't been in a hurry, and this is just an after-hours gig for me.

The most recent one took 6 months because it took the band 5 months to decide they wanted to finish the project. :-?

zemlin wrote: The last few live CDs I've done have turned around in about 6 months. That's a schedule I can work to.

I like to work at that pace as well, when time permits. I'm often amazed at how much better I can make a mix sound if I'm able to walk away from it for a few weeks, then listen with fresh ears.

Fortunately, with the kind of recording work that I do, I get to set my own schedules. Unfortunately, I don't make any money. I do live concert recordings for my own radio station and several other non-commercial stations here. I put a lot of work into making them sound great, but it's a labor of love, not profit. (I do occasionally earn a small honorarium.) I get paid in accolades, respect, prestige, and the fun of getting to work with some incredible and renowned musicians. But no money to speak of.

I often tinker with the idea of trying to turn it into a business, but I usually conclude that I'd wind up enjoying less - perhaps a LOT less. Maybe once I retire from my day job....

Gilliland wrote: Maybe once I retire from my day job....

That's my plan. Likely almost 20 years off for me :?

Art,

I'll throw a few of my own sheckles out there to ponder... or not.

Yes, there are niche's... some good, some not so good.

I started out in what I hoped would be a good niche... and it is! Actually it's a GREAT niche... except for one small detail.

**CAUTION** (shameless self pontification to follow) **CAUTION**

Over 90% of my clients and potential clients like my tracks, professionalism and service. My prices are an excellent value for what they get. While my gear isn't "Record Plant Mobile" quality, my prices aren't "Record Plant Mobile" prices either. It's a good compromise and I'm proud of 90% of the work I've done for my clients.

**End of self glorification**

OK, here's that small detail...

I loose probably 7 clients for each 1 I get. Why? Well it seems that the clients want to come to my studio for mixing and overdubs.

But my niche is MOBILE recording. I don't have a studio for mixing and OD's. Normally, a client takes what was tracked mobile to ANOTHER facility to OD and mix. So, they take the whole project to another facility that will do an ok job, but not what I can provide, just so that they can get a "one-stop" service.

I tried working with the other studios in the area, but either they just keep all the work for themselves or never refer any clients my way. I've talked to a couple of studios that ARE working with me, but for some stupid reason the clients just want me to handle the whole project.

Soooooo, three years later, I had enough. The Mrs and I sold our place and moved to the country where we bought 5 acres and are now, after 3 plus years of house renovations and landscaping, about to start a full on studio build.

To make a long boring tale a tad longer, be careful about what you seek... you might just get it! 8-)

Max

The niche is there, but I don't think there is a laptop system that is truely up to the task of location recording. They are just too physically fragile, take too long to navigate under high pressure conditions and are not quite up to the reliability I think you are going to want.

ADATS, DA38/88's, Masterlinks, etc, are a steal now.

anxious wrote: The niche is there, but I don't think there is a laptop system that is truely up to the task of location recording. They are just too physically fragile, take too long to navigate under high pressure conditions and are not quite up to the reliability I think you are going to want.

ADATS, DA38/88's, Masterlinks, etc, are a steal now.

Suddenly, I am reminded of my dear old dad, who used to tease us with excuses for not having a color TV like everyone else on the block at the time.....something about it "not being perfected yet." :twisted:

There's a reason those tape systems are a steal now.

The current method of choice for most location multitrack recording (Laptop to FW HD) is ridiculously simple and darn near bullet-proof, IF you have done your homework and IF you have learned your rig inside and out. There is no free lunch on this one, no matter how tempting and "Easy" the salespeople make it look. You will NOT find a consumer-based laptop that will perfectly, reliably 'out of the box."

But aside from compatibility issues with chipsets and I/Os on various machines during spec and setup, and assuming all the parts work together BEFORE one takes itout on the road, there is normally NO problem at all with a properly tweaked and maintained Laptop to HD system.

The same rules apply to a laptop as to a huge 2" inch reel to reel system from 20 years ago: Good mainenance, good cases, good tech manuals, a thorough knowledge of the operating system, and on and on. (let's not forget backups like spare power supplies, batteries, and a complete OS on CDrom orDVD rom in case of major problems.) And of course, a backup CDr or tape machine running as well. Nobody said this would be easy or 100% failsafe, and NEVER take anything for granted.

It's silly to think its going to work perfectly, every time, right out of the box until you sort it all out ahead of time. Laptops (or mobile desktops) deserve to be treated with utmost TLC and respect. (You wouldn't toss your mic box around, would you?)

The number one rule of audio and video gear is: KNOW YOUR EQUIPMENT BEFORE YOU TAKE IT OUT. A live remote is no place to experiment on the fly, and then blame the LAPTOP for being "unreliable" or "too tough to navigate" under stress conditions. So is any other part of the chain, if you don't know what you're doing. Small switches on microphones, (pads and pickup patterns) are just as finnicky and one learns to deal with them properly as well.

You can (you SHOULD) create templates and preset files to get you up and running in emergencies, or head-scratching/trouble shooting moments.

In a properly maintained system like a good HP or SONY or whatever brand you prefer, there is more stuff going on under the hood there than many fully equipped mobile rigs of 10-15 yrs ago. It's KNOWING how to drive the thing without crashing it that counts.

AFter nearly five years of professional Laptop-to-FW/HD use, I can say that almost 99.999% of my problems with the unit were pilot error, or simply not knowing (or not REMEMBERING) what the fix is. A loose FW cable (That I SHOULD have gaff-taped down in the first place) caused an HD problem once. Another time, it was the battery charging circuit causing loud "Pffft!" sounds every three minutes in my recordings. (Removed the battery,and problem solved!) Most recently, I spent a harrowing couple of hours troubleshooting my system (backstage, before a show) only to find that all I needed to do was cycle the mixer's power down and then back up. (In this case, a Mackie ONYX 1640 with FW card. Duh!)

My point is that laptops can and do work for many folks here - professional and amatuer, but for successful, constant, realiable use, you cannot break or even bend the rules without expecting a harsh penalty. Cut corners, go cheap, or fail to learn your system's ins and outs, and you're just begging for trouble on the gig.

Just don't blame it on the laptop alone. There are far too many success stories here and on other forums that show what a boon this type of rig is. Frankly, I could not do the kind of work I do, or service the clients I service (at my current, IMHO reasonable rates) without the speed and flexiblity of a laptop rig out on remotes and a full blown desktop system in the studio, all running with FW drives.

I love my DA-x8 recorders...for backup, and an Alesis Masterlink is totally unecessary for the way I work now; I can do all that in software, faster and quicker. It will still be quite a while before I take the Tascam's offline for good, but they're there whenever something unforseen happens with the laptop system. And let's be honest, failures can happen anywhere, any time, in any system, digital or analog; it's just too easy and convenient to blame the laptop instead of the ill prepared user. (We didn't even talk about proper file storage, disk defragging, and all kinds of bells and whistles that need to come off a stock WINXP setup.)

Sorry to ramble on so much, but IMHO, a safe, sane and tweaked laptop system will more than get you going, and you'll love what it can do.

Of course, there's still B&W TV sets out there, too..... :twisted:

pr0gr4m wrote: [quote=JoeH]Several of my clients are considering the newest trend: Live CDs for folks as they leave the concert. We're planning at least one event in the near future where they will pre-sell a limited number of recordings of the first half of the concert, to be given out (packaged and even shrink-wrapped) at the door on the way out. Clearly, we'll need to have our ducks in a row on this one, but it can be done with the right preplanning and HD system.

I LOVE this idea. This is huge! Talk about increased merch sales...this would be huge. If people can buy a CD from their favorite band from a show that they were at? And have it signed by the band? One could make billions!!!

Time to find a durable CD duplicator.

This is not working out as well as everyone though since it does take some time AFTER the concert to do the duplication even at 52X which I would not recommend as a dubbing speed plus the band is putting out something that is not indicative of their best work since it was of a live concert and a rush to get it on CD leaves a lot of room for errors which they may not mind today but can come back to haunt them later in their careers like an off color joke or a reference to someone in the audience who later decides to sue and a lot of people don't want to wait around after the concert for the CDs to be made (there have been some instances where it took over an hour after the concert to get the dubbing done and into the hands of the waiting fans). There have been posts about this on other forums and although it seems like a good idea some unforeseen limitiations can make it a nightmare instead of a money maker.

I agree with you there, Tom. I don't see it (for now, at least) as anything but a gimmick, something to raise the consciousness of the audience, and sell some tickets, generate buzz, etc. Even moreso in the classical world, where it's just starting to happen, at a trickle. It's certainly NOT going to make anyone rich any time soon. You'd have to sell a LOT of discs to bring the profit ratio up to consider it successful.

There have to be a few things in place ahead of time to make it fly, as well:

1. Packaging - everything but the shrink wrap needs to be ready, including blank discs with the lable info pre-printed. And you'd need competant staff as well.

2. Mixing - it should be agreed upon ahead of time that it's a live mix - one pass to HD or CDr, or if that's not the case, (at least in classical) work from a template to add effects like reverb or mild limiting, etc., bounce it down to stereo 16/44 with track IDs, and get it to a dupe Master ASAP, probably during intermission.

3. Performance - everyone from the artistic director/band leader, etc., on down must agree that it "is what it is" and it happens as-is, without a net. I am finding that this is a breath of fresh air with some clients, at least when first discussed. They actually DO like the challenge, and the REALLY secure ones give it a thumbs up for the sheer thrill of it. At this point in many of their careers ,there are lots of musicians who are sick to death of edit edit edit and waiting around for weeks or months for the finished product.

4. Duplicators: As tempting as it might be, I wouldn't suggest 52x either. Something half of that or even less, if you have the ability with multiple racks or multiple dupe bays. At the very low grass roots level (50-100 copies afterwards, for a classical or folk gig) one COULD, theoretically pull this off. 10 bays buring at 8x (about 3 min. for a 1hr perf.) could easily render 100 copies out in fairly short order, certainly undere 1hr.

I'm sure the big boys on the big venues and larger rockgigs have already streamlined this as well. Plus, if there IS a glitch, or too many after-the-fact sales, it's simple enough to say: Come back to pick up your copy in an hour (or tomorrow, or "We'll mail it to you", etc.)

I like what [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.dcddiscs…"]Dead Can Dance did [/]="http://www.dcddiscs…"]Dead Can Dance did [/]on their recent tour. You could purchase (I think for like $25) a specially numbered ticket at the end of the show. Later, after they had time to properly mix and master the CDs of the recordings, they would send you the finished CD. I think it took a month or two to get, but the recordings are invariably of much higher quality than something that rushed into production, and I know that I'd much rather wait a few weeks for something that is actually much more listenable.

Over the past 15 years that I've had my remote truck, I have had that Neve console and vintage processing just like Kooster McAllister's record plant mobile (that has an API and I was there when it was being installed), is been around a lot longer and in a better marketplace that I have but I still did some nice work. Since the advent of the "Alesis ADAT" along with similar TASCAMs and now $1300 24 track hard disk recorders, my business has been way down. What I am starting to do now is more mixed downs through the old Neve from these multitrack PA board recordings. That way they still get the flavor, quality and character of the vintage control room instead of that thin crunchy metallic sounding cheap console and crappie processing. But business hasn't been what it used to be and I have gone back to doing more television sound for news. Totally ungratifying crappy talking heads!

Will work for music
Ms. Remy Ann David

as recording device you should check out the alesis hd24.
we're using it in my band live for percussion loops, occasional second guitar or sound fx. it's on the road for about 100 shows a year and we never had any problems with it.

it's very easy to use, you have 2 hd-slots, 24 tracks (or more if you couple 2 or 3 units) in 24bit with i think up to 96khz and it can take dust, smoke, moisture and bumps (i usually have it right beside my drumset on the drum riser).

with an optional "fireport" you can send the tracks via firewire onto your computer and back. works just fine!

Sorry to hear about your semi-idle bus, Remy!

As we all know, this is a tricky business, though, and as hard as it is to accept, many times it's eat or be eaten. Like widget sales or the Fuller Brush Man, there's aways someone waiting to take your place, steal your lunch, and eat it in front of you, while you go hungry. That's a fact of life, and it's never going to change.

Whether one decides to do this for fun and giggles, learning as they go, or whether they do it professionally their whole waking lives, it's still a cutthroat world. The music biz is no different.

I have this discussion all the time with friends and colleagues: It's NOT about the gear. The gear is a means to an end, period, and the sooner one learns that, the sooner they'll move to a happier and more productive place. Yes, by all means, get the best one can affoard, maintain it, and know how to use it. But it's just one part of what's needed to get the job done. Good client relations are another part, marketing yourself is another.

I see website after website listing pages and pages of gear. Who cares? Not 95% of your clients. (Unless they're gearsluts as well...and they're not going to put gear or $$$$ in YOUR pocket. They just want to drool WITH you!) And certainly not the ones cutting the check in the front office.

I'll tell you who's reading those lists of website studio gear online: Other neurotic studio owners and/or potential thieves. Your clients are too busy planning concerts, learning their craft and making music. Do a couple of dozen remotes per season, year after year, and it begins to sink in: The gear is great, it does the job required, but it's only the first step. Then it's on to editing, mixing and all through the maze of post production until it's time to deliver the final product. And of course, get PAID.

IMHO, the goal of great gear is a given, and therefore stay out of the way of the creative process, serving the client/project better. Once the gear thang is sorted out, you can get on to the real business at hand: maximizing your niche. From advertizing to word of mouth to just good product, there's a lot of work to be done when starting or running a biz. Doens't matter if it's for fun or for profit.

Turn-around time is a personal thing, I suppose, but depending on one's marketplace and competition, I'm thinking that months (instead of days or weeks) may be a little dangerous if there's competition lurking around. Ditto for dinosaur gear. You've got to know when to get it onto EBay- before it becomes worthless - or when to hang on to it, if it's REALLY a vintage/classic/antique worth having in your arsenal. (Take a serious look around at your own stuff, or someone you know. How much of it is REALLY indespensible, and how much of it is just emotional attachment? I know this first hand...I have a Yamaha Rev7 in one of my racks that I haven't touched - or even powered on - in YEARS, and it's breaking my heart to pull it and sell it...and I'll probably get about $200 for it, if I'm lucky, on Ebay.)

Personally, I've always been a behind the scenes player, always looking to go around or under the fence, never wanting to do what everyone else has done, finding better/smarter ways to get things done. I've spent enough time in the trenches in remote trucks and studios with consoles that took six hands to run. The moment I was able to ditch that mentality, I ran for it. (eg: some people love big consoles, some are put off by them, but either way, I've never gotten or lost a gig due to the size or the name brand of my console. I recall my first remotes "after the truck" in the late 80's. The studio had folded, the truck was gone, and no one was willing to pay for a 3-person crew with an analog board and huge expensive analog tape machines. 1 DAT and 1 AMEK BBC mixer later, and I was off and running....by myself.)

In the end, it's the product itself, and the client you need to be concerned with when finding your niche. IS there a client base out there for what you want to do? AND, does that client base really have the $$$ and interest to keep you in business? Whether it's classical, choral, jazz, metal or hip hop, it's much better to spend a few hours or days doing some honest research into your perspective market, than to find out later that there's no one interested in hiring your services, regardless of your mic list.

You may need to change cities or change your gear, if you're that serious. If not, maybe it IS just a hobby and that's ok too; have fun in that case. You CAN survive in this business if you're on top of things, but if you're looking to make a LOT of money, I'd consider dentistry or real estate.

Well, it certainly has been a while since someone posted under this thread, but oh well... we all love to write and gab regardless. I have been using three DA-38s for about a year now, daisy chained and running out to a Yamaha 24-channel mixer. I have done a number of live gigs for acoustic and full bands, and they have been pretty happy with the results. It is by no means a direct-to-disc after the show affair, however. They need to come to my apartment to help in the mixdown phase, and then I record the stereo tracks to my powerBook and master from there. Since it is a non-pro output, I can get away with applying as much of my own mastering capabilities as possible, and then giving them a final copy either on CD or just the data audio files, so they can do what they want with it. I charge hourly, usually up front and then pay back whatever time they ended up paying for but not using. As for tape and things, it is an extra charge, because at this point Hi8 tapes are pretty pricey for good quality stuff. I use a couple of 8-channel pre's to get 24 mic's worth of inputs going into the recorders. As for use of laptops or desktops in the field for recording, are there systems that just plug into firewire/usb or PCI that can handle 24 tracks of separate channels going in at once? The best I've seen from anything that isn't a stand-alone product is 8-10 tracks. If you want to record a mixing-capable performance, you probably need more than that, depending on the group (especially if you have individually mic'd drums, etc). Recently I recorded a group that consisted of two guys playing various instruments and singing, with a third performer on a few songs. For the best possibly guitar sound, each amp was double mic'd, there were three movcal mic's, Direct-inputs on acoustic guitar, electric bass and stereo keyboard, and two mic's, one for archtop and the other mandolin. There wasn't even a percussionist! I think I ended up using 16 tracks after throwing on some audience mic's to get a realistic live sound. Can you narrow down the number of tracks used in that situation? Definitely... but you won't have the mixing flexibility you would otherwise. Just my opinion.

I'm sure others will chime in here for more options; but I'm using an ONYX 1640 with firewire card, which gives me 16 channels at 24/96 to my Sony Vaio Laptop. (Although to be honest, I often just run 24/44 for many CD-only projects and lower, more manageable data rates). WHen I need more tracks than that, I bring out my Fostex LV2424 for 24 tracks at 24/44. (Higher sample rates are available on that as well, but not all tracks at once is the tradeoff).

I also (still!) run a DA-38 (or 78, depending on the rig) as a tape backup for most projects. Sometimes I'll have to do sub-mixes to get the track count down to 8 if I'm using only one machine, but it's still better than no backup at all. I'd love to stop using t (and tape in general), but you know how THAT works, the moment I do, something will happen to make me rue the day....

There are other cards and converters out there that will give you 24 under one roof, including a desktop (but portable) rig, but it'll of course cost you more. Some newer, faster laptops will allow you to run several AD's on the same PCMCIA card or Firewire input as well.

As long as the chipsets support what you want to do (including an external HD for mass storage), you should be able to do 8, 16 or even 24 tracks on live remotes without breaking the bank.