new to analog

[zekthedeadcow]

I've been doing digital recording for a few years now but I've been picked up as the technical director for a microbudget indie "made for TV" movie ...and the only audio guy.... and I'm thinking of going analog for dialoge. I can't haul around my PC to the 14 location :S and my only other toy is a Roland SP-808 zip disk sampler...which would work... but is increadibly un-intuitive... and the input meters are really fricken small....and it's 1 track at a time.

Money is really tight but I should have around $1k for audio equipment upgrades and I was thinking I would be well served to get a 4-8 track mixer (I do have a 24 channel board but it bairly fits in my car) and a 1/4" reel to reel like a Roberts 770 off ebay. As far as sync goes...post production is going to be digital and audio work will probably be in SONAR (maybe FCP)... and I expected ninja editing ... which I enjoy for some strange reason.

Would I get a better sound with a portastudio? I was thinking the 770 because (it's cheap) the tube pres would offer a bit more leeway in peaks... but I've never heard one of these things in action. Any suggestions?

[The Ghost of FM]

Nagra rules the film industry when it comes to analog sound recording.

They offer many compact open reel recorders designed specifically for location work with their own built in sync generator that works even when battery power is almost completely gone.

Their models have balanced inputs with on-board compressors, are battery powered and wearable via neck strap.

Check Ebay for a decent used one if you want to track in analog, otherwise, there are many decent DAT field recorders with similar functionality from Panasonic, Sony and TASCAM which will be even cheaper second hand and even more compact then a Nagra.

Cheers!

[The Ghost of FM]

Here's a Nagra.

Nice price too!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...sPageName=WDVW

Cheers!