Advice for location recording with HD24

M

MoJones

New member
Hi guys, I've just bought myself a spanky new HD24 after some happy years with 8 track reel-to-reel and latterly an ADAT.

So far VERY happy with quality and functionality and coming from an ADAT, it's got nice 'tape controls' feel. But I'm looking for some advice on how to use it when recording bands live, specifically defining the Song Length and the ability to 'wing it'. Now as I'm a bear of little brain it may just be me not fully understanding how it works OR that this has to change my way of working.

I record bands who, like most, strive for 'the take' and will happily do 10 takes of the same number, pausing for varied amounts of time for arguments, pizza, changes in song structure, changes in girlfriend etc as an evolving work. It's rare to say 'OK, we now have 4.45 minutes of tape, we're going to nail it'. So I've found myself either letting tape roll if they're close or deciding I have time to stop the tape and get it back to speed once they're ready again.

What will this be like on the HD24? I'm slightly apprehensive about not having the time to define a new song for every single take? I don't really want to just leave it chugging away for the whole time (and YES, I'm gonna use ALL those lovely tracks at once), but as I understand it I have to define a new song EVERY time I've stopped the current recording segment. I don't really want to locate to 0 and record over the previous take as there are sometimes little nuggets to use. So does that mean I have to rustle up a 'Loud Song Take 4' title every time?


Be interested in your feedback, thanks from the UK!

Mark
 
I use my HD24 to make live multitrack recordings all the time........& I can tell you that 12 to 18 minutes of continuous audio is about all you will have the patience for. I do my mixing on my computer using cool edit pro.
It takes a little while to load 16 or more 18 minute tracks.
But it is manageable.....most of your time will be spent waiting for your computer to do the processing.....compression/reverb/equalization/other effects...ect.
These can take up to 2 to 3 minutes if you include loading an "undo copy" everytime you add effedts to or otherwise change a track. I keep a guitar handy to pass this time more productively.
I once recorded my band at a gig on one continuous take that was over 1 hour long.
the processing time was monstrous 6+ minutes per track to do anything .
In short.....yes you can use your HD24 for live recordings....leard to limit recording times to 20 minutes or less.....preferably 12 minute chunks. these are much more manageable & less tiring. If you are afraid of missing "Gems" while re-arming the HD24, then run a minidisc recording from the board "tape outs" for continuity.
Bluesman714
 
by the way....I only define the first & last song by the band. That way I know that all the ones in between belong to them too. I usually record 2 to 5 bands per night & this lets me mix in order of my fancy.
Bluesman714
 
EddieRay said:
Who can tell me the disk storage needed to record four 45 minute sets, 8 tracks,24-bit, 48kHz?
Click to expand...

Wimps! C'mon, how do ya complete this equation:
4 x 45mins x 8 track @ 24bits, 48kHz = ?GB
 
Ok, I'll bite.
11.59 GB.

24 bits is 3 bytes. That times 48000 (sample rate), times 8 (tracks), times 2700 (seconds in 45 minutes), that times 4 (sets) is 12441600000 bytes. Divide by 1024 to get kilobytes, another 1024 to get megabytes, another 1024 for gigabytes.

You could have done that yourself.

Wimp.
 
EddieRay said:
Who can tell me the disk storage needed to record four 45 minute sets, 8 tracks,24-bit, 48kHz?
Click to expand...

Just get a 200 GB HD. You will have plenty of space. Fire wire it to your PC then burn the tracks to a DVD and then start all over again. Woo Hoo!
 
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