Digital Unit for Live Gigs

  • Thread starter Thread starter drstawl
  • Start date Start date
drstawl

drstawl

Banned
I'm not going to lug my whole computer setup to any live venues. I'm looking for a digital recorder that I can take to a show with just the mics and preamp.
Aside: this is not a stealth operation; I'm doing this to create a CD for the artist. These are acoustic instruments and vocals.
I'd be willing to go with just two mics picking up the sound of the show as opposed to trying to mic everything and reblend it later. I want at least uncompressed CD quality and I need a unit with coaxial S/PDIF out to dump the recording onto my PC. Everything I've looked at seems to lack at least one of my requirements.
Any suggestions?
 
I would look into getting a DAT machine (portable or not)..They usually have spdif and analog connections. Thats all I could come up with right now. I'll look for other possibilities.


ametth
 
While I am not a big Tascam fan, ametth is on the right track.

My Marantz CDR 630 has optical and coax spdif out's and in's on it, they are below one grand now....the converters sound okay for only 16 bit 44.1. You may look at that too...

Ed
 
Thanks, Ametth: That portable unit looks SO cool, I wish I had an extra thou!
 
Well the CDRW-5000 is only $700 at GS.
It has Pro level inputs as well as
AES/EBU input and S/PDIF I/O (both coax and optical). I could just run the S/PDIF out from the CDR I made to my GINA for PC editing and CD production. This is sounding more and more reasonable. I've heard this sucker and it's clean. Plus, any CDRs I made would be immmediately playable on regular CD players.
Thanks, guys!
 
Check out what jnorman has to say about micing live with *two* sets of mics. Hedging bets, some call it. Check the recording procedure for juicy(full) which the Sonusman mixed - same thing.

It'll mean at least 4 ins, is what I'm saying.
 
Way ahead of you there....
When I'm ready for that it'll be a cinch to
sync TWO of those puppies together well enough to import the 2 .wav files (4 tracks)
and mix them down in Vegas.
When I'm ready means when I've moved enough F006 sludge out to the recycling plant to save the dough to purchase another pre for the other two mics, the mics AND the recorder. I'm thinking to make it interesting for this second stereo pair it would be worth waiting for the bucks to get a significantly better pre and a couple of significantly better mics....
 
I was playing around all day with the front end (Preamp and mics) through a Porta-07 while I did a backup/wipe/defrag on the HD. The computer is now rocking like it used to. This Portastudio experiment totally convinced me that I could get some really clean sounds with the TASCAM CDRW-5000. Then it struck me. I can solve two more problems with this unit.
The original being a need for a unit I could take to live gigs. At gigs I'll use only CDRs. A UPS will protect already recorded tracks by preventing mangling of the CDR in case of power failure or funky spikes. At home I can leave my computer OFF entirely while I record a CDRW. Then I dump the CDRW digitally to the Gina. I edit out the garbage and save only on HD what I really want. My recordings will be quieter (no fans) and my HD will stay cleaner longer.
Then I wipe the CDRW and start again!
Or just break out another CDRW disc.
Plus I'll be moving a bunch of equipment into the recording space which will unclutter the DAW space. A small hole in the wall and I can S/PDIF directly to PC without having to move the TASCAM! A bigger hole with a double pane picture window from the DAW to the recording space would be cool, but I don't own this place, and I really don't like Judge Judy!
BTW they (Guitar Satan) had the Philips 770
today for $399. I still went with the TASCAM.
Sure- this ain't a 24bit 96KHz deal, but the quality of 16bit/44.1KHz is plenty good for remote use in places where I plan to record.
 
BIG thumbs up on the CDRW5000!
Looks like you already got it ... so you know probably know that already! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top