Anyone running a Laptop based mobile recording setup?

keith turner

azimuth of new ideas
Hello everyone,
I am thinking of putting together a mobile recording rig.

I want to start out small and portable to get my feet wet.

Mixer,Laptop,8-channel firewire,mics,then go find some church choirs to experiment on.

I am using Sonar 2.0 in the home studio along with motu hardware.Thinking of sticking with the win/pc solution but I am open to suggestions from anyone running a powerbook too.

Anyone here doing this? Any experiences or any pitfalls to the Laptop as Tape deck scenario?

Thanks in advance for any and all input,
Keith
 
I have a mobile rig. I would be a little afraid of a laptop. It may just be my unfounded fear of it being fragile. I have an alesis hd24 with 24 octopre's. It's a nice setup,oh also a whirlwind 24 chanel splitter snake. You have to have a splitter snake if you get into anything were the band goes through a PA.Like I said, maybe it's just me paronoid about the laptop. .You can get a new HD24 for $1500.00. A good laptop will cost you that, or more. Hard drives are expensive for laptops. You have to think storage too. You'll have to in the end dump out all the audio so you can move on to the next project.I use standard IDE drives for my HD'S. Just my thoguhts. :)
 
Another thing I thought is: how will you set up each song quickly in sonar 2.0? With the HD24 I simply set up ahead of time like 15 songs. Then during a live gig I can go to the next song in about 5 seconds. This is better than having say a 50 minutes "song" with in reality 10 or 12 songs in it having to be chopped. into serperate songs.
 
If you get a Firepod, you won't have to lug a mixer around (unless you need more than 8 preamps).

I've used a firepod+laptop to record our jams (3 drum mics, 2 guitars, bass & 2 vocal mics) at 24/48 with no problems.

If possible get a laptop with the faster 5400rpm hard drive. Mine has a 4200rpm disk and while OK for 8 track recording, it maxes out on about 16 tracks of playback
 
The harddrive would be one of two concerns I would have with a laptop. Opt for the 72,000rpm drive, or a SATA drive for better results. Heat issues can certainly drop the performance of a laptop, so make sure you pickup a cooling pad to set the laptop on. I've got an Alienware laptop that I copy stuff over to when I want to let friends listen to a mix (I don't record with it) and this cooler works better than some of the higher priced once I've used.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835119012
 
woot, early morning confusion ftw! lol

7,200rpm just to clearify.


gg, 72,000rpm would liquify your pc case before it had a chance to liquify a rock lol
 
Thanks for the input guys I value your opinions,

JMorris,the HD24 looks like a good no nonsense alternative.How fast and or easy is it to transfer your tracks into the computer for editing?
Good point about setting up songs quickly,I think I would definitely being splitting them up after the fact.
I am not familiar with the octopres.
I am leaning towards the laptop, because of the flexibility it offers,not just in recording, but softsynths for the rare occasions when I gig.Ideally I would have both eventually.

Bulls Hit,
The firepod is now on my short list to check out. I have a mp20 in the studio that I like,is the firepod's pres similar(uncolored).
It is good to know that you are able to get that many tracks out of a 4200rpm.What are the specs on your laptop?

Creamyapples1,
I have laptop envy of you,you gotta hook that baby up and see what she will do! Thanks for the link,you gotta love New Egg.

Dachay2tnr, :D

Keith
 
The audio interface I use is PCI so I'm tethered to my desktop as far as recording goes, I'm not overly impressed with the inputs my laptop has, but it sounds great during playback. Looking back, I wish I had gone with an external sound source so I could use whichever I wanted at the time, though it's not that big of a deal as I'm not a gigging musician.
 
Keith, with the fireport its pretty quick. I cant remember exactly as I go in most cases real time direct through my Motu2408MKIII. But, I'm thinking somewheres in the area of 2 or 3 minutes for a 24 track song 4 minutes long. Correct me someone if I'm way off. I'm very fond of the HD24. It's been very good to me. As I said I'm a little afraid of the laptop in a live gig situation. Hey, many people do it though. :) Also, I like the ability to see the LED's on my HD24 in a live gig situation. A laptop has that nasty fault of ' ya gotta be in just the right spot to see the damn screen! Damn, there I go again. OK, I just really like the HD24 idea! ;)
 
I'm using:

Gateway P4 2.8Ghz laptop (widescreen)
Motu828mkII interface
Glyph GT050 firewire drive daisy-chained to the 828.

Zero problems. Solid as a rock.
 
keith turner said:
Bulls Hit,
The firepod is now on my short list to check out. I have a mp20 in the studio that I like,is the firepod's pres similar(uncolored).
It is good to know that you are able to get that many tracks out of a 4200rpm.What are the specs on your laptop?

The Firepod's pres are are very neutral, and quiet.
My laptop is a Pentium M 1.6, 512MB, 40GB 4200HD, ATI radeon mobility
 
I use the sound devices 722, which is a 2 channel all in one, ADC/PREAMP 24/192 capable device.

I also use external pres and a mytek stereo 192 ADC...(for a different flavor., not because the 722 is bad...it is excellent)

There is also the marantz pmd671, pmd660(if you are married to 16 bit)

edirol r-4(4 channels, pres, adcs), sound devices 744t(all in one pre.adc/24/192 capable)

I am moving to a sequoia DAW on small format PC with a Lynx AES16 interface, and will be using the 722 as my 2channel mixdown recorder. Might throw a 2channel tape deal in there too, to mix down to...THe Aurora converters on the lynx sound really good, and the sequoia software is the best in the business for mobile classical recording....
I do a LOT of church stuff as well, as a matter of fact one of my steady gigs is archiving the concerts in a cathedral.


I do location recording exclusively, so if you want to talk about more options, you can PM or email me at raytheapostle@yahoo.com


many many wyas to go with this.....and PCs are plenty reliable. there is also the RADAR and GENEX recorders..but more money there........it all depends on your budget and what you are trying to accomplish...im glad to help if you need it...
 
Thanks JMorris for reminding me that I already have a mobile rig of sorts,not as nice as yours, but in a pinch I can put my adat back to work.

Thanks TimOBrien and Bulls Hit for the specs.

Thanks BigRay for the generous offer of help.
I will be hitting you up for advice once I get my Laptop and have a few mobile recording gigs under my belt.

It is good to know that PC's are working well in the field of mobile recording.

Keith
 
Hi folks,

I'm a little late to the discussion, but I hope can get some feedback on a similar situation. I'm looking to pare down my modest stationary studio gear, so that I can take it out for some mobile recordings of gigs & family functions (with karaoke). I would really like to reduce my trips to carry my equipment to three trips. One for the racks, another for the speakers, & another miscellaneous bags, stands, etc. I've spent way too many late nights/mornings hauling heavy ass gear up & down two or three flights of stairs & I'm not getting any younger.

I think I'm going to fleabay my Mackie 1642 & Delta 1010 to get a Presonus Firepod. In addition to that, I'm thinking about trading in my Line6 Pod 2.0 for a V-Amp Pro rackmount for portability & to also take advantage of the SPDIF out on the V-Amp & the SPDIF in on the Firepod. I'd eventually like to get the Podxt because of the record-over-USB feature, but it would depend on how much I like the V-Amp Pro.

I have pieces of a rackmount PC that I've procrastinating on putting together, mainly because I'm not satisfied with the rackmount case I got. It's 4U high (I'd like to get that down to 2 or 3U) & more importantly, it's 22" deep, not including the rack handles. All of the SKB cases I seen cannot accomodate that size. Hmmm...I thought about going with a laptop, but I couldn't figure out a way to deal with connecting everything together without super long cables or some wireless video device for feeding a karaoke monitor. I figure I'll bring along a laptop in addition to the rackmount PC in order to VNC into the PC to control it via the laptop.

So, given that background, I have a number of questions regarding a mobile recording studio. I apologize in advance since my questions may span multiple forums, but I figure since someone is already on the topic of mobile recording, this would be a good place to add to the topic.

Questions:

1. Is an external hardware mixer necessary to interact efficiently with the Firepod? I would want to do all of my live mixing within Sonar 4

2. Is the V-Amp Pro (rackmount) based off of the older V-Amp or the newer V-Amp 2?

3. Where can I find a portable case, similar to an SKB, that will accomodate rackmount PC cases? What's the maximum depth that an SKB case can hold?

4. Should I just stick with my Delta 1010 & buy a cheap set of rackmount preamps (like the Behringer ADA8000, can't afford better than that)? That way I'll get to keep my Mackie 1642 for in-house studio projects. :D

5. Is there a decent wireless rackmount unit that offers at least two wireless mics for the budget-minded musician? Or do all budget wireless mics end up in a Spinal Tap/airport debacle?

Well, that's all that I can think of for now. Thanks for listening/reading my ramblings.

Thanks,
jawgee
 
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