Hard disk multitrack recording and mixer

[mediafish]

Morning.

 

A long time lurker come registered today! so hello everyone.

 

Im after a little advice. Im starting up a recording studio project and am a little stumped with kit selection.

 

Its based around an alesis HD24 (which I believe is now discontinued so need to look into something simmilar) the reason I want a hard disk as well as computer is the portability factor of the hard disk unit.

I already have a MOTU 2408 and an I mac but the mixer choice is whats getting me down.

 

Im not looking at the particularly budget end, and certainly not interested in anything silver but im after a 32 channel board with a studio talk back function ... a recording desk .

 

I used to work on an old mackie (cant remember the model) which was perfect, I think it had another set of inputs across the console for returns which was really handy and a built in mic to talk back but cant find anything reasonable out there.

 

Im looking for new.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

 

Cheers

[mal421]

Studio recording isn't really my area of expertise . I have recorded a few demos for local bands and the setup I use is Alesis HD24, Protools and an old studiomaster 16-8-16 mixdown desk. The desk is old and not very portable but it only acts as an interface between the mics and the HD24 and the HD24 and playback. All post production is done in protools. The ethernet connection between the HD24 and the computer is a bit slow but generally works without too many problems. The routings on the desk allow me to do all manner of clever things regarding recording, playback and talkback. The most useful function on the desk is the ability to switch individual channels from A mix to B mix this means I can have the ins and outs of the HD24 permanently connected to the desk and set each channel to record or playback by the press of a switch. There are others far more experienced and knowledgeable than me in this field who may offer much more specific advice.

[paulears]

I own an HD24, which replaced 3 x ADATs. What is absolutely certain is it's a great reliable machine - but I never ever used it very much because the world has moved on, and the small snags it has are pretty annoying. The main problem is that it has two drive caddies, and if you wish, you can take them out, use a little neat utility and copy the non-standard drive formatted files to your computer for editing. Few people transfer using the network connection because it is hours and hours worth of transfer time. Whipping the drive out of the caddy and doing it that way is a lot quicker. You needed to be really good with track sheets, because the tracks are titled numerically - not as snare.wav or whatever. If you only intend to use it as a replacement for a tape machine, it's great - just having it hard wired to the mixer - but going back to analogue isn't a step forward.

 

I've been a Cubase user for ever, it seems. So getting the files into the computer was a real pain in the bum.

 

As soon as multi-channel interfaces became available, I got one (well, 3 - as each card could do 8 tracks in and out.

 

I'd never want to go back to the HD24. The last project recorded on it was a live recording of a Beach Boys tribute in Liverpool, and the machine is currently on permanent load to a friend in the band who has been mixing the thing for 2 years! I'm not worried, I wouldn't be using the machine if he gave it me back.

 

I have no doubts at all about using PCs to record multitrack audio. It's simpler, and now actually cheaper to to this - and as you need the stuff in the computer anyway - there's little point using a different machine to capture the audio. I have a rack mount PC and I just wheel the flightcase in and out, complete with pull out monitor, interfaces and other odds and ends.

 

Nothing wrong with the HD24 at all - a great machine, but the world has moved on!

[Doug Siddons]

Check out the Tascam range of digital mixers have talk to slate and should interface ok