Recording audio off a SoundBoard - over 1hour+ runtime

[jimcornetet]

BACKGROUND:
I'm the guy who records High School Musicals & helps the School sell DVDs of the Shows to bring in money for their budget.

I recorded the audio from the last Musical the School did by plugging an old Cassette Deck into into their soundboard's RCA L+R outputs. The audio on the Tape is GREAT coming off the Mics the Actors wear. Crystal clear audio.

I'm mixing this audio with the stage-mic I had setup. The recording off the soundboard is acutally going to be my CENTER-CHANNEL audio and the stage mic the rest of the 4channel surround.

-----------------------

QUESTIONS:
with cassette tapes I'm limited to 60min per each side of the Tape. I know for a fact that they doing some upcoming Musicals that ACT1 runs well over 1hour, like 1hr20mins or better.

I dont want to have to reply on a highschool crewmember to sit and watch the deck and have to "flip" the tape for us....while we're busy running cameras. It will get MESSED-UP if left to someone who is extremely busy on the soundboard, cueing mics throughout the Show.

What equipment would work in this situation to get the full 1hr30min, possibly 2hrs of audio in one capture? (one touch of the record button and it record up to 2hrs without being managed)

> Possibly a laptop? what would I have to buy to put in the PCMCIA slot to capture the audio? What software to capture?

> I dont want to do a PC Tower. That would mean haivng to have a monitor, kybrd, mouse and the tower.... the area around the soundboard is a busy place and the people who run the board aren't directly related to us running cameras and I can see a BIG argument breakout if I had a PC station in their area....clogging-and-confusing a busy area.

> Can I RENT a stereo-like piece of equipment to capture 1hr30min or more without having to "touch" it.

> Bottomline I would want something I can press RECORD, walkaway from for 1hr30mins+ and come back to it and stop the recording but get all audio from the 1hr30mins+ .... and later convert it on my PC to a WAV format for editing.

Any help on this....out there?

[Soopafresh]

rather than PCMCIA, you can use USB


http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHUCA202

A Dell Inspiron Notebook with 60GB drive is $550
http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/cto_inspn_1501?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

And you can use any recording software (Audacity is good and free) to record.

Or, instead of a laptop (although I like the idea of a laptop), you can use a portable digital recorder:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html

Those go for $350 discounted, plus flash disk memory card.

Both solutions have advantages and disadvantages - size, simplicity, battery life, etc.

[jimcornetet]

any idea how much a of memorycard wee are talking to capture 2hrs of WAV-format audio L+R? like 2GB, 4GB? or is it even higher than that?

I always like to record my "source" as high as possible and then recompress it during editing...rather than try to over-stretch the quality when recorded at a low compression.

[Cornucopia]

FYI, the math is:

16bit/channel * 2ch/sample * 480000samples/sec * 60sec/min * 60min/hr * 2hours * 1byte/8bits * 1k/1024 * 1M/1024k * 1G/1024M = ~1.3GB would be enough to hold over 2hours of stereo LPCM WAV.

Medium depends on how you'll have your system set up.

BTW, Me, I'm kinda partial to Alesis Masterlinks. They are a self-contained HardDriveRecorder/A-to-D/Editor/CDBurner (both AudioCD and CDROM). Hold usually ~40GB. Allow you to choose between 16bit/24bit, and between 44.1/48/88.2/96kHz.
(Obviously, if you go for the higher-rez, you'll soak up more space).
Have done HUNDREDS of concert recordings with these babys. Only at very beginning of production run were there a few models that were flakey, since then, NO PROBLEM. Rock solid. Transportable (rackmount). Only 1 connection needed (2 RCA ins). These are often rentable (I have done so myself).

All you do is setup the session, Press Record.
Press STOP when it's all over, then use the controls to edit (probably take about a 1/2 hour for your situation), and then burn an Audio CD. Or you can burn a CDROM if you want to just take the raw files (will be stereo LPCM AIFF on a Mac+PC Hybrid disc) and edit on a PC if that's your usual way of working. If you go hirez, it'll automatically downconvert for the AudioCD (but not for the CDROM).

I have done the USB+Laptop, DAT, Minidisc, RAM-based, CD-Recorder, and HD based setups all (and more). I feel most "secure" in using the Masterlink for Location stuff where there's a board setup, and RAM-based (like Edirol) where everything has to be mobile. Laptops are too fragile, and too many wires. Minidisc is compromised quality, Direct-to-CD is too unpredictable. Same with many other HD-based setups. RAM-based is good if you've got GREAT quality equipment (read $$$$).
**note: I have done anything direct to Cassette (and only cassette) since 1991. Don't do yourself a disservice by staying stuck with that. There is so much MUCH better stuff out now.

Scott

edit: went by memory, it's possible the ML has only XLR inputs, so then, you'd need a converter box, but those are common.

[mazinz]

and if you're really limited for funding, you can always hook a vcr/video camera to the back of the board and at least get 2hrs that way without much sound compromise.