So what's with all the battery and bus-powered devices?

[bayydogg]

The manufacturers seem to be pushing a lot of "field recording"
devices lately, bus and/or battery-operated. I guess this is to get
people excited enough to go out and do multitrack recordings of
vanishing indigenous tribal rituals. You know, it's a nice dream, but
how many of us have had portable digital recording capability for
several years already and never did serious field recording?

I've taken my minidisc recorders out several times and did "field
recording," including a lot of wind interfering with my recordings of
sidewalk players. Conversely, I've had good results with stealth
concerts, but geez, it's not very social to stand silently in the same
position at a three-hour show. I've also had an Mbox for two years and
realized soon enough that setting that up in public view with a
Powerbook and Oxygen8 to make beats is insane without a heavily-armed
bodyguard. Where I live you don't let anybody know you're packing a
laptop, let alone a whole recording system!

I've done enough "record anywhere" sessions and can tell you there is
a lot of noise pollution out there that you don't want in your music.
OK, so what's the hype about bus and battery power? And what technical
compromises are there to run everything off low-power DC?

[Richard Crowley]

"bayydogg" wrote ...
....
> OK, so what's the hype about bus and battery power?

People who live in locations with unreliable mains power
likely find it simplifies the process of making their production
setup resistant to sags and interruptions.

> And what technical compromises are there to run everything
> off low-power DC?

Less and less with ongoing development of low-power devices
(at the transistor-level). Granted, most of the low-power IC
development is for lo-fi things like cell phones and MP3 players,
but some of the technology "slops over" into higher-quality
products.

[Richard Crowley]

"bayydogg" wrote ...
....
> OK, so what's the hype about bus and battery power?

People who live in locations with unreliable mains power
likely find it simplifies the process of making their production
setup resistant to sags and interruptions.

> And what technical compromises are there to run everything
> off low-power DC?

Less and less with ongoing development of low-power devices
(at the transistor-level). Granted, most of the low-power IC
development is for lo-fi things like cell phones and MP3 players,
but some of the technology "slops over" into higher-quality
products.

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> The manufacturers seem to be pushing a lot of "field recording"
> devices lately, bus and/or battery-operated. I guess this is to get
> people excited enough to go out and do multitrack recordings of
> vanishing indigenous tribal rituals. You know, it's a nice dream, but
> how many of us have had portable digital recording capability for
> several years already and never did serious field recording?

ME ME ME ME ME! - But I did it on a DAT, direct to stereo.

I can see setting up a nice set of mic preamps (or an interface with
good preamps - ????), a laptop computer, a set of speakers, and a
small mixer (for monitoring) in the back room and recording a concert,
but I'd want to get there a couple of hours early to check things out
and set up. But I can't see walking around the jam sessions at a
fiddle contest with a laptop computer in a bag slung over my shoulder,
have to set it down, plug in an interface, plug in a mic, and start
recording.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> The manufacturers seem to be pushing a lot of "field recording"
> devices lately, bus and/or battery-operated. I guess this is to get
> people excited enough to go out and do multitrack recordings of
> vanishing indigenous tribal rituals. You know, it's a nice dream, but
> how many of us have had portable digital recording capability for
> several years already and never did serious field recording?

ME ME ME ME ME! - But I did it on a DAT, direct to stereo.

I can see setting up a nice set of mic preamps (or an interface with
good preamps - ????), a laptop computer, a set of speakers, and a
small mixer (for monitoring) in the back room and recording a concert,
but I'd want to get there a couple of hours early to check things out
and set up. But I can't see walking around the jam sessions at a
fiddle contest with a laptop computer in a bag slung over my shoulder,
have to set it down, plug in an interface, plug in a mic, and start
recording.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Len Moskowitz]

Mike Rivers > wrote:

> ... But I can't see walking around the jam sessions at a
>fiddle contest with a laptop computer in a bag slung over my shoulder,
>have to set it down, plug in an interface, plug in a mic, and start
>recording.

A better alternative (and Mike knows this but prefers a single box
solution) is to use something like our PDAudio system. It's handheld,
does two tracks of 24/96, and with a pair of our DPA 4060-based HEBs,
sounds wonderful and is incredibly compact.


--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http://www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http://www.core-sound.com
Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912

[Len Moskowitz]

Mike Rivers > wrote:

> ... But I can't see walking around the jam sessions at a
>fiddle contest with a laptop computer in a bag slung over my shoulder,
>have to set it down, plug in an interface, plug in a mic, and start
>recording.

A better alternative (and Mike knows this but prefers a single box
solution) is to use something like our PDAudio system. It's handheld,
does two tracks of 24/96, and with a pair of our DPA 4060-based HEBs,
sounds wonderful and is incredibly compact.


--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http://www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http://www.core-sound.com
Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912

[Noel Bachelor]

On or about 17 Nov 2004 01:44:34 -0800, bayydogg allegedly wrote:

> The manufacturers seem to be pushing a lot of "field recording"
> devices lately, bus and/or battery-operated. I guess this is to get
> people excited enough to go out and do multitrack recordings of
> vanishing indigenous tribal rituals.

Actually, that's what some of us do, all the time.

Previously used a Nagra, then DAT, and DA38, nowadays mostly USBpre,
waiting for a SD744.


> I've done enough "record anywhere" sessions and can tell you there is
> a lot of noise pollution out there that you don't want in your music.

When you're really out bush, that's just the natural ambience. You try to
reduce it if you can, but you don't worry too much.


Noel Bachelor noelbachelorAT(From:_domain)
Language Recordings Inc (Darwin Australia)

[Noel Bachelor]

On or about 17 Nov 2004 01:44:34 -0800, bayydogg allegedly wrote:

> The manufacturers seem to be pushing a lot of "field recording"
> devices lately, bus and/or battery-operated. I guess this is to get
> people excited enough to go out and do multitrack recordings of
> vanishing indigenous tribal rituals.

Actually, that's what some of us do, all the time.

Previously used a Nagra, then DAT, and DA38, nowadays mostly USBpre,
waiting for a SD744.


> I've done enough "record anywhere" sessions and can tell you there is
> a lot of noise pollution out there that you don't want in your music.

When you're really out bush, that's just the natural ambience. You try to
reduce it if you can, but you don't worry too much.


Noel Bachelor noelbachelorAT(From:_domain)
Language Recordings Inc (Darwin Australia)