Slightly OT : Location recording advice

Hi all,

I've been offered a job doing location/field sound recording - those of you who know me will wonder why I'm posting, as I do this sort of thing a lot.

Well, here's the thing - its for a rally car race! So no power (and no 002/ProTools rig) and probably no laptop for any decent length of time (although I'm considering investing in one of those 110/240v cigarette light adaptors).

So what I need to run is (at a minimum I think), 2 wireless lapels and a stereo boom. So 4 channels of audio.

Any ideas? I haven't been able to find a field recorder capable of doing more than 2!

From what I understand, it will be a hop out and record situation - maybe 30 seconds setup max - which again is different from my (now) luxurious sessions with my MBP and ProTools.

And preferably, I'd like to run the audio from the lapels to the camera as well!

I haven't said yes yet! Any advice appreciated guys!

Thanks....Justin.
PS. DAT tapes have JUMPED in price since I last bought some too! Dang.

<<<And preferably, I'd like to run the audio from the lapels to the camera as well!>>>

Dream on.

No place is it written that you need to get all four channels into one device. I know people that would try to use two of these:

[www.americanmusical.com]

Or two [fill in the blank] devices. We assume you're not going to try to record 30 minutes of continuous audio dropped pure into the show, so slight sync problems won't be noticed. A friend who does a lot of "grab and scoot" shooting loves those things.

Leave the DAT machines at home. They are delicate flowers under the best circumstances. In heavy field operation, you will be spending time trying to rescue sound from one or more broken DAT tapes.

Koz

A lot of people would be sending the sound to the camera first and then bridging or looping a feed to a secondary safety recorder. You decided to go to a separate sound setup first because......?

Koz

Thanks for the replies Koz.

While its slightly redundant because I have passed on the job due to time constraints and another client, its interesting none the less.

In answer to your first post, from my ProTools setup which can do 16, I was curious as to a device that could do 4 (or more) channels simultaneously. ZOOM has a reputation within the world I work in of being about the same as LaCie firewire drives - some love em, some hate em. I hate em. Personal only though.

I did discover a great solution here - but no idea how much $$$ - I'd figured not cheap.

[www.zaxcom.com]

The thought using the camera's audio recording mech was two fold - basically, using wireless lapels with two receivers - one to the camera and one to me. Hadn't necessarily decided on going to the camera first.

And you'll have no arguments from me about leaving the DAT recorder at home - I haven't used mine in 3 years....

Jus.

The DEVA is hella expensive. But it is a workhorse and built for reliability.

another is
[www.sounddevices.com]

these worked well for us on a series last year. lots of options.
You'll need
[www.spherico.com]
(c/o of Andreas K on this very LAFCPUG ) to get the files into FCP with ease and control.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

In the situation you described, if you were with the camera op at all times, I would forget about an external recording device and go with a Sound Devices 302 mixer, a Petrol Ergonizer production bag and a break away cable attached to the camera. When you stop and have to set up real quick, you could be up and running in about 30 seconds. Have the 2 wireless receivers in the bag patched into ch's 2 & 3 of the mixer (panned right). A good shotgun mic (not stereo) plugged into ch 1 (panned left). Everyting stays plugged into the mixer and you have one cable to re-connect to camera. The only thing that will slow you down, is if you have to swap the lav transmitters out to different talent. This is a small, easily managable system that runs on battery power.

Intersting - thanks Frank.