recording several long speeches

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I have a forthcoming gig recording two days of speeches. Each speech
will be 45 minutes long, after which I?ll burn an unedited cd that a
duper will make copies of to sell to attendees right on the spot. So
I?m wondering how to prepare for this to avoid any catastrophes.

Here?s the scenario. A mono signal will come to me off the board,
which I?ll plug into an mbox and record 16/44 onto protools le 6.4
with a g4 powerbook (1ghz cpu, 1gb ram, panther) onto a 7200rpm usb2
external drive. Each speech will last 45 minutes. There?ll be no time
for edits or mixdown, so I?ll take the audio file right off the finder
and burn it in toast. Then I?ll move onto the next speech to record,
for a total of eight speeches each day. I?ve never recorded that long
before, so I?m wondering what could potentially go wrong. Heat? Hard
drive stress? Driver issues? Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 27 Oct 2004 01:30:37 -0700, bayareamusician@hotmail.com (bayydogg)
wrote:

>I have a forthcoming gig recording two days of speeches. Each speech
>will be 45 minutes long, after which I?ll burn an unedited cd that a
>duper will make copies of to sell to attendees right on the spot. So
>I?m wondering how to prepare for this to avoid any catastrophes.

Run a standalone CDR recorder in parallel. To be really safe, put
both your computer-based system and the CDR recorder on separate
UPS's. Reading on, I suppose a powerbook is a laptop that will
continue to run on battery power when the AC drops out, so you won't
need a UPS on that.
An alternative to the CDR recorder+UPS would be a cassette recorder
with a manual mechanism so it stays in record mode when the power
drops out and returns.
Test your system by setting it in record mode, put the mic in front
of a radio or TV and pull the plug on the system for a few seconds.

>Here?s the scenario. A mono signal will come to me off the board,
>which I?ll plug into an mbox and record 16/44 onto protools le 6.4
>with a g4 powerbook (1ghz cpu, 1gb ram, panther) onto a 7200rpm usb2
>external drive. Each speech will last 45 minutes. There?ll be no time
>for edits or mixdown, so I?ll take the audio file right off the finder
>and burn it in toast. Then I?ll move onto the next speech to record,
>for a total of eight speeches each day. I?ve never recorded that long
>before, so I?m wondering what could potentially go wrong. Heat? Hard
>drive stress? Driver issues?

All this stuff is made to run at full speed 24 hours a day, so
there's no problem there.

>Let me know what you think. Thanks.

-----
http://mindspring.com/~benbradley

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

bayareamusician@hotmail.com (bayydogg) wrote in message news:<2bd18a8f.0410270030.760fc28a@posting.google.com>...
> I have a forthcoming gig recording two days of speeches. Each speech
> will be 45 minutes long, after which I?ll burn an unedited cd that a
> duper will make copies of to sell to attendees right on the spot. So
> I?m wondering how to prepare for this to avoid any catastrophes.
>
> Here?s the scenario. A mono signal will come to me off the board,
> which I?ll plug into an mbox and record 16/44 onto protools le 6.4
> with a g4 powerbook (1ghz cpu, 1gb ram, panther) onto a 7200rpm usb2
> external drive. Each speech will last 45 minutes. There?ll be no time
> for edits or mixdown, so I?ll take the audio file right off the finder
> and burn it in toast. Then I?ll move onto the next speech to record,
> for a total of eight speeches each day. I?ve never recorded that long
> before, so I?m wondering what could potentially go wrong. Heat? Hard
> drive stress? Driver issues? Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Back up with a MiniDisc, Archos jukebox or even a cassette, or maybe all three.

With the Archos you could dowload via USB back into the computer if needed.

Mark

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <2bd18a8f.0410270030.760fc28a@posting.google.com> bayareamusician@hotmail.com writes:

> I have a forthcoming gig recording two days of speeches. Each speech
> will be 45 minutes long, after which I?ll burn an unedited cd that a
> duper will make copies of to sell to attendees right on the spot.

> Here?s the scenario. A mono signal will come to me off the board,
> which I?ll plug into an mbox and record 16/44 onto protools le 6.4
> with a g4 powerbook (1ghz cpu, 1gb ram, panther) onto a 7200rpm usb2
> external drive. Each speech will last 45 minutes. There?ll be no time
> for edits or mixdown, so I?ll take the audio file right off the finder
> and burn it in toast.

> I?m wondering what could potentially go wrong. Heat? Hard
> drive stress? Driver issues?

Operator error is probably the greatest risk. I'd buy or rent a
stand-alone CD recorder, record direct to a CD, finalize it when the
speech is over, then hand it to the duplicator guy. Then load a new
blank, get a drink of water, pee, and push the Record button when the
next speaker gets up. Watch the meters, and don't be afraid to turn
the Record Level knob (a real knob, not something you drag with a
mouse after you get to the right screen).



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
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

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Put a brick-wall limiter ahead of the Mbox. You'd be amazed at some of
the transients you'll get from a person speaking, and clipping will be
most heinously pooish. You might wanna compress a bit on the way it
too, since there won't time for massaging afterwards, and keeping levels
low enough to be safe will result in periods of reduced intelligibility
on the CDs.

I can't think of any rig issues that are likely to bite you, but I agree
with the others here that a backup is essential. Renting a CD recorder
sure seems like a reasonable approach. Make it your primary, with the
Mbox rig running backup -- faster turnaround that way.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

"bayydogg" <bayareamusician@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2bd18a8f.0410270030.760fc28a@posting.google.com...
> I have a forthcoming gig recording two days of speeches. Each speech
> will be 45 minutes long, after which I?ll burn an unedited cd that a
> duper will make copies of to sell to attendees right on the spot. So
> I?m wondering how to prepare for this to avoid any catastrophes.
>
> Here?s the scenario. A mono signal will come to me off the board,
> which I?ll plug into an mbox and record 16/44 onto protools le 6.4
> with a g4 powerbook (1ghz cpu, 1gb ram, panther) onto a 7200rpm usb2
> external drive. Each speech will last 45 minutes. There?ll be no time
> for edits or mixdown, so I?ll take the audio file right off the finder
> and burn it in toast. Then I?ll move onto the next speech to record,
> for a total of eight speeches each day. I?ve never recorded that long
> before, so I?m wondering what could potentially go wrong. Heat? Hard
> drive stress? Driver issues? Let me know what you think. Thanks.