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Post by dcarvak on Jun 10, 2024 18:10:47 GMT -6
I know a few here work more in the traveling and portable recording side of things and I have a few questions for ya. Before moving to my small mountain town in Colorado I ran a home studio in salt lake for a while and still adjusting to my portable gigs.
1. So I’m curious first off what jobs do you typically take on?
For me I’ve done a full band live recording in their practice space and assisted a folk artist in her space. This is what I am used to for gigs but curious of other opportunities I’m certainly not considering.
2. How do you advertise yourself?
Even in salt lake I was always more word of mouth but here I still don’t know many people so hard to figure that part out. I also don’t want to be too annoying about it to new people I meet when I also want to become a part of the community as well, not just sell my services.
3. How do you pack your gear and what do you typically take?
I just have an old Subaru I load up with everything - mic stands, mics, Mac Studio and portable monitor (in a case), folding table and chair, portable 2u rack unit with Apollo interface and Daking preamps (and Tascam model 16 for the live stuff), few pairs of headphones and cables, one mono speakers for playback.
Thanks!
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,086 
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Post by ericn on Jun 10, 2024 21:30:41 GMT -6
The best Advice I can give is this: put together a go bag with the tools, any extra cables and extra headphones plus a couple of utility mics you might need.
Put links to all the manuals for every piece of kit on your phone and a tablet.
Racks and cases are not just about organization they are about protection. Don’t skimp!
The snake, it’s always the F$&@ing snake, go with something with more I/O than you need. When it comes to the split good transformer’s mean headroom and far less noise, a handful of Barrel connectors will save your butt a time or 2. Learn how to solder make your own cables and by a heat shrink label maker, digging in the back of the rack will become far less of an exercise of digging through black spaghetti., plus it’s harder to for someone to walk with cables with your name on them ( nobody wants to steel Violet Canare).
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Post by drbill on Jun 10, 2024 22:31:50 GMT -6
( nobody wants to steel Violet Canare). I would.  or lime green!!!!!!!! |
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,086
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Post by ericn on Jun 11, 2024 0:32:49 GMT -6
( nobody wants to steel Violet Canare). I would. or lime green!!!!!!!! Well you as much as a geek as me my friend 😁 |
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Post by Blackdawg on Jun 11, 2024 1:09:59 GMT -6
I got involved through knowing people. So you need to start going to shows and introducing yourself.
I also usually end up recording live bands during performances or concerts. So picking up live sound gigs at venues is a good way to get introduced to local artists and then growing from there.
I usually haul an Grace Mic pre rig with a protools setup if it's an artist I know well and know they will actually care about the recording. Or I've used a sound devices as well for smaller things. The grace rig obviously sounds way better, but it's a lot bigger and bulkier to bring around. But it's always given me great results.
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Post by honkeur on Jun 11, 2024 3:52:58 GMT -6
I don’t like transporting large amounts of gear. I used to lug around a laptop and interface. The game changer for me was the Sound Devices MixPre 10. The mic preamps are excellent.
Whenever possible, I use clamps instead of stands, sometimes attached to floor stands already in use. When selecting mics, size/weight is a factor for me. LCD are used rarely, SDCs often, and good dynamics (thank you, Beyerdyynamic!) are my mainstay.
I can show up in more-or-less any space with my 35L backpack, and walk out with a recording to be proud of.
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Post by srb on Jun 11, 2024 16:46:26 GMT -6
Shameless self-promotion: I have a mint JDK 8MX2 for sale in the classifieds. I'm doing less on-location these days. They're great pre's. Tons of headroom, and a very usable limiter on each channel. Some other nice utilities as well. PM if interested.
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Post by Blackdawg on Jun 11, 2024 17:24:44 GMT -6
I don’t like transporting large amounts of gear. I used to lug around a laptop and interface. The game changer for me was the Sound Devices MixPre 10. The mic preamps are excellent. Whenever possible, I use clamps instead of stands, sometimes attached to floor stands already in use. When selecting mics, size/weight is a factor for me. LCD are used rarely, SDCs often, and good dynamics (thank you, Beyerdyynamic!) are my mainstay. I can show up in more-or-less any space with my 35L backpack, and walk out with a recording to be proud of. I'm a fan of the Mixpre's but the mic pres are just okay. Far from excellent. But they do the job. If you need high gain though for ribbons or dynamics you can get into their limits quickly. Hard to beat the portability of them though. But most recordings I do with them are a bit flat sounding or just "meh". Still use them a ton though. Like them a lot more than the Zoom stuff sound wise that's for sure. I've also found for bands that are in a smaller venue and have amplified instruments, ribbons are the way to go along with dynamics in certain areas. Then I try and put a decent condensor mic on the main vocalist, SM89, KM105 or similar. But good ribbons can really help you in the mix stage and deal with things in close proximity. I'm always amazed and stoked with guitars and bass amps done with ribbons that were sitting right next to drum kits and how little bleed there is. Just point the nulls correctly. Another cool portable box that I have only used once before but know others like them is the JoCo boxes. I also have colleagues that use maybe Metric Halo interfaces that have built in recording for a redundant setup, but could be used as standalone. Or could be other brand I can't remember. |
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Post by ab101 on Jun 11, 2024 17:30:59 GMT -6
Hmm- I am in SLC.
I use a Tascam Hs-p82.
Sweet mic pres and conversion. Not too sweet though. They once went for $5000 but can be found used for $1500. And they can be stacked.
The downside - bulky compared to like a Sonosax.
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