RFC: music school recording chain

Professional audio recording and studio engineering, post #44,084
Author:
Date:
Subject:
 mchampag@gmail.com
 2008-06-18 07:55:31
 RFC: music school recording chain
Hello, all-

I'm implementing a recording system for a university's music school
and I thought it might be useful to throw it out to you guys for
comment. Our mission is to capture and archive all student, faculty,
and guest recitals (ca. 175-200 annually) with a staff of myself plus
a half-dozen or so student employees.

We have a pair of good spaces--a recital hall and an auditorium, in
which pairs of DPA mikes will be hung permanently, likely from
Servoreeler winches. I'm planning a pair of 4012s for the recital hall
and 4003s for the auditorium. They'll be sending mostly line level
back to the recording system.

Recording will happen in a centralized space with two or three Pro
Tools HD1 systems. In addition to the stereo pairs from the halls,
we're bringing 110-ohm Belden 1850F multicore (16 from the recital
hall and 32 from the auditorium) to Central Recording terminating in
an XLR patch bay. We'll also have a pair of PTZ cameras in each space
for monitoring what's happening onstage.

In Central Recording, the plan is to have 32 channels of Millennia
HV-3 preamps and Prism converters and mix and match as needed among
all the halls and rehearsal spaces (which will have a few channels of
their own tied to Central Recording). All that stuff is going to be on
TT patchbays. Audio capture on three minimal Pro Tools HD1 (one card +
one 192 Digital I/O on two machines for up to 16 channels, and a third
system with 2 192 Digital I/Os for up to 32 channels) running on Mac
Pros with a pair of monitors each. Again, we're going with Digi 192s
so that we can have flexibility with patching AES channel pairs to
whichever recording computer needs them. The main station (with 32
ins) will have 5.1 monitoring; the other two will have 2.0 monitoring.
42" plasmas on the front wall to watch the stage goings-on during
recitals (and Lord of the Rings all other times to prevent burn-in).

Safety/performer copies will be recorded simultaneously on an HHB
CDR882 and a Tascam DV-RA1000 via a Henry Engineering Digital D.A. 2x8
from the appropriate Prism (hall pair) outs.

Nightly backups (with either Time Machine or an rsync-based script) of
all data to a Mac Pro acting as a server.

Maybe a couple of lava lamps, too. That's basically it. Any comments
you could make are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

-Matt
Author:
Date:
Subject:
 Jim Weld
 2008-06-18 13:57:13
 Re: music school recording chain
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:46baa754-eb6b-4683-a1cf-7cfa371a0bf2@i76g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> Hello, all-
>
> I'm implementing a recording system for a university's music
school
> and I thought it might be useful to throw it out to you guys
for
> comment. Our mission is to capture and archive all student,
faculty,
> and guest recitals (ca. 175-200 annually) with a staff of
myself plus
> a half-dozen or so student employees.
>
> We have a pair of good spaces--a recital hall and an
auditorium, in
> which pairs of DPA mikes will be hung permanently, likely from
> Servoreeler winches. I'm planning a pair of 4012s for the
recital hall
> and 4003s for the auditorium. They'll be sending mostly line
level
> back to the recording system.
>
> Recording will happen in a centralized space with two or three
Pro
> Tools HD1 systems. In addition to the stereo pairs from the
halls,
> we're bringing 110-ohm Belden 1850F multicore (16 from the
recital
> hall and 32 from the auditorium) to Central Recording
terminating in
> an XLR patch bay. We'll also have a pair of PTZ cameras in each
space
> for monitoring what's happening onstage.
>
> In Central Recording, the plan is to have 32 channels of
Millennia
> HV-3 preamps and Prism converters and mix and match as needed
among
> all the halls and rehearsal spaces (which will have a few
channels of
> their own tied to Central Recording). All that stuff is going
to be on
> TT patchbays. Audio capture on three minimal Pro Tools HD1 (one
card +
> one 192 Digital I/O on two machines for up to 16 channels, and
a third
> system with 2 192 Digital I/Os for up to 32 channels) running
on Mac
> Pros with a pair of monitors each. Again, we're going with Digi
192s
> so that we can have flexibility with patching AES channel pairs
to
> whichever recording computer needs them. The main station (with
32
> ins) will have 5.1 monitoring; the other two will have 2.0
monitoring.
> 42" plasmas on the front wall to watch the stage goings-on
during
> recitals (and Lord of the Rings all other times to prevent
burn-in).
>
> Safety/performer copies will be recorded simultaneously on an
HHB
> CDR882 and a Tascam DV-RA1000 via a Henry Engineering Digital
D.A. 2x8
> from the appropriate Prism (hall pair) outs.
>
> Nightly backups (with either Time Machine or an rsync-based
script) of
> all data to a Mac Pro acting as a server.
>
> Maybe a couple of lava lamps, too. That's basically it. Any
comments
> you could make are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!
>
> -Matt

Matt:

Sounds like a big budget system. I don't know what kind of
distances you are talking about for your mic runs, but I would
seriously consider that you locate a set of mic pre-amps and
converters in your recital hall and auditorium, and minimize your
mic to pre distance. From there you can convert to MADI
optical, or use converters with built-in MADI conversion, to send
to Central Recording. Optical MADI can be carried more than 1000
meters. MADI signals can be converted back to AES, or with
special converters directly to Protools, and can work at high
sample rates.

Consider remote control mic pres, and try to avoid sending
analog. Grace Design make an 8 channel (M-802) that would
probably work for you.

It's not that your set-up would not work; in fact you can go
digital on your 110 ohm cable also. But nowadays it's important
to make sure you have lots of digital infrastructure, and lots of
options. Make sure that you're networked to your halls. You
should get a lot of alternatives from other RAP readers.

Jim Weld
Author:
Date:
Subject:
 mchampag@gmail.com
 2008-06-19 10:23:48
 Re: music school recording chain
On Jun 18, 5:57 pm, "Jim Weld" <[email protected]> wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:46baa754-eb6b-4683-a1cf-7cfa371a0bf2@i76g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Hello, all-
>
> > I'm implementing a recording system for a university's music
> school
> > and I thought it might be useful to throw it out to you guys
> for
> > comment. Our mission is to capture and archive all student,
> faculty,
> > and guest recitals (ca. 175-200 annually) with a staff of
> myself plus
> > a half-dozen or so student employees.
>
> > We have a pair of good spaces--a recital hall and an
> auditorium, in
> > which pairs of DPA mikes will be hung permanently, likely from
> > Servoreeler winches. I'm planning a pair of 4012s for the
> recital hall
> > and 4003s for the auditorium. They'll be sending mostly line
> level
> > back to the recording system.
>
> > Recording will happen in a centralized space with two or three
> Pro
> > Tools HD1 systems. In addition to the stereo pairs from the
> halls,
> > we're bringing 110-ohm Belden 1850F multicore (16 from the
> recital
> > hall and 32 from the auditorium) to Central Recording
> terminating in
> > an XLR patch bay. We'll also have a pair of PTZ cameras in each
> space
> > for monitoring what's happening onstage.
>
> > In Central Recording, the plan is to have 32 channels of
> Millennia
> > HV-3 preamps and Prism converters and mix and match as needed
> among
> > all the halls and rehearsal spaces (which will have a few
> channels of
> > their own tied to Central Recording). All that stuff is going
> to be on
> > TT patchbays. Audio capture on three minimal Pro Tools HD1 (one
> card +
> > one 192 Digital I/O on two machines for up to 16 channels, and
> a third
> > system with 2 192 Digital I/Os for up to 32 channels) running
> on Mac
> > Pros with a pair of monitors each. Again, we're going with Digi
> 192s
> > so that we can have flexibility with patching AES channel pairs
> to
> > whichever recording computer needs them. The main station (with
> 32
> > ins) will have 5.1 monitoring; the other two will have 2.0
> monitoring.
> > 42" plasmas on the front wall to watch the stage goings-on
> during
> > recitals (and Lord of the Rings all other times to prevent
> burn-in).
>
> > Safety/performer copies will be recorded simultaneously on an
> HHB
> > CDR882 and a Tascam DV-RA1000 via a Henry Engineering Digital
> D.A. 2x8
> > from the appropriate Prism (hall pair) outs.
>
> > Nightly backups (with either Time Machine or an rsync-based
> script) of
> > all data to a Mac Pro acting as a server.
>
> > Maybe a couple of lava lamps, too. That's basically it. Any
> comments
> > you could make are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!
>
> > -Matt
>
> Matt:
>
> Sounds like a big budget system.  I don't know what kind of
> distances you are talking about for your mic runs, but I would
> seriously consider that you locate a set of mic pre-amps and
> converters in your recital hall and auditorium, and minimize your
> mic to pre distance.   From there you can convert to MADI
> optical, or use converters with built-in MADI conversion, to send
> to Central Recording. Optical MADI can be carried more than 1000
> meters.  MADI signals can be converted back to AES, or with
> special converters directly to Protools, and can work at high
> sample rates.
>
> Consider remote control mic pres, and try to avoid sending
> analog.  Grace Design make an 8 channel (M-802) that would
> probably work for you.
>
> It's not that your set-up would not work; in fact you can go
> digital on your 110 ohm cable also.  But nowadays it's important
> to make sure you have lots of digital infrastructure, and lots of
> options.  Make sure that you're networked to your halls. You
> should get a lot of alternatives from other RAP readers.
>
> Jim Weld


Hi, Jim-

Thanks for responding. The longest run is about 400 feet, and I've
tested the cable path with a 500' length of Belden foil-shielded AES
cable connecting a Neumann km184 to a Millennia HV-3C. The only noise
I heard sounded like mike self noise. Which is good news because I
REALLY want to keep all the knobs--especially the preamp gain--next to
the recorder so that I can adjust in a pinch.

Remote control preamps might be great if I weren't so much of a geezer
(What? change gain on a preamp without touching it? Get outta here!).
When necessary, we'll haul preamps (and converters) into the hall to
transmit digital back to the recorders.

But a major part of the system design is the flexibility afforded by
having all the preamps and converters collocated so that we can mix
and match them among simultaneous sessions/concerts. We just couldn't
afford as many preamp and converter channels (of this quality) if we
had to have a complete set in each performance space.

-Matt