AudioMedia - January 2009 - (Page 52)

> If not (to the time code part) Marantz has some tidy recorders, and has been in this market forever. I’ve got one of the early series machines, and I don’t really love it. But its new promises long battery life, simple edl-based editing, and even read after write monitoring. Tempting stuff. Alongside its SD and Compact Flash recorders, Marantz is the only one offering CD burning on the hoof – though it’s now via the medium of hard disk. The has built-in edit functions before you burn the CD, which is exactly what I’m looking for, so bring it on. Yes, Yes, And Yes If you can remember the question – timecode but only two tracks. Yes to both brings us to Fostex FR , Tascam, and Sound Devices territory. I bought a load of Fostexs, and like Frank I have some regrets. The machine is great, light, well specced, and built to take a knock. The time code board is an add-on, unlike the Tascam. My main gripe is the battery life, which is shorter than your granny on Halo , and although the machine is not heavy it is on the bulky side. But they do last, and they do the business. I haven’t tried the Tascam HD-P , but it has garnered some good press and should be on your list if you’re serious about a recorder in this bit of the market. Sound Devices has had plenty of my cash in recorders (well, not really mine, but you know what I mean) and quite simply, make some killer machines. You can have with or without timecode, and with or without dual recording to hard disk and Compact Flash. The build quality is wicked, and these machines are works of electronic genius. They use standard Sony-style camcorder batteries, and battery life is generous. You can replace the hard disk for a bigger one with some hand tools and the helpful manual. The file management options need thinking about, but when you’ve done that, they really are ace. If you have the latest firmware you can record to external FireWire drives. The downsides aren’t many, but nothing is perfect. The menu system is one enormous list and scrolls the wrong way (or the ‘gnorw way’ if you think it’s the right way), the four channel only has two mics amps, doesn’t have XLRs throughout, and makes a terrible iPod. But these are the machines that have rewritten the rule book in por table pro audio. In my house there was always a bit tension with my wife over recorders, as she preferred the simplicity of the Nagra BB. Which is an ARES in an over the shoulder fo r m at. H owe ve r, s h e recently tried my Sound Devices series and was a convert. Game over? No, Nagra has an LB coming. Dual screen, on board editing, record to external USB device (how cool is that?) and Ethernet for net delivery of your audio. Pretty sweet. So in question K illing Cash For Flash form, do you want editing and a remote delivery option? If so, get on the Swiss bus. It won’t be as cheap as pommes frites, but it’s not expensive either for what you get. And now the really big boys from the Sound Devices Deva to the mighty Aaton Cantar. If this sector was being covered by Top Gear, then the star with the reasonably priced recorder would be sent out with the pro Edirol -track. The R- Pro has onboard editing and can do four track and has timecode, so it sits really in its own evolutionary niche. I haven’t used one but people I respect do and love it, so keep it in mind. There are actually three machines in the range – you’ll need to dig around a bit there, I haven’t used one in anger. If you want a multi-track machine with timecode, with bomb-proof reliability to record high quality music or film sound, then step this way to the next question. “…too good looking, and too beautifully made, and too idiosyncratic to be anything other than the greatest piece of audio equipment in the world. Surely this is the recorder Brunel would have made had he lived another 150 years?” Tak in g G orgeous For A Spin How many mic amps? If four is enough, the Nagra VI (it does run six tracks) should be your first port of call. Great finish, great sound, easy to use, surprisingly cheap, gorgeous screen – there’s lots to like. If you’re serious, read the whole review in Audio Media and take one for a spin. Oh yes, it does hard disk and Compact Flash, but not simultaneously, though it has a neat back up while stopped function. Downsides are that it’s big (but not heavy), it’s new so the software is maturing, and only four mic amps. However, it has managed to avoid competition from Sound Devices who has a with two mic amps, and the with eight. I haven’t tried a , but it seems to have all the SD advantages of great build in a very small package. I even wonder if it’s too small, but without trying one I’ll have to leave that till I get my hands on one. They now do a cute mixer, which somehow expands the track count. How do they do it? I reviewed the Fostex PD and really liked it. No nonsense recorder, p ro b a b l y d e s i gn e d i n Yo r k s h i r e . R e c o r d i n g is to small format DVDs, and herein lies a cautionary tail, as Hitachi is no longer making the cm DVDs in a cartridge format. Fostex will supply you with a cartridge, and production of cm DVDs continues, but the point is that most of our recorders are now tied to formats driven by other industries. The Fostex philosophy is firmly that if you need to change a setting, you should have a knob or switch to change it with. This is embodied in the new PD , with built in hard drive and cm DVD, six inputs and eight track record, with two tracks reserved for a mix. And still king of the knob count. I can see both sides of the ergonomic argument, having gaily recorded ’non optimally’ on my Sound Devices, because I have missed ‘set option number ’. Having said that, give a man a switch and he’ll knock it by mistake one day, or in some cases every day. I can’t say much about the HHB Portadrive because I’ve never used one in anger, though it does tick all the high-end boxes: eight channels, / resolution, AES or Pro Tools session compatibility, removable drives, three built-in mixers, CD/DVD support, timecode, tri-level sync, and SCSI/USB/Ethernet/RS /PS connections for playing nicely with the outside world… and more besides. And then we get to the very, heavy duty stuff, Zaxcom and Aaton. I’ve used the Aaton, but not the Deva. Watching Julian Howarth on the Doctor Who set I can see why the Deva has won so many fans. The comprehensive facilities, the workflow, the touch screen, the DVD burner for the hand on to post. It really does look good. But the Cantar is just too good looking, and too beautifully made, and too idiosyncratic to be anything other than the greatest piece of audio equipment in the world. Even though it only has five mic inputs and is made in France. Surely this is the recorder Brunel would have made had he lived another years? With M e I n M y Coffin So if the final question is, ‘what piece of kit would you like to be buried with?’, then Cantar X is the answer. So that in ten thousand years, when they dig you up to put you in the British museum, punters will queue round the block to gaze on the glory that was st century civilisation before the credit crunch swept us all away. And you, dear reader, will be revered as a king among recordists. A veritable Tutankhamun of sound. Even if in real life your ears were made of cloth and your fingers bananas, because of course it’s the kit that maketh the recordist after all. All that’s left now are the questions I don’t care about. Prerecord function, Khz, built in reverb, dilithium crystal recharge. You’re on your own there. ∫ The new International Buyer's Guide to Recorders is now available for download from www.audiomedia.com. “In my house there was always a bit tension with my wife over recorders, as she preferred the simplicity of the Nagra BB… However, she recently tried my Sound Devices 7 series and was a convert. Game over? No…” AUDIO MEDIA JANUARY 2009 http://www.audiomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - January 2009

AudioMedia - January 2009 Contents Recording News Post News Broadcast News Geo Focus: India What's Up UK? Special Report: Pimp My Ride AKG C214 Sony Acid Pro 7.0 Final Cut: Mirror's Edge Opportunities in the Reality World She's Got the Look The X-Factor Sadie LRX2 Source Elements Source-Connect 3.1 Buying a Recorder In Control Product Sampler: Trade Shows Video Guide AMSR News Digico SD8 The Last Picture Show File Server

AudioMedia - January 2009

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