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portable recording set up

NickFromNY

NickFromNY

Nov 2, 2010
1,903
2,244
Long Island, NY
#1
I am putting together a portable recording set up for my school district. I would like to be able to record rehearsals and performances mulitrack in a variety of locations. Running a PC laptop with it using Reaper. I was looking at either the Behringer X18 or Presonus AR16... price range is $750 and under. needs to do mulitrack usb, not just LR out.

edit.. let me add that I want to be able to use this mixer for live events at school as well. for example, the Jazz band concert.. mix band live while recording separate tracks for mixdown later.
 
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#2
i use the tascam US-1608, but have used the X18 Air for this as well. is this price range for just the audio interface? if so, the 1608 gets you 8 mic pres and 8 line ins and costs $300. you could get some outboard mic pres if you need more than 8, and some outboard compressors to smooth out the input levels when needed and still be under budget. if you also need mics and cables and stands and all that jazz, you could forgot the pres and compressors and probably get enough cheap stuff to make it work. the 1608 is consumer-grade, but it does support -10/+4 so you can use it with some pro level stuff in the future if you get a budget for upgrades like external pres and such. this is a big advantage to this unit over many of its competitors which are -10 only.
 
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#4
To step up to a higher level of quality with 8 or more inputs, you're looking at probably more than $750 for pro-level gear. MOTU, Focusrite, Apogee, Audient, etc make some nice entry-level professional units (as opposed to souped up pro-sumer grade) that will be slightly out of your price range. Tascam has a higher end box that I haven't tried but maybe you should check it out?

TASCAM Celesonic US-20x20 USB 3.0 Audio Interface
 
#6
I also really enjoy the Behringer X Air X18. $450 brand new, I use it to simultaneously run sound and multitrack record my band with Reaper for any shows requiring us to bring our own PA. I'm quite happy with the results. I picked up a cheap Amazon Fire Tablet for making adjustments while wandering around the venue. I also bought a cheap dual band router for stability.
 

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