Field recording with an 828mkII

mjarecki · Post by **mjarecki** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:56 pm

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone here is doing any field recording with their 828mkII? What are your experiences? Do you find it too heavy carrying around a laptop, mixer, lead-acid battery, etc? Is the equipment unduly fragile?

I noticed on the MOTU website, a brief article on someone using an 828 mkII (and a Traveller) with a lead acid battery for portable power.

I'm interested in doing some field recording (heading to Cambodia for purposes of documentary) and don't want to spend too much more money; hence buying a purpose built field recorder (Tascam HD-P2, etc) is not ideal.

Thinking of connecting my 828 mkII, Sound Devices MixPre and TiBook to a 12V 10A battery (2.5kgs) and DC-AC inverter. All would be mounted in a 2U bag. Is this too heavy (probably 7-9kgs) to lug around? Do you find it difficult to require the laptop to be on whilst recording? Does this affect spontaneity too much? Also are there many problems of heat dissipation with a 2U bag such as the Gator Studio-2-go?

Incidentally, does anyone know the power requirements of the 828 mkII? I've emailed MOTU and have recieved no response (and no I can't find my manual either).

Sorry about the barrage of questions. Still in two minds about purchasing new equipment or retrofitting the existing setup.

Cheers

Mark