Topic: Edirol R-44 - 4 Channel Recorder (Part II)

[NOLAfishwater]

I thought I would post my R-44 bag solution... The 3 Shelf SoniCase. Basically all the cables are hooked up, all I have to is connect my mic cables to XLR interconnects that are connected to my V3 and I'm ready to go. It works/looks better if its up and down

nice Rick. looks good. I have to carry my mics and other patch cables in another bag. man is this thing easy to run.

[NOLAfishwater]

ran it in the field for the first time with no problems. just got home but promised my beautiful fiance' that I would watch a movie with her. gonna mix it down tomorrow. will report back.

[stirinthesauce]

Ran mine all day on saturday, mme on channels 1 and 2 (aes>spdif) and analog in on channels 3 and 4.   No issues.  The pre's on the r44 actually sound pretty good.

[ascouserinnewyork]

As I asked about carry solutions I came across this FITS PERFECTLY.

It just does not give you great access to the menu and play buttons. For what I am using this unit for - spoken word in a large mix of environments for radio interviews - I can 'set it and forget it'.  The bag has great side access to all the ports with a nice clear flappy. The top pocket (which is where I store the excess headphone cable) could hold a receiver unit (but only 1). I wear a photog jacket with pockets-a-plenty to store batteries and to carry the mic when just walking to locations.

If you are using this unit solo - in the way I am - with just one stick mic (or add in a lav or two) I recommend this bag. Quite pleased after the pleasent B&H staff pulled mutiple bag units for me to try and fit the R44 unit into comfortably. I don't care for carrying mics, pre-amps etc... I already have the FP33 with full portabrace for wireless and extras (which could easily fit the R44 too).. but for what I need, this bag was a tremendous fit and find. In comparison to wearing the FP33 and the Zoom H4 unit - the Wendt and the R44 was a breeze to carry, especially when walking around New York in the beautiful weather we have lately.

Here's the pic I promised.

[sonidista]

EDIT: What were you recording BTW spoken voice?

digifish

I recorded production sound for a low budget movie, using an additional SIE (nodbody knows) preamp and I must say the results are really good. I would say film production sound is one of the most sensitive applications of field recording.
I will post something soon.

[sonidista]

Try Eveready e-lithium...you can get close to six hours of record time with 4 channels of phantom activated...

So on what do you put the system menu for batteries with these, alkaline or nimh?

[balou2]

Man...I knew it was smaller, but seeing it next to the V3 really puts it in to context.  My R4 seemed HUGE with my V3 in the bag, both length and width-wise.  Still wish they would have straightened out the metering screen angle a bit.

[sonidista]

here are some recordings I did last week:

1 A spoken part, recorded with an Oktava MK 012 with hyper cardiod capsule, run through my SIE 4 channel mono mixer into the R-44 with the second gain level (lowest level seemed a bit too low for the mixer's line out). Recorded 48/24, then converted with dither to 16 bit in Soundtrack Pro.
http://www.sonidista.de/1.aif

2 Rain and nature ambience, recorded with two Oktava MK 012 with omni capsules directly into the R-44 with -44 dB, then (due to low level) increased the gain in Soundtrack Pro by 12 dB, converted to 16 Bit.
http://www.sonidista.de/rain.aif

So, even though I complained about the preamps' noise, it is indeed hard to figure out in the actual recordings.

[mfoley]

Try Eveready e-lithium...you can get close to six hours of record time with 4 channels of phantom activated...

So on what do you put the system menu for batteries with these, alkaline or nimh?

Akaline....

[Ozpeter]

I've ordered a Powermix III as a monitor mixer for my R-44 - it looks like it should sit underneath or alongside nicely, provide monitoring of a stereo pair plus two panned spots, would run off external battery, provide two headphone outlets, plus line out to backup stereo recorder.  More or less what Edirol should sell, except they should repackage it to match the R-44 casing.

http://www.artproaudio.com/downloads/specsheet/powermixiii.pdf

[penguin]

Success!!

I tested out my two R-44's in slave mode during rehearsal last night.

Both units were plugged in, one had a 16GB Sandisk Ultra, the other an 8GB Sandisk Ultra, both going at 24/48. Recorded about 3 hours total of 8 tracks with no problems, the slave setup worked perfectly. Although I am not an expert on preamp sound quality, I am quite pleased with the results. I will test the rig again under similar circs but with better microphones in two weeks time.

This is exciting for me because I used to have a Digi002/laptop rig, which was a pain to monitor, and oftentimes it distracted me from playing my instruments and leading to a lot of screw ups. With the R-44's its just hit the record button and forget about it. I initially preordered a Sound Devices 788T for the 8 track capabilities, but I am really glad I went with two of the R-44's. With the money I saved I was able to buy a ton of other things.

[digifish_music]

Success!!

I tested out my two R-44's in slave mode during rehearsal last night.

Nice case & rig. So what are you doing with 8 channels?

digifish

[penguin]

Success!!

I tested out my two R-44's in slave mode during rehearsal last night.

Nice case & rig. So what are you doing with 8 channels?

digifish

Re rig - Thanks!

Re channels:
Channels 1&2 Drum Overheads & some ambience/audience (2 ST 55s)
Channel 3 Guitar (SM57)
Channel 4 Vocals (direct from wireless mike receiver)
Channel 5 Bass Drum (internally mounted D112)
Channel 6 Bass (direct out from bass amp)
Channels 7&8 Stereo Keyboards (1/4" outs)

[willndmb]

+T on the 8 channel work

[RobC]

I used my R44 for the first time this weekend,  worked great

picture of it just before using it for the first time (other than in front of my stereo)