Topic: llatop help for a newb

[whyweigh]

ok, I have a laptop and would like to start taping shows..

where do i go from here?

[whyweigh]

thanks for the link, but i have read that already...

All i have is a laptop right now.   
my budget... eh, not too much...

I cant work cause of medical... but i get a $600 SSI check every month..   not much i know, i dont know how they expect someone to live off that.

[sygdwm]

http://usbpre.com/
http://soundevices.safeshopper.com/8/cat8.htm?38

or:

http://www.oade.com/cgi-bin/mivavm?Merchant2/merchant.mvc+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=OADE&Product_Code=EDIUA5WMBP&Category_Code=DDR


try and find used first. then buy a digital coax cable, recording software of your choice (wavelab4/5, soundforge5/6, audacity, cooleditpro, etc) and start patching at shows. save for mics while you try out which ones you like. what O/S are you running? will you use your lappy for other things than taping?

[whyweigh]

im runnin on WinXP

iI basically use it for surfing and downloading music.

thats pretty much it.

[sygdwm]

fwiw. i DO NO use my lappy for anything bit recording. IMO you are running a risk doing both. with that said, what kind of machine (specs- ie ram, hd, interfaces, etc)? you will need to format your lappy and dual boot your partiotions if you plan to both surf/record. how much battery runtime do you have and can you add batteries?

[whyweigh]

im on a Gateway M675
60GB HD
2.99GHz, 512 MB Ram

I dont get much bat life cause it has a 17 inch widescreen...  but i can change batteries.
with 100% bat life i get about 2 1/2 hours.. sometimes less sometimes more..   depends on what i am doing with it.

[chase]

i wouldn't worry about using the same machine for surfing the internet and whatever else you use your computer for as long as you keep it safe from malware.  i guess if you wanted to be overly careful you could partition the drive into 2 sections, 1 for the OS and one for data.  that way, worst case scenario you can blow away your OS, reformat the one partition and reinstall, leaving the data partition untouched.

[creekfreak]

im on a Gateway M675
60GB HD
2.99GHz, 512 MB Ram

I dont get much bat life cause it has a 17 inch widescreen...  but i can change batteries.
with 100% bat life i get about 2 1/2 hours.. sometimes less sometimes more..   depends on what i am doing with it.

That is a big lappie to be using in the field...but a nice one, got a few of those in our lab at work, use one myself for work.

[whyweigh]

yeah it is big...  but,          it whats i got.

[sygdwm]

you need a battery soulution for "real" concert taping. i used to think i could get by w/ 2 batteries but ended up getting a valence n-charge or you can just try switchuing them at setbreak if there is one.

http://store.yahoo.com/1800mobiles/ncharge.html

[whyweigh]

thanks, im gonna look into gettin one of those n-charges