SADiE's LRX2 Recorder Rocks Concerts

A location recorder selected by Richmond Studios Productions is proving its 'weight in gold' for recording both the recent Children in Need Concert at the Royal Albert Hall and the F1 Rocks concert which followed the Singapore Grand Prix.
SADiE's LRX2 location audio workstation has been busy playing a key part in two high-profile live music events, showing off its suitability for live touring.
The LRX2 was used at the concerts by Richmond Studios Productions Managing Director, Toby Alington, and Head of Audio, Richard Lancaster. Alington has been a SADiE user for over ten years, with SADiE PCM16 and BB2 systems also in use at the studios, and despite only having had the LRX2 for three months he had no hesitation taking it out on the road.
Reliability and flexibility are key kit requirements, Alington explained: "I'm always on the lookout for bullet-proof equipment for live multitrack recording systems, but also systems that offer some kind of versatility for fast editing onsite.
"Most of what we do involves live recordings, often multi-artist shows, around the world for TV or DVD shoots."
He continued: "There's always some request for last-minute edits of tracks, but the most important thing is reliability. I've used a certain Mac-based system – not by choice – on five recordings in the last six years: four times it failed on the main or backup system.
"That's not a solution for a one-chance live situation. Happily, SADiE is one of just two workstation systems that have never let us down."
For the Children in Need and F1 Rocks in Singapore, Alington recalled: "We simply plugged in MADI, Wordclock and timecode, and the system ran perfectly. The ability to record to two discrete drives is a reassurance, not least that when you’ve finished the gig you’ve got a first-generation backup already done."
The compactness of the LRX is a bonus too. Alington added: "It's the size of a laptop, and only needs a laptop host to drive it. Great for de-rig, or ‘fly-pack’, recordings rather than lugging a PC, Mac or big hardware boxes with you. The system looks and feels very professional – nice buttons, clear display and so on. The interface to export tracks at the end of a recording is very neat, and the integration with our post production facilities is a major plus."
Richmond's Head of Audio Richard Lancaster commented: "Regarding the LRX’s versatility in terms of I/O, MADI can be on fibre or BNC, and it can take its clock source from one of a variety of different sources. Because you’re never sure what you are going to get on location that’s a real bonus."
The SADiE LRX2 location audio workstation has been designed to fulfil the needs of an ever more complex recording environment and to serve a wide variety of remote recording applications. It combines SADiE’s proven high-quality professional audio input and output ‘slither card’ I/O modules, with a tactile hardware control surface and the ability to use a standard laptop via USB2 as the host computer to provide a powerful and effective combination.
(BMcN/BMcC)