NEW TRUCK ADDS GREATER DIMENSION TO
ONSITE RECORDING SERVICES

—Features Yamaha DM2000 and Otari ND-20B Systems—

LOS ANGELES, CA (October 5, 2002)—In just three years of operation, OnSite Recording Services (OSR) of suburban Cleveland (OH) has achieved a reputation for quality remote live music recording. Earlier this spring, OSR added another dimension to its capabilities with the addition of the OnSite Mobile Recording truck, OSR1, a custom-designed control room on a 2002 Isuzu truck body, equipped with the new Yamaha DM2000 digital production console and 96-channel Otari ND-20B fiber optic audio routing snake system.

OnSite Recording Services (OSR) of suburban Cleveland (OH) recently unveiled the OnSite Mobile Recording truck, OSR1.

"We wanted to build a market-sensitive vehicle—a controlled environment that sounded great, had full functionality, and could do larger-than-life recording, broadcast and mixing," explains owner/operator and 20-year industry veteran Joel Singer. "Up until now, our only option was to go into a building, set up a portable rig in a remote location, run multiple copper cables and record a show. That worked well, but OSR1 will make it easier and allow us to get into new areas, such as remote broadcast work and on site mixing, for both rebroadcast and webcast.

Singer's design was implemented by Boulevard Body Works of Warren, NJ, who completed all the mechanical and electrical construction. The control room was built within the shell of the 18-ft. body, with the focus on maximizing space and providing an accurate listening area. "I personally did the wiring," Singer explains. "I like to know where everything is, how it was crimped, etc. Some of the wiring design uses the new Gepco multipair 110 ohm cable to run AES through the truck. OSR1 allows us to receive over 72 inputs at the truck through the ND-20 fiber routing system. With complete recall of all preamp and console settings, a true 24-bit signal path and audio-to-video lock, OSR1 can handle almost anything."

OSR1 is equipped with the new Yamaha DM2000 digital production console and 96-channel Otari ND-20B fiber optic audio routing snake system.

Gear choices for OSR1 were based on the desire to provide clients with the most up-to-date technology while remaining conscious of space and cost considerations. "I've used the Yamaha 02R for years, and knew the benefits of digital boards," he explains. "The DM2000 fell somewhere in between the PM1D and 02R, in terms of size and features. It offered a plethora of inputs and outputs in a format that would fit this type of vehicle well, and answered any concerns about features, size and economics. A lot of digital boards only offer a maximum of 56 channels, which would have required a secondary console. Not only was there no room for an additional board, but I didn't want to have to explain to a visiting engineer how both consoles were tied together.

"We're also trying to get engineers to use the internal effects and dynamics in the console," he continues. "The compressors and the gates work really well, but everyone has their opinion about effects and dynamics—it's like a choice of wine. Just in case a client wants a certain type of reverb or delay, we also have a collection of external dynamics and effects processors, including a Lexicon 480L, TC M5000 and M2000, an Eventide DSP4000, a pair of TC Intonators, plus Manley, Neve and Empirical Labs dynamics, and several TC Finalizers."

In order to maintain a clean signal, OSR1 keeps the signal in the digital realm right from the stage. "We've got a full rack of Aphex 1788 preamps that can do 72 channels right off the deck," Singer explains, "and those get plugged directly into the Otari ND-20 fiber optic IEEE-1394 routing system. All of that sits onstage with an uninterrupted power supply so that we can get as clean a signal to the truck as possible. Now that we're 'light' (fiber), we just take a hard split from the sound company, plug it in to our mic inputs, and the next thing you know it's at the truck. We can run 96 channels of 48K audio on one piece of fiber from the ND-20 system, and a new optical chip set for the Otari will bump that up to somewhere around 192 channels. We've had clients who were concerned about the amount of channels a smaller footprint truck like this can handle. With the equipment we have in place, we surprise a lot of people; it's very deceiving."

OSR1 also features Tascam MX2424s hard disk recorder/editors and a Macintosh G4 editing and backup system. Genelec 1030am and 1031a cabinets provide monitoring. OSR1 also contains three flat panel video monitor sources, including a new 22-in Luce 1600x1200 computer monitor/HDTV monitor, two 10-in. Sharp monitors, and a collection of over 160 microphones.

"We've been very fortunate to have had good success and to work with a diverse client base in a relatively short period of time," he continues. "One day we'll be recording Michael W. Smith in a small church in Cincinnati, and the next day, we'll be at the Palace in Auburn Hills working with Ted Nugent, so you never really know what your next gig is going to be. A record with did for Michael W. Smith in Lakeland, FL a year ago was just certified platinum, and the Ted Nugent project was released without any 'fixes.' OSR1 is an extremely market- and cost-sensitive solution. This could not have been achieved five years ago; it's time is now."

For more information, visit the OSR website at http://www.onsiterecording.com.

For more information on the DM2000, visit Yamaha at the 113th Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention, Los Angeles Convention Center, Booth 1401; write Yamaha Corporation of America, Commercial Audio Systems Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/proaudio.