In Summary

When it’s time to take the studio to the band, one device that could dictate the success of the session is the audio interface. Certainly the extra bells and whistles of some are best left back at home. With practical considerations at the top of the list for pros in the field, we round up the things that actually count.

Going Deeper

Recording on location provides a great opportunity to place the band somewhere that will either inspire, or at least accommodate larger acts that might not fit into the studio’s regular space. Working elsewhere can also be a great way to switch things up for the engineer in need of a change of scenery, or even that most precious commodity: daylight and some fresh air! Aside from the Studio On Location scenario, the alternative of live gig capture is an entirely different one-take rollercoaster. OK, so daylight and fresh air might not always be on the menu but whatever the reason, there’s no better tonic to inspire everyone than working in the right space on location.

Working ‘outside’ makes different demands on the gear compared to the studio. Where no-one cares about things like size or weight in an installed studio, those moving gear to an outside jaunt certainly will. Where complexity can offer extended functions in the studio, location work needs immediacy and reliability above all else.

So when it comes to the best box for that big trip outside, what are the dealbreakers that set some apart from the gig-breakers? Read on to find out our top five…

1 - Baggability

This one becomes obvious when it comes to the load out or in. That shiny new interface always looks really light in the pictures, but looking at just how hard the thing pulls downwards is worth knowing when choosing one. Factors such as solid construction matter, but any over-engineered lump is going to need to earn its keep in other ways.

The best way to keep the size and weight down is, not surprisingly, to use the smallest box possible. If it’s a simple concert stereo capture off the console, hooking up a multichannel interface is overkill (and eats up the FOH person’s valuable parking space for their food/laptop/etc). With the right treatment, a smaller, lighter, adequately engineered box is going to withstand some moderate rough-and-tumble.

2 - Add-On Inputs

On the subject of size and weight, getting a modular box makes sense. This means that unneeded channels can stay at home on the small jobs, with extra expansion flown in for the bigger ones. While the connections and channel counts to do this can vary, almost all are digital. Among these, the ADAT connections seen on many boxes (aka, TOSLINK, or just “lightpipe”) can provide up to 8 channels of expansion in either direction. This makes them great for extra inputs, but also for extra headphone mix outputs where provided. Just remember to handle their fibre optic cables with more care than that 58 you keep for personal protection…

3 - Gig Friendliness

It’s still true that audio performance tends to improve with price, but the gap is constantly narrowing. Increasingly, the kind of differences (if any) that might be heard on a studio recording can be lost when capturing on location.

For loud live gigs, engineers speccing a mobile system for the field might want to weigh up the wisdom of taking out expensive high end A-D. In that situation, stage and audience noise will almost always eclipse system noise, if any does exist. For quieter captures, or those without an audience, time can be invested in a recording that almost any modern box will be able to resolve faithfully.

When enjoying all the liquids, theft, vibration, and all the other fun of guerrilla recording, a modest investment could keep any insurance costs down or otherwise limit the financial damage should the worst happen.

4 - Quick Levels

24 bit recording means lots of lovely dynamic range that is perfect to absorb some of the unexpected bumps that field recording can throw. Yes, 32 bit float is the ultimate solution for virtually limitless levels either side of Zero. For now though, it’s still a more expensive luxury compared to its fixed point relation. If nothing else, just about everything recorded over the last twenty years or so was done in the Dark Ages of 24 bit…

More recently, a number of 24 bit devices have emerged that set the levels for you. In a live situation, where the levels must be nailed when the FOH engineer decides, any auto-level setting box is going to help a lot. Audient’s EVO Smartgain is one system that lets the engineer ‘arm’ inputs, press a green button, and well… Relax.

5 - Easy Apps

For the studio on location, monitoring can happen on headphones too, and artists needn’t be roughing it if the right box is in the car. This is where any interface’s mixer app comes into its own. Anyone who has used these will have their opinions, but it must be said that there are some highly flexible, capable ones out there that fall completely short in the field. This can be down to fiddly, over-complex GUIs, and the ones that excel on location are the simplest (and most stable, of course). These let the engineer see which mix is going where (and to whom) quickly and easily without the aid of a PDF or magnifier…

Anything else?

Anyone who has pulled their installed gear out for a location recording will understand the disruption it can cause. Having done it the hard way a few times myself, I can say that having a compact, affordable B-rig (or an expensive one if you’re rich!) can be a good idea when location work is going to be more than just the occasional trip outside.

Any box with a mains power inlet on the back has the ultimate location-friendly mod: a built-in power supply. While others have good reasons for keeping the mains at the other end of a lead, the best interface is the one you can still use when things get left behind. It’s usually easy enough to find or borrow a mains IEC lead form another device, contrasted with the DC-sipping box that instantly turns into an expensive doorstop without power.

Sometimes throwing tonnes of channels at a location recording might not be appropriate. For pre-production duties, or where a live performance sounds great in the room, some stereo ambience and a stereo feed off the console can rival or even match the quality of complex multichannel mixes. This relies on a great FOH mix and other factors, but anyone who’s tried both might agree…

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A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.

Live photo by Antoine Boissonot on Unsplash