Newbie needs help on setup for long live recordings

[ContinuingEd]

I recently purchased an MBOX 2 and need advise on how to best set up Pro Tools for recording live conferences. I am completely new to all of this. I went with the MBOX 2 because I could also use it to record my kids guitar playing. And I figured it would work for my meetings. But I want to be sure I do everything right because I only have one chance when recording live. I will be running a conference in 2 weeks. We will have 20 presenters and will need to record 4 lectures a day/ one hour each. Only one 15 minute break during the 4 hours so I will need to run the recording continuosly for the 4 hours as I will not be able to monitor the recording and tend to the MBOX much. I will edit later and post the audio on my website.

Questions:
1- Will Pro Tools/ MBOX 2 handle 4 hours of continuous recording?
2- I will purchase whatever I need to make this happen. What specifications should I need for a computer (Windows)(laptop preferable for travel), external hard drive, etc. Please consider cost when making recommendations.
3- Do I have to configure any of the settings on ProTools to allow for such a long recording?

I work for a non-profit and we can not afford to have a professional do the recording for us so your assistance is appreciated.

Walter

[mano111]

I dont know exactly where to start. think about the setup of these lectures, how many people, what size room, what microphone are you planning on using and where to place it?

In intrest of this working, considering the live nature of these meetings, I would suggest seeking the advice of an experianced person for at least the first meeting so that the setup could be established.

maybe a non computer based recorder might work as well. im talking about a stand alone recorder that records to disk or flash. this will give you more mobility and zero setup times and will be cheaper.

If you are dead set on doing it this way go with a Mac laptop , or if you must a DIGI approved windows laptop .
you'll need a firewire external drive. to record the 4hrs=240 mins all you need is about 2.4 gigs so basically any DIGI qualified HD will work.
practice and test your setup before the meeting.
on the day of the conerance allow youself time to setup befoe it starts.

The longest continuous recording I had ever made on Protools was about 2 hours long with 4 mics but it should work as long as there is disk space to record on.

[Naagzh]

How about this instead? Like mano said, an Mbox is overkill for what you're trying to accomplish.

If you want to record your son's guitar, then there are plenty of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) to choose from. Pro Tools is the industry standard, yes, but Logic is good as well, and comes with any Mac you buy nowadays. And with a stand-alone recorder, you can always transfer the audio to your computer at a later date.

I'll also echo the sentiment that finding a Digidesign-approved PC laptop will be a something of a challenge for the novice. It will take every bit (at least) of your free time during the next two weeks to sort it all out. There's chipsets, Windows versions (Vista is shaky ground), formatting the external drive, installing Pro Tools, learning Pro Tools' signal flow and processing, plug-ins, etc., etc.

Yes, with an Mbox and a compatible PC you CAN do the job. But, off the top of my head, I can think of several ways a novice can irreparably mess up (or even lose) the audio.

[bspro]

I'll agree with the other guys...even an MBox is pretty much overkill for what you are wanting to do. I've used the Edirol R09s with great result for similar things. They fit in your pocket, can record great sounding spoken word and are generally great little devices. There are lots of affordable flash drive recorders that you should check out...