Review: Fostex MR-16HD

I bought a Fostex 16-track HD recorder about a year ago, because my previous one, a Fostex MRII-8 track recorder broke.
Now the reason my Fostex mrII8 broke, was because I left it in my father's garage. Moisture must have gotten in, and destroyed the LCD screen. The recorder still worked, but the LCD screen was dead. I now keep my recorders in the house, where the humidity is around 45.
The Fostex 16 Track recorder, with a build-in cd burner, and hard drive. I've recorded myself, and a few friends with this recorder, and it is great! I highly recomend it if you are just starting out recording. This recorder would be good if you are a solo player. You can lay down your own drum track, via drum machine, then make a guitar track, then a vocal track, and wahlaa, your done! Actually, you have 13 more tracks to play with, so you can get really creative!

Information about: Fostex MR-16HD

Ever since they pioneered the first 8-track recorder that could use 1/4" tape (without the expected crosstalk), Fostex has found new ways to give you more in less space and for less money.The MR16 digital recorder gives you 4-track simultaneous recording and 16-track playback, plus the ability to bounce 16 tracks to a new song file, so you get your full 16 tracks at mixdown. A built-in 40GB hard drive gives you up to 8 hours of recording (16-track). The Fostex MR16 also provides 4 x analog inputs (mic/line) with phantom power, one of which features built-in analog distortion, amp simulation, and mic simulation, for guitar. Input EQ for sound-shaping is also available. Input signals can be assigned to the stereo buss to output through the monitor and stereo output along with playback audio.On the output side, the MR16 recorder offers 2 x aux output so you can use outboard signal processors, S/PDIF digital out (optical) for digital dubbing to MD/DAT recorder, and a MIDI output to send MTC or MIDI Clock to an external sequencer or recorder.You also get built-in digital effects including reverb and delay, plus dedicated mastering effects (3 presets) on a stereo bus (good for track bouncing or stereo mixing). The Fostex MR16 also features powerful editing functions including Copy/Paste, Move, Import, Exchange, Erase, etc of selected tracks or part.A USB 1.1 host port lets you to connect an external CD-R for creating audio CDs and a USB 2.0 port gives you high-speed transfer to a PC, plus easy file conversion of audio data on Track 15-16 to stereo WAV file. Used with the bounce function, this provides a convenient way to create audio CDs on PC, or music files for a portable playe

Home Again

Another long day of work, and an interview, and I'm finally home! Not a very good day, found out that in my Rail Road job that I have to come in 2 times a day because of 2 trains for now on. We don't get paid any extra because we don't get a full 40 hours, even though we are guaranteed 40 hours a week no matter what.

My interview on the other hand with UPS went pretty good. I still don't know if I got the job. I have to wait for a phone call which I think if they were going to hire me, they would give me a call tomorrow or atleast by Friday. I'll keep my fingers crossed, because I need that extra money!

I Got an Interview

Well I went into my UPS walk-around today, and got a phone interview with them. I then set up an appointment tomorrow for a person to person interview at 1:15pm. I think I will get the job, or they wouldn't have gone through the trouble for the interviews. I think they are just in need of people to do their dirty work.

At least things are starting to look up. With this job, if I get it, I will be able to pay up all the bills that are behind. And after that, I can work on the credit card debt I've created for my family. That might take a year! I hope I can get it paid off within a year anyways. After we get out of the hole, maybe I will be able to just work one job and make a decent living.

Baby Showers

Well the day has come for me and my family to go to my sister's baby shower. Man I hate these things! But she went to my wife's baby shower, so we will go to hers.

On another note, I plan on going up to the mountains sometime tonight to hang up my deer cam. I've wanted to put it up all summer, but I just couldn't find the time, or you could say I was just too lazy. I just want to get some pictures and see what kind of deer come in the area I've been hunting for 10 years and only ever got 1 deer! I usually don't hunt the whole day, so atleast the camera will keep track of times, and give me a general idea of what time I can expect deer to show up.

Now this would only work if I were hunting in bow season which comes in first. The deer won't be spooked by loud gun shots, and not as many people hunt bow so there would be less people in the woods scarying the deer. When rifle season comes in, the Monday after Thanksgiving, deer are going to be all over the place. They will be running across streets, highways, and will show up in people's backyard! Its crazy is Eastern Pennsylvania around buck season. Deer are dead all over the sides of the road because they are always getting spooked out of the woods onto the highway.

Playing Again

I decided to put the lawn chair out on the front porch, and I picked up my guitar willing and played for about an hour! Its nice to sit down and relax and forget about all of your worries for atleast alittle bit.

In the near future I'm going to be playing at open mics around the area. Pappy's Pub is going to be my first stop in Waynesboro. I need to find out when they have their open mics and check them out, then hopefully I can sit in and play a few sets!

Working Man's Blues

Man you better rethink your life when you think its a good idea to have a baby, then get married the very next month, then three months later buy a house lol. I already have the second job, plus I do some farm work on the side. I had a mowing business on the side as well during the summer, but of course that season is over now.
A funny thing at my second job today though. My second job is Jiffy Lube, its an oil change and lube center. We were replacing a car battery, and it was one of the battery that had the battery tie down at the bottom, with the bolt. Well my co worker that hates me yelled at me because he was loosening the bolt and I started jerking on the battery so you didn't have to take the bolt the whole way out. Well, the dickhead didn't want to do it my way, so I let him do it his way.
So after he took the bolt the whole way out, changed the battery and attached the terminal wires, he then started working on that damn bolt he took out which I thougt it would be easier to slide the battery out without the hassle of rethreading that bolt in. So I let him work on it for about 15 minutes then said..."Well, if you would have done it my way it would have been done 10 minutes ago. He threw the tools at me and said, "If you think you know more about cars then I do then you can put the damn battery in the car and he pushed me and walked away.
So I got to work. Tore the battery back out, threaded the tie down, slide the battery back in, and tighened the bolt and was done in 5 minutes. The dude didn't talk to me the rest of the day lol.

Another Sleepless Night

Man, I really wish I knew how to get a 3 week old baby to stay asleep at night! Me and my wife have been up every night since his birth. He sleeps only 2 hours at a time it seems like, and he only goes to sleep when someone is holding him. If we put him down carefully sometimes he will sleep awhile, but usually he wakes up after about 15 minutes until you pick him up again!
Other than that, I've been working, writing, and playing guitar when I can. Can't wait till fall gets here! I'm tired of summer, and I'm tired of my on the side mowing jobs. I plan on plowing snow in the winter. Hopefully next summer I will have enough money to get a pa system and do some gigs for extra cash. It beats having a 2nd job!