Hard disk recorder

A hard disk recorder (HDR) is a type of direct-to-disk recording system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to reel-to-reel audio tape recording and video tape recorders, and provide editing capabilities unavailable to tape recorders. The systems, which can be standalone or computer-based, typically include provisions for digital mixing and processing of the audio signal.

Prior to the 1980s, most recording studios used analog multitrack recorders, typically based on reel-to-reel tape. The first commercial hard disk (HDD) recording system was the Sample-to-Disk 16-bit, 50kHz digital recording option for the New England Digital Synclavier II in 1982. The high cost and limited capacity of these solutions limited their use to large professional audio recording studios, and even then, they were usually reserved for specific applications such as film post-production.

With the takeoff of the compact disc, digital recording became a major area of development by equipment makers. Several affordable solutions were released during the late 1980s and early 90s; many of these continued to use tape, either in reels, or in more manageable videocassettes. However, in 1991, Fairlight ESP Pty Ltd developed the MFX2, the first 24 track disk recorder. In 1993, iZ Technology Corporation developed RADAR (Random Access Digital Audio Recorder distributed by Otari), designed to replace 24 track tape machines. By the middle 1990s, with the steady decline of hard disk prices and the corresponding increases in capacity and portability, the cost of hard disk recording systems had dropped to the point where they became affordable for even smaller studios. Though there are several other types of digital recorder still in use, hard disk systems are rapidly becoming the preferred method for studio recording.

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