Anybody have a working 246 (or equivalant)?

Update: 15 Months Later

Best laid plans... my music-composer friend and I never got together to do the remixing, so I eventually decided to do it myself. I cobbled together a little studio comprising a Dell laptop my daughter didn't want anymore, REAPER, a couple of Infinity 6" 2-ways, and a nice old Pioneer receivers from the '70s.

Then came an extended learning curve as I updated my minimal engineering skeels to 21st-century technology. I used a few basic effects from REAPER's included set: EQ, compressor, a couple of delays, reverb. Separating the bass and drums, which shared a single mono track on the original 4-track cassette, took a lot of time and tweaking. After much listening, mixing, re-mixing, false starts, stupid mistakes, and a lot of back-and-forth via email with one of the singers and my composer friend, I learned a lot and finally came up with some mixes I like. Not great, but WAY better than what I achieved on the 246 in 1986.

I have three of the four songs up on SoundCloud. The final track needs some extra work, and I may re-record the guitar solo on it, which will be a whole 'nuther learning experience. Anyway, here's three-quarters of "Anything But The YaYas".







P.S. - It looks as though Ed "Superreverb" hasn't been around HR much lately, but I'll send him a PM to see if he checks in. After all, we owe it all to him...
 
Unless that solo is just the worst thing ever (and it's not--I listened to it again), I'd keep it. It'll never be quite the same. Don't be a George Lucas!

Good job on the mix. I'd buy a copy if you ever release it.
 
This sounds awesome man!

I love that you mixed this after so long and it came out sounding so cool. Really, I'm surprised at how clear and crisp it sounds, especially knowing that the bass and drums are coming from one mono track. Try telling that to someone today and they'll think yr nuts. I recently fixed a 246 and am going to start recording with it soon. I'm in a band here in NYC and I record a lot of my own stuff to cassette. Been doin' it since the mid 90's!

Congrats on getting this realized and updating the thread.
 
... and last but not least, the 4th and final track, "Ship Of Dreams".



I ought to go back and post the original mixes, as well. These are a HUGE improvement. In 1986 I had the borrowed Tascam 246, and a pair of Boss DD-2 delay pedals, that was it. Today with Reaper, I pretty much have as many compressors, EQs, reverbs, and delays as I want, not to mention automation and I've barely scratched the surface.

I feel kind of guilty here in the Analog room, having ported the cassette over to the digital dark side.
 
Just listening to it now.....sounds brill.

First thing that strikes me is that it 'sounds human'.

I was waiting in the car the other day (school run) and I accidentally had the radio tuned into the UK's national pop radio (BBC Radio One) and the track that came on had so much artificial crap on the voice that you would never have known it was a human being singing the song. I must admit, I believe whole-heartedly in 'conspiricies' (I've done too much digging not to), but that's for another day, BUT I'm convinced that the powers that be are determined to remove all human aspects to creativity if they can. With digital, it's so much easier to do than analogue.

ViVE L'analogue!

Al
 
Despite Reaper's extensive capabilities (and not even considering 3rd-party plugins) I limited myself to processing that was available back in 1986 when this was recorded. This was partly because I wanted it to sound period-correct (but better), and partly because I'm an old fart who doesn't believe in all that modern digital stuff like sampled instruments, autotune, multiband compression, the volume wars, etc. Heck, even though I'm an '80s kinda guy, I never even got on board with gated reverb.

The advantages of digital in my case were economics and time. I could have set up an analog studio to do what I did in Reaper, but couldn't afford the hardware. Nor did I want to invest the time in putting together an analog studio for a one-off project. With Reaper, if I realized late in the game that I needed another delay or a 5th compressor, I could just drop them in instead of heading off to eBay or Sweetwater.

I did spread the projects out over a few more tracks than the old 246 would have allowed. Since Reaper's track count is basically limitless, I hacked up the bits where different parts shared a single track (at different times) and gave them their own tracks to make mixing easier. The outro guitar solo got its own track separate from the rhythm, the maniacal laughter got its own separate from the main vocal track. The bass and drums were the biggest PITA - they shared a single mono track that needed some serious EQ and compression to make them distinct from one another. I used a bandpass on the reverb to liven up the snare without mucking up the bass.

The vocals also shared a track, so the mix there is purely due to good singing, and the girls listening to each other and blending well when we recorded it. If I recall correctly, we recorded it in a bedroom with a pair of SM58s pointed in opposite directions and the singers facing each other. What they sang is what we got, though I livened it up in faux-stereo with a reverb plugin.

The one thing I used in Reaper that simply wouldn't have been available to me in 1986 was fader automation, which let me complete these mixes over multiple sessions as time and family commitments permitted, and save my work as I went along.

So, yeah, it wound up digital, but I strove to keep it "analog-like".

The singer says she wants to take the raw WAVs and combine them with loops & beats & stuff. It will be interesting to hear the different treatments.
 
Rich_S said:
Despite Reaper's extensive capabilities (and not even considering 3rd-party plugins) I limited myself to processing that was available back in 1986 when this was recorded. This was partly because I wanted it to sound period-correct (but better), and partly because I'm an old fart who doesn't believe in all that modern digital stuff like sampled instruments, autotune, multiband compression, the volume wars, etc. Heck, even though I'm an '80s kinda guy, I never even got on board with gated reverb.

The advantages of digital in my case were economics and time. I could have set up an analog studio to do what I did in Reaper, but couldn't afford the hardware. Nor did I want to invest the time in putting together an analog studio for a one-off project. With Reaper, if I realized late in the game that I needed another delay or a 5th compressor, I could just drop them in instead of heading off to eBay or Sweetwater.

I did spread the projects out over a few more tracks than the old 246 would have allowed. Since Reaper's track count is basically limitless, I hacked up the bits where different parts shared a single track (at different times) and gave them their own tracks to make mixing easier. The outro guitar solo got its own track separate from the rhythm, the maniacal laughter got its own separate from the main vocal track. The bass and drums were the biggest PITA - they shared a single mono track that needed some serious EQ and compression to make them distinct from one another. I used a bandpass on the reverb to liven up the snare without mucking up the bass.

The vocals also shared a track, so the mix there is purely due to good singing, and the girls listening to each other and blending well when we recorded it. If I recall correctly, we recorded it in a bedroom with a pair of SM58s pointed in opposite directions and the singers facing each other. What they sang is what we got, though I livened it up in faux-stereo with a reverb plugin.

The one thing I used in Reaper that simply wouldn't have been available to me in 1986 was fader automation, which let me complete these mixes over multiple sessions as time and family commitments permitted, and save my work as I went along.

So, yeah, it wound up digital, but I strove to keep it "analog-like".

The singer says she wants to take the raw WAVs and combine them with loops & beats & stuff. It will be interesting to hear the different treatments.
Click to expand...

GREAT job. I have a Tascam 244, and do the same thing with automation and multiplying tracks myself. I do all I can to keep it analog as long as possible, but I just don't have the capability to do all-analog mixes yet, and no money to farm that out either. You'll get no judgement from me on that count!

Rich_S said:
I feel kind of guilty here in the Analog room, having ported the cassette over to the digital dark side.
Click to expand...

It's not like anyone mixed down to DAT back in the '80s and '90s, right....?

Don't feel guilty, what you should do is make a legitimate cassette release, put the digital back on tape where it belongs :)
 
It sounds fantastic, Rich!!! I'm so glad that I got to be a part of this journey! I recently took a position as chief sound engineer a theater that's 20-mins from my house. Loving the work, but the hours can kill ya. That's why I haven't been checking in. One very cool aspect of the new gig is working with some amazing sound designers. It's really kicked me in the ass in terms of expanding my recording/transfer side-gig. I've got a pretty nice collection of vintage / older mics, and when they (the designers) find out what I have their eye kinda light up: "Hey, I know I spec'd this but can we try one of your XYZs? I've never played with one of those before....."

I feel like a kid again :-D

My new "office"

The-M7.jpg


Ed
 
Through the miracle of Facebook, Tina the pink-Tele-playing singer and I recently got back in touch with Dan, the drummer. Just this past week, Dan posted some photos he had of The YaYas one-and-only gig: July 3, 1986 on the roof of a row house near 2nd & South Sts in Philly. A friend who lived there always had a party the night before the 4th, so we could watch the fireworks at Veterans' Stadium after the Phillies Game.








How much fun did I look like I was having?



Aida (the singer is black) passed away a few years ago, and Bill (the bassist) is long-missing, but the rest of us are thinking about doing a reunion/tribute show this summer, with a couple of other friends filling in the missing pieces. Happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top