Tascam 246~Tascam/Shure Condensor Mic Demo 05/27/08

Yes, this is indeed it! I've waited for such a long time for A Reel Person 246 production! Thanks Dave!! Sounds great!:):)

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Quit talking about the dang 246. Your making me want one and I am trying to clear stuff out instead get more.
 
Dave,

A "reel" testament to what can be done on these machines with such limited hardware. The fullness and clarity is wonderful! ;) Questions:

1. This was all done with one mic??

2. Which Shure mic is it? SM81?

3. How did you mic the piano?

4. How was it mastered...straight to computer?

5. Any outboard processing gear, or was it a mic, mic cable and the 246?

I have looked at those 246's in the past too. They've got something on the 424's...the classic look, the real VU's and the 2-band sweep eq is really neat.

Nice work, and thanks for putting it up...you are doing your part in keeping analog alive!! :cool:
 
Yeah!

This is the 246 I recently put the capstan belt on, talking about preserving analog!

1) Piano was mic'd with (2) TASCAM ME-20 condenser mics. They were mounted on boom stands and inserted into piano thru top and pointed down, with one over C 2 octaves below Middle C & one over C 2 octaves above Middle C.

2) Vocal was mic'd with one side of a TASCAM ME-210 stereo mic. I think that's the number, anyway. Mounted on boom stand for piano position.

3) Drums were mic'd with (1) Shure BG 5.0 condenser mic, which was backed up about 5'~6' away from the drums.

4) Bass was DI plus close mic for snap using the Shure BG 5.0 again. When I use DI guitars or basses, I'll always use a close mic to supplement. That's my rule of the road. I cannot tell a lie, the bass track was done on the 244, as I'd been transporting the tape back and forth for tracking and proofing. Got a little lazy with the tape swap and just popped the bass track on using the 244. No big diff. 244 and 246 are about 8' away from each other in different rooms. One's on the monitor and one's not. I just swap the tape over to get a quick listen, and so it goes.

Piano and vocal tracks were laid down live-to-tape, then drums and bass were overdubbed.

The mix is piano hard left, bass hard right with drums and vocals dead center. Also, there's the requisite bleed between vocal and piano mics done live, which enhances stereo spread. Bass seems subtle, but it's nearly seamlessly tucked in unison with the piano track, sitting on the right holding the bottom, thus giving a full and wide stereo sound to the overall track,... or so I say (as YMMV). However, if it were not true, it would not sound that way. I don't usually use an ultimate hard L/hard R panning for stuff, but for this track it works.:eek:;)

I did the final mixdown to my HP ol'puter thru the std powered soundcard. I had to play with the mixer output and soundcard input levels to get it right. This soundcard seems to have a soft knee limiter that won't let you redline no matter what the setting. It's not the usual computer I mastered my previous few projects on. On the other ol'puter I might get a slightly better dynamic range or can ride the song a bit hotter, but I'm not sure. Doing another mix on the other 'puter is TBD. I'm happy with this mix though, and I've gone to press with it!:eek::eek:;)

I just remembered, PSYCH Y'ALL,...

I mixed this project down entirely on the 244! Tracked mostly on the 246 and mixed on the 244. The sound is excellent on both. Get both. I rest my case.

Thanx!

PS: I didn't use efx or EQ, 'cept a little high end on bass DI. That's my natural sound live to tape, baby!:eek:;)
 
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The 246...

The 246 is a true 6x4 4-buss mixer, which is a fair cut above the 424mkIII's 6x2 2-buss mixer. The 246's 2-band sweepable EQ is much nicer than the 3-band/Mid-sweep EQ on the later Portas like the 424mkII/III, 464, etc. It's a subtle difference that means a lot in practice. You heard it here first.:eek:;)
 
Did you use a condenser with the 246? how did you provided the phantom power, phantom psu?

By the way does anyone have a scanned manual for 246?

Thank you all
Luis Fernandes
 
Yes,...

The Tascam ME-20, ME-210 and Shure BG 5.0 used here are each battery powered condenser mics.:eek:;)
 
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didn´t know.

But can we use a normal condenser mic with some phantom power adapter? I really like the preamps from my 246.

I repeat my request for a scanned copy for the manual, if someone can help me with that i would be trully gratefull!

Thank you and sorry for my bad English.
luis
 
This...

TOP: Shows the (2) TASCAM ME-20's setup for piano and (1) TASCAM ME-210 setup for vocals; both piano & vocal tracked live to tape onto Tracks 3 & 4, respectively.:eek:;)

Note: the TASCAM ME-210 is a stereo mic that I only used the left element for this track.

BOTTOM: Shows how I usually put a close-mic on any electric guitar or bass track when recording Direct-In (DI). Mic is usually on high gain to pick up ambience. I use this technique on all my e-guitar and e-bass tracks, as a rule. That's the "secret" of how I get a characteristically good & live sounding guitar/bass track without using amps. I'll use DI just alone or with an efx box sometimes on guitar, then the close mic to liven it up. I swear by this technique.:eek:;)
 

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Little known,...

Little known is that many condenser mics' bodies will unscrew to reveal a compartment for an internal battery.

The preamps on the 246 are fine, I'll agree.

Sorry, no pdf manual here. I have the ol' fashioned paper copy, but heck,... I know these units thoroughly like in my sleep!:eek:;)
 

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Many years ago I used to use three Teac PE-120 mics in the studio. The mic came with both cardioid and omni capsules. This thing used a very odd 4.5 volt (I think) battery. The battery was nearly impossible to find at the time. I eventually found a few of them at a camera specialty store in Minneapolis. The picture attached is from about 1977 or so. The mics shown in the lower picture are Beyer M-500 ribbons, a pair of Sony C-22(?) condensers and a pair of Neumann U-67's. I wish I still had the Neumann's. :eek: Whatever happened to shag carpet anyway???

I sold a 246 to Shiela E when they first came out. This was back when she was doing a lot of work with Prince in Minneapolis. I also sold one of the Tascam porta studios (I can't recall the model number but it may have been a 246) to Jacob Dylan when he was about 14 or so years old. He looked just like his father on an early album cover when he came in. ;)
 

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Thanks for your help regarding the phantom power units, i´ve seen them but because all the inputs are xlr I thought that perhaps the phantom power didn´t work with XLR to Jack cable.

I mostly record with an EMU 1820 witch is fantastic, i really like its pres, but when I compared with the tascam pres the difference was hughe! The tascam sound much, much more fuller! I wonder if anyone of you also compared the preamps from the tascam with any audio interface.


thanks,
Luis
 
Mic Links?

wow, this is a great set up. I'm looking to buy my first mics to record w/ my 246 but I can't find any web reference to the Tascam ME-20 or ME-210 (on google or ebay).

are they super hard to find? would you be able to track down a couple links to info about them?

thanks!
lyndon.
 
Hey,...

I'll have to beg your pardon, but upon inspecting the stereo mic, it's actually an MC-210, so maybe there's a valid link to that on eBay or other websites. My mistake, but it's still a stereo electret condenser mic, of which a lot of other TASCAMs are designated "ME-".

The TASCAM ME-20 is a "low end" electret condenser mic for recording. It has a 3-position switch (off/voice/music) and a 1/4" plug. Nothing too fancy by today's standards, but simple, light weight and sounds nice.:eek:;)
 
still tough to find

hi there,
thanks very much for the clarification on the mic model. still pretty tough to find anything about them on the web. looks like a couple people refer to them as Teacs, but seems they weren't produced in any large quantities.

anyone else know anything about these mics? perhaps a sound-a-like (inexpensive) alternative?

many thanks,
lyndon.

ps - I started a new thread yesterday about my 246 functionality woes (w/ a pic). any help there would be greatly appreciated.
 
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