Post Your Analog Recordings Here...

jpmorris said:
This was fun, except for the bit where I armed the wrong track during one of the TSR-8 transfers, or when the MX80's remote control popped its internal fuse for no obvious reason.

I give you Dreamkeepers, a song based on the graphic novel series. Hence, the video is a mixture of stills from the comics and shots of the recording process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE8PPrMG3qA

The 24-track has had its meters converted to LED lighting, and because the meters are running off AC they flicker around 25 Hz. This isn't normally a problem unless you're right in front of the machine, but it does upset the video camera at higher resolutions, hence I had to shoot in 640x480.

The phasing on the drums was done using a Strymon Deco, which is the only digital phaser I've found capable of doing the zero-point crossing. I don't know how it does that. It's also rather cute in that if you turn the deck 2 speed knob too rapidly it will do a good impression of the tape snagging slightly as the tension readjusts. I've disabled the tape saturation effect though.
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Dug it!
 
Few months ago I had the pleasure of recording a few tunes with this duo. It's a bit similar to The Triffids and Arcade Fire but really they do have their own sound. It's one of my first serious recordings using our DDA Q desk. The reverb on the voice is a mix of ambient reverb of a corridor, some spring and a touch of digital from my cheapo Alesis Microverb III.
The guitar sound was created with a Hansen Telecaster copy with several amps... as far as I recall it was a Vox Defiant and small Fender amp live with the drums and a GLX and a AC15 on the dubs.

https://soundcloud.com/keine-fear-for-flanger/job
 
Just stumbled into this sub-thread. After posting some stuff into the MP3 mix forum and getting a somewhat cool reception, I thought I'd ask before posting some of my older recordings here. Is there an age limit on the recordings submitted, ie do you guys prefer new tracks recorded on analog or can I submit older stuff? I personally haven't recorded anything on my Portastudio or any analog media in about 10 years, but I have a far number of old analog things I did residing on my Soundcloud page (or actual MP3 files if you prefer). There will be more as I go through my tape archives.

cheers

Billy S.
 
Cool, thanks. :-)

I'll start with a few, then. All of these were recorded on a Tascam Portastudio 424 MkII and mixed directly into my old and dearly departed Mac G3, so these MP3s are all over 10 years old.

First up is "OLX", an instrumental jam I made up based around a Morse code pattern.

https://soundcloud.com/bill-spiropoulos/olx

Here's something called "Three Note Odyssey", which I think is probably as lush as I ever managed with four tape tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/bill-spiropoulos/three-note-odyssey

And finally, a kind of musical joke--a theme song for a fictitious '70s Movie-Of-The-Week type show.

https://soundcloud.com/bill-spiropoulos/ztn-movie-theme-stereo

I can post more as I dig them up. Stay tuned.

cheers

Billy S.
 
moogyboy said:
Cool, thanks. :-)

I'll start with a few, then. All of these were recorded on a Tascam Portastudio 424 MkII and mixed directly into my old and dearly departed Mac G3, so these MP3s are all over 10 years old.

First up is "OLX", an instrumental jam I made up based around a Morse code pattern.

https://soundcloud.com/bill-spiropoulos/olx

Here's something called "Three Note Odyssey", which I think is probably as lush as I ever managed with four tape tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/bill-spiropoulos/three-note-odyssey

And finally, a kind of musical joke--a theme song for a fictitious '70s Movie-Of-The-Week type show.

https://soundcloud.com/bill-spiropoulos/ztn-movie-theme-stereo

I can post more as I dig them up. Stay tuned.

cheers

Billy S.
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I really dig "Three Note Odyssey" a lot. Great track! Very nice build, and the harmonies are great as well. Can you give me the track layout of that one?
 
famous beagle said:
I really dig "Three Note Odyssey" a lot. Great track! Very nice build, and the harmonies are great as well. Can you give me the track layout of that one?
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If I remember correctly the tracks were 1) drums and bass, 2) rhythm guitar, 3) keys, and 4) lead guitar.

Specifics:
* Drums recorded with one overhead mic (possibly one on kick as well, but I doubt it), bass was DI, premixed to one track.
* Rhythm guitar--DOD stereo flanger and Dan-Echo pedals. Can't remember if it was DI (most likely) or miked.
* Keys--Yamaha YS200 synth, using a fake Farfisa combo-organ patch.
* Lead guitar--I think I may have miked this track from my amp--note sustaining guitar feedback just before the coda. I don't remember which distortion pedal I used--possibly the DOD Supra Distortion or Classic Fuzz--but the Dan-Echo is on there for sure. I manually worked the sweep-mid EQ control on the Portastudio during mixing to get that neat "phase shifter" type sound, as well as the pan control. That unusual "whale song" sound towards the end was some kind of feedback loop I accidentally happened upon, I think related to the aux section of the Portastudio's mixer; I liked it a lot but I probably couldn't repeat it again if I tried.
* Reverb came from my ART FXR Elite rack multi-effects unit (my old workhorse, but kind of crappy sounding even by '90s standards).
* No idea if I ran it through a compressor or not. I don't think I've even played the tape since I originally mixed it around 2003 or 2004, so my memory is a little hazy on this.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked. I was always really proud and impressed by this track, although musically it's always made me somewhat uncomfortable. For my own tastes it's almost too major-seventh cinematic-melodramatic...it's funny how sometimes what you *think* you want to do, and what you actually *do* when it comes out naturally, don't really coincide. Food for thought.

cheers

Billy S.
 
jpmorris said:
Oh, I do like the late 60s feel on OLX.
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The cool thing about this one is that I used no external reverb at all. I miked both guitars from my then-newly acquired Peavey Transtube Bandit 112 (silver stripe version), lead channel, with the reverb up probably about halfway. That nice all-analog spring reverb probably contributes to the retro quality, as well as the lead channel distortion sounding very much like a vintage fuzztone (doesn't it?). The guitar is my trusty old Lotus str@t copy.

That Morse code ostinato running through the entire song ("OLX OLX OLX OLX VVV DE OLX OLX....") is simply me tapping the top two strings of my str@t with the crook of my unscrewed tremolo bar. Keeping that frickin' drum track in time was HARD. What is that time signature? 12/8? I'm still not entirely sure but rhythmically that's about the most far-out track I've ever attempted on my own.

cheers

Billy S.
 
j.harv said:
Here's is a song I just finished in the Tascam 388. A departure from my more "rocking tunes"

https://soundcloud.com/jasonharvey/wonderingjason-harveytascam-388
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This was just fantastic, man! I really dug it all around. It had a bit of a 90s vibe, but there was something timeless about it too.

I just absolutely love the vocal sound you got. The performance was great as well, but the tone of the vocal was just amazingly good. Really, really great work! Thanks for sharing.

Out of curiosity, what was your vocal chain (mic, pre, effects, etc.)? Also, where did you record the vocal (untreated bedroom, closet, portable booth, etc.)? It sounded phenomenal.
 
famous beagle said:
This was just fantastic, man! I really dug it all around. It had a bit of a 90s vibe, but there was something timeless about it too.

I just absolutely love the vocal sound you got. The performance was great as well, but the tone of the vocal was just amazingly good. Really, really great work! Thanks for sharing.

Out of curiosity, what was your vocal chain (mic, pre, effects, etc.)? Also, where did you record the vocal (untreated bedroom, closet, portable booth, etc.)? It sounded phenomenal.
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Hey Thanks alot Beagle.

I just finished the vocals last night after many takes throughout the last week. I got a little impatient and stuck with this take. Although Im not 100% happy with it( I never am with my voice).
As for the chain....
MXL 770 condenser mic into an ART Pro MPA II preamp. I also had an old ART Levelar compressor into the send/Rcv of the vocal channel while recording. I have a Yamaha SPX90 II across the eff and a Roland SDE 1000 across the aux for reverb and delay. I just did this in my basement studio.Low ceiling, rugs down on concrete floor. Faux wood wall paneling with 2'x4' sheets of that black egg crate looking acoustic foam on the walls.But I wouldn't really call it a properly treated room. But it is pretty dead.
Thanks for listening.
 
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j.harv said:
Hey Thanks alot Beagle.

I just finished the vocals last night after many takes throughout the last week. I got a little impatient and stuck with this take. Although Im not 100% happy with it( I never am with my voice).
As for the chain....
MXL 770 condenser mic into an ART Pro MPA II preamp. I also had an old ART Levelar compressor into the send/Rcv of the vocal channel while recording. I have a Yamaha SPX90 II across the eff and a Roland SDE 1000 across the aux for reverb and delay. I just did this in my basement studio.Low ceiling, rugs down on concrete floor. Faux wood wall paneling with 2'x4' sheets of that black egg crate looking of acoustic foam on the walls.But I wouldn't really call it a properly treated room. But it is pretty dead.
Thanks for listening.
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Cool, thanks for the info. You did an awesome job with it for sure. I have one of those Levelars, but I haven't had the chance to use it too much. So did you just run the output of the MPA II into the line in of the 388? That MXL 770 sounds as though it's very well suited for your voice.
 
famous beagle said:
Cool, thanks for the info. You did an awesome job with it for sure. I have one of those Levelars, but I haven't had the chance to use it too much. So did you just run the output of the MPA II into the line in of the 388? That MXL 770 sounds as though it's very well suited for your voice.
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Yep. MPA into line in of channel to be used. For a cheaper mic the MXL isn't bad, but it can be hit and miss depending on how I sing.. or try to sing :)
 
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