Tascam 388 and Not enough tracks

[SwanSong]

Hi, I don't own a tascam but I read this board somewhat frequently and am going to be buying one in the near near future. My question is this. I'm a drummer and I really like the whole live sound, 'Bonham' type of thing, recording in ambient rooms with great distance mic'ing techniques, high tuned drums and all that, but I would sometimes like to use more than two or three mics, because you can't have the same sound all the time. Anyway, say I wanted to use the tascam to record the drums and I wanted to use maybe 5 mics. Would I have the mics running into each of the 5 tracks on the unit, and if then would those tracks be taken up for good or could i maybe adjust what i want to adjust on hte sound of the drums after recording, and then mix it down to one or two tracks, and then layer guitar overdubs and vocals and all that over it? Or would it be a better idea to buy also another mixer(i know the 388 has one on it) and then run all my drum mics into that mixer, get the sound I want, then send from that mixer into just one track on the tascam? I don't know if that makes sense or not. Im not really stupid, I just have had no experience with a reel to reel. I don't know if anyone here is into led zeppelin, but as a producer(and guitarist) jimmy page was a genious, the first two albums were done with only 8 track machines and they have huge depth and variety to them, and I think thats quite an accomplishment. Also while I'm posting here, is there anything available like the 388, everything in one unit, but with more tracks? Sorry if I was unclear in anything, and thanks!

[Mark7]

Hopefully I've understood your question.

Just because you have 5 mics on the drums doesn't mean you have to record them to five tracks. Or, if you do, that you're stuck with having drums on those five tracks (which would be a wasteful luxury on an 8 track machine).

There are two ways to approach this

1: You can use the track assign buttons in each channel to buss all five channels to two tracks.

2: You can record the drums on five tracks and then bounce them to the remaining two, again using the track assign buttons. If you record bass on the sixth track you could bounce that as well, leaving you with six tracks for overdubs.

Hope that's made things a bit clearer

[A Reel Person]

Besides the 388 being a dyn-o-mite recording platform, being one of a kind also adds to it's charm.

[Mark7]

Yeah, what he said

[Bigsnake00]

A Reel Person,


You know youve been dying to sell me one of your 4 388's.........

[SwanSong]

Mark7, Thanks that did help. But would bouncing the 5 tracks to 2 tracks be something thats done after recording, or while recording? I think this will all be a lot easier for me once I actually get one, I'm just trying to get some knowledge on it. Thanks.

[Mark7]

After you've recorded the tracks.

Lets say you record bass and drums on tracks 1 to 6. What you'd then do, is switch channels 1 to 5 on the mixer to RMX and use the assign buttons and pan controls in those channels to send the previously recorded tracks to tracks 7 and 8 (say), not forgetting to arm tracks 7 and 8 first.

Or

Stage 1:

Track1: Bass
Track 2: Snare
Track 3: Kick
Track 4: Overhead
Track 5: Room
Track 6: Room
Track 7: Empty
Track 8: Empty

Then

Stage 2:

Channel 1: RMX (assign to Tracks 7 & 8)
Channel 2: RMX (assign to Tracks 7 & 8)
Channel 3: RMX (assign to Tracks 7 & 8)
Channel 4: RMX (assign to Tracks 7 & 8)
Channel 5: RMX (assign to Track 7)
Channel 6: RMX (Assign to Track 8)
Track 7: Bass and drums left and centre
Track 8: Bass and drums right and centre.

[Herm]

You can do it both ways. Which ever one works best for you.

My self I would record on 5 tracks and mix them down to 1 or 2 but thats just me you may find it better to put all 5 mics in to one track or two and record it that way.

[A Reel Person]

I'd just get my best mix and lay it down onto (perhaps) 3 tracks on the fly, if what you're after is stereo drums with separate kick drum track.

Currently, I've been recording drums to 4-tracks with 4-mics, and I'm pretty happy with that.

I'm not into track bouncing as much as others might be./DA