MCI sound?

[Lomo]

I've read that MCI tape machines have their own unique sound that people either love or hate. I was wondering if anyone here could describe the sound. Is it dark, bright...etc?

[cjacek]

"MCI2424", care to chime in ?

[The Ghost of FM]

MCI/Sony made a whole barrage of decks in different formats from the 1960's to the 1990's. I don't think one could generalize about all of that diversity and make a convincing argument that their sound was consistent and unique compared to all other makes and models out there.

I can say that they strictly catered to the professional end of the market and as such, they made state of the art recorders that yielded incredible results tempered against the degree of talent that they captured. The same can be said for many other brands and models over the years and I don't believe there is a pair of ears on the planet that could listen to a recording and say what machine it was recorded on.

I've said this in the past and I'll say it again here; The quality of your performance as a composer, performer and engineer factor far more heavily in the final outcome of your recording then what machine you used to record it with. Machines, ( recorders and mixers) are in the end just tools to be used for good or evil which is in the providence of our talents.

Cheers!

[cjacek]

Well said, Jeff.

[Lomo]

Yeah I know, but I'm still curious about the MCI sound people talk about.

[Seeker of Rock]

Can't comment on the sound, even if I had heard one I'm still new enough to know not to comment. However, the tech I took my MSR to originally and now has it again (we'll judge credibility by second time around) had a 24 track Studer machine as well as an MCI machine. As I marveled at the Studer, never having worked with one or heard personally mind you but know that they are a pinnacle, he mentioned that the MCI was the better machine to buy because the replacement parts are supposedly more readily available. Anyway, he gave thumbs up to MCI, for what it may be worth. I'll respond back and see if he does something magical to earn respect with my MSR...if not, than this was just lip service

[Muckelroy]

I've heard that MCI parts are no longer available -- ? at least that's the reason that they're not fixing the MCI here at Firestation Studios.

[MCI2424]

Originally Posted by Lomo

I've read that MCI tape machines have their own unique sound that people either love or hate. I was wondering if anyone here could describe the sound. Is it dark, bright...etc?

All Eagles albums were done on both MCI Tape and Mixing consoles. My JH2424 is a great sounding machine. Very "punchy" and nice highs. I happen to like the sound of them. The MCI JH series (AFTER 1982) are the most sought after for rock recordings BECAUSE of the unique sound. These machines ARE the 70-80s rock sound.

All I can say is listen to the Eagles songs and you will get the idea as to the sound of MCI tape machines.

[MCI2424]

Originally Posted by Muckelroy

I've heard that MCI parts are no longer available -- ? at least that's the reason that they're not fixing the MCI here at Firestation Studios.

ALL MCI parts are available that you will ever need. Blevins', ATR and a long list of others sell parts.

[BRDTS]

I used to go down to Criteria in Miami a lot during my college years. I knew Howie Albert and he'd throw reels onto the MCI machines and play things for me that were being recorded there (local stuff, not the BeeGees, Eric Clapton etc masters..which I'm sure even he didn't have the key to get the reels for). It was all great of course, but there wasn't an MCI "sound" as I ever experienced. In those days, I also heard a lot of 3m's, Ampex, and Studer machines.

Here's the way I see MCI in popularity and history....

Everything at Criteria from early on was MCI except for some Ampex Atr machines. Mostly because Mack (the owner) was friends with the MCI guys and MCI was located just down the street from Criteria. Both companies exploded into the stratosphere of popularity at about the same time. Firstly, because "Main Course" was recorded there in 75, as was Clapton's album with I Shot the Sheriff" (421 Ocean blvd or something) and a handful of other albums that just happened to hit really huge in the same one-year period....

.... AND, at that same moment, the independent studio craze was exploding between 73-76 (independent...not home studio) and people were taking out sba loans all over the place to open studios.

MCI was already creating equipment for Criteria and other studios on a more or less local Miami basis. AND, when it gets down to it, MCI was budget stuff. If you were looking to open an independent studio and you started shopping tape decks, you could get a 3M or Studer for $40-$45,000 dollars. Ah..but you could buy an MCI for $26,000. Big difference.

So this huge bunch of worldwide hits suddenly flies out of Criteria...Criteria is loaded with MCI....ten bazillion people are opening independent studios...they all open the monthly edition of R-E-P magazine and see those MCI ads..and viola....suddenly you have MCI machines in every other studio on the planet.

And MCI consoles became just as popular at the time because MCI could sort-of mass produce all this stuff and bring it to market at such..comparatively...great prices. Plus..from the console standpoint, MCI got togther with people like Michael Tapes etc, who all came up with a primitive..but workable vca automation system for the console faders. At a fraction of flying fader prices. Plus, in 76, MCI came up with a complete package for synchronizing their multitracks without one needing an electrical engineer to figure out how to wire it all together.

All in all, there was no way MCI wasn't going to dominate the world there for awhile. Which it did at full speed up until about when 3m released that first 32 track digital machine in 1977 and the world began to gradually shift to digital. Right after Sony bought MCI, it seemed MCI faded fast into the sunset.

Bottom line...I don't think there's a "sound" to MCI. MCI was inexpensive stuff to buy (on a comparative basis)... people like Clapton, BeeGees, and many others who loved Criteria just happened to record massive hits on the MCI's there because...well...because the MCI's happened to be there. Not because MCI had a certain "sound".

Even comparing a lot of Criteria/MCI stuff to Symzyck-engineered Eagles stuff, there's a big difference. Symzyck's techniques on the Eagles things are very "dark" imo. Sometimes almost murky with strange eq. Sometimes even a very prominent flat element rather than open/airy/3d. I attribute that to the technique, not the particular MCI recorder being used.

I'll say one thing. Criteria had some of the best sounding rooms I've ever been in. Even one of their tiniest control rooms was very very good sounding. Great acoustics and great monitoring in there.

[MCI2424]

Originally Posted by BRDTS

I used to go down to Criteria in Miami a lot during my college years. I knew Howie Albert and he'd throw reels onto the MCI machines and play things for me that were being recorded there (local stuff, not the BeeGees, Eric Clapton etc masters..which I'm sure even he didn't have the key to get the reels for). It was all great of course, but there wasn't an MCI "sound" as I ever experienced. In those days, I also heard a lot of 3m's, Ampex, and Studer machines.

Here's the way I see MCI in popularity and history....

Everything at Criteria from early on was MCI except for some Ampex Atr machines. Mostly because Mack (the owner) was friends with the MCI guys and MCI was located just down the street from Criteria. Both companies exploded into the stratosphere of popularity at about the same time. Firstly, because "Main Course" was recorded there in 75, as was Clapton's album with I Shot the Sheriff" (421 Ocean blvd or something) and a handful of other albums that just happened to hit really huge in the same one-year period....

.... AND, at that same moment, the independent studio craze was exploding between 73-76 (independent...not home studio) and people were taking out sba loans all over the place to open studios.

MCI was already creating equipment for Criteria and other studios on a more or less local Miami basis. AND, when it gets down to it, MCI was budget stuff. If you were looking to open an independent studio and you started shopping tape decks, you could get a 3M or Studer for $40-$45,000 dollars. Ah..but you could buy an MCI for $26,000. Big difference.

So this huge bunch of worldwide hits suddenly flies out of Criteria...Criteria is loaded with MCI....ten bazillion people are opening independent studios...they all open the monthly edition of R-E-P magazine and see those MCI ads..and viola....suddenly you have MCI machines in every other studio on the planet.

And MCI consoles became just as popular at the time because MCI could sort-of mass produce all this stuff and bring it to market at such..comparatively...great prices. Plus..from the console standpoint, MCI got togther with people like Michael Tapes etc, who all came up with a primitive..but workable vca automation system for the console faders. At a fraction of flying fader prices. Plus, in 76, MCI came up with a complete package for synchronizing their multitracks without one needing an electrical engineer to figure out how to wire it all together.

All in all, there was no way MCI wasn't going to dominate the world there for awhile. Which it did at full speed up until about when 3m released that first 32 track digital machine in 1977 and the world began to gradually shift to digital. Right after Sony bought MCI, it seemed MCI faded fast into the sunset.

Bottom line...I don't think there's a "sound" to MCI. MCI was inexpensive stuff to buy (on a comparative basis)... people like Clapton, BeeGees, and many others who loved Criteria just happened to record massive hits on the MCI's there because...well...because the MCI's happened to be there. Not because MCI had a certain "sound".

Even comparing a lot of Criteria/MCI stuff to Symzyck-engineered Eagles stuff, there's a big difference. Symzyck's techniques on the Eagles things are very "dark" imo. Sometimes almost murky with strange eq. Sometimes even a very prominent flat element rather than open/airy/3d. I attribute that to the technique, not the particular MCI recorder being used.

I'll say one thing. Criteria had some of the best sounding rooms I've ever been in. Even one of their tiniest control rooms was very very good sounding. Great acoustics and great monitoring in there.

Well, You are right. Until legendary songs were recorded with MCI's, there was no MCI "sound".

Until Neve was used for recording legendary songs, there was no Neve "sound"

Now, of course, there is a "sound" to ALL the vintage equipment of the past and that is what makes it desirable.

If this were not the case, you might as well use any modern stuff to record with which is not what the vintage market is up to.

Oh, MCI INVENTED the first commercially available 2" 24track recorder which became (and still is) the professional standard in tape machines. MCI ruled the 70s and early 80s. It is only when they got bought by Sony that Studers became the "in" thing. Sony ruined an otherwise great machine and killed it like they love to do with any good product.

[supertramp1979]

Man...those 70's mixes...just unfucking believable.

I just gave "hotel california" a good listen through. It has a good punch, and an off flat sound. Don's snare tone is unbelievable mainly because I could imagine how hard it would be achieve that sound. I try. God knows I try.

[Muckelroy]

Ay, but lord rest it's soul. The original grand masters to Hotel California all have sticky shed real bad. Luckily they restored it just enough to give it one more play some time ago, and put it onto digital grandmasters. That's all we have to revert to for now.

I gave the DVD-audio of that album a listen. WOW they did an incredible job of mixing it for 5.1!

-callie-

[mikey@thecave]

i believe Lennon recorded Imagine on a MI JH 500a--42 channel