Analog gurus: Would this recording format work?

[chess999]

I'm stuck in limbo. Can't decide which way to go. I want to get some tape saturation to my tracks and be able to export to hard drive for edit and mixdown. I've got a budget of $600.00 for a tape machine. Here's what I've decided on for options.

1. 1/2" 8 track Tascam TSR8
I've owned one before and it sounded decent, but alas...it's a tascam right? (no offense to owners out there) nothing special.

2. Otari MX5050 1/4" half track. a respectable machine for mixdown, but here's my idea. is it possible to track to hard drive first, then take submixes one at a time over to tape and back again. obviously there would be major sync issues here when editing back on the computer, but how do you think that might sound? I would think the bigger "real estate" (1/4" half track) would be nice for each instrument or submix of instruments printed to it and back again. Plus if I premixed and compressed before hitting tape couldn't I achieve a hotter signal and better saturation?

Thoughts?

DG

[jjones1700]

It's just my opinion, but I would think going from computer to tape and back to computer again would negate any sonic "improvements" given by the tape saturation.

[nate_dennis]

If I had to do one half of the process analog and one half digital, I'd track analog and mix to digital. In fact, this is what I HAVE to do right now anyway. I hear good things about the TSR8 but also look at the 38-8 or the 388 both from TASCAM. YOu should be able to find something in your price range.

[trancedental]

If you just want some tape flavor to your recordings on a maybe a couple of tracks this geaslutz thread explains in in detail, you only need a 2 -track recorder for this process.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-...g-into-pt.html

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by chess999

I'm stuck in limbo. Can't decide which way to go. I want to get some tape saturation to my tracks and be able to export to hard drive for edit and mixdown. I've got a budget of $600.00 for a tape machine. Here's what I've decided on for options.

1. 1/2" 8 track Tascam TSR8
I've owned one before and it sounded decent, but alas...it's a tascam right? (no offense to owners out there) nothing special.

2. Otari MX5050 1/4" half track. a respectable machine for mixdown, but here's my idea. is it possible to track to hard drive first, then take submixes one at a time over to tape and back again. obviously there would be major sync issues here when editing back on the computer, but how do you think that might sound? I would think the bigger "real estate" (1/4" half track) would be nice for each instrument or submix of instruments printed to it and back again. Plus if I premixed and compressed before hitting tape couldn't I achieve a hotter signal and better saturation?

Thoughts?

DG

You could go through the process with either machine but I doubt it will be worth the effort. Magical "things" don't occur just because a signal gets sent to analog tape.

[chess999]

Thanks guys for the feedback,,,gives me somnething to think about. I recorded an album not too long ago and tracked everything to hard drive first and then sent the whole mix to 1/4" tape, then imported it back again and it definitely had a better "thickness" and bottom end added to it. although at slight sacrifice to resolution, I think I preferred the tape transfer over the straight digital ITB mix. I guess I thought perhaps I could "enhance" this method further by doing several "submix tranfers".
All comments appreciated,

Dan