My plan for recording- genius or deeply flawed?

[jonn]

Hi there, I've dabbled in home recording on a very basic level for a while now and have decided to start taking it more seriously. I really want to work with both tape and digital. My plan is to by an analog 8 track, possibly a tascam 38 or fostex f8 as well as an analog mixer.

My plan is to:

-Record a click onto track 1 of the 8 track
-Record drums (snare, kick and 2 OHs) onto tracks 2-5
-Record each individual track through my mixer/interface into Ableton on my PC to edit digitally.
-Go back to the 8 track and record guitar, vocals etc and do the same thing

Does this seem like something that would work or am I being completely ignorant?

Any tips, suggestions, information would be greatly appreciated.

Jon

 

[Big Kenny]

You paint with a broad stroke my friend, are these my only options....genius or deeply flawed?
At least you have a plan.
If it were me I might be more inclined to stay in the digital realm and maybe run the bass track through a reel to reel or use a compressor to achieve the softness I think you are seeking by the use of tape.
But then again, maybe I'm flawed, hmmmmmmmmmmmm? (not deeply I hope)

 

[jonn]

By all means feel free to come up with your own descriptions .
Thank's alot for the reply. I'm definitely going for the warmth/softness of tape.
Not that I'm disregarding you're advice but would the set up a posted actually work? Is it possible? Am I biting off far more than I can chew?

I alreay have Ableton and a mixer/interface. I've heard only great things about the quality of sound that tape produces and wondered if it would be a good idea to explore it further.

Jonn

 

[mixsit]

-Record each individual track through my mixer/interface into Ableton on my PC to edit digitally.
-Go back to the 8 track and record guitar, vocals etc and do the same thing

Drums transfered to digi- to stay, or then back to tape?
Depending on how I read it, two extra conversions and a tape generation?

 

[ekwon]

It seems to me that analog tape machines are for old professionals and crazy gear heads. (I fall closer to the latter) From my experience, most of the qualities in recordings that are attributed to the signal chain being oh so analog are achievable without a tape machine in the whole process. Good instruments, good mic placement, good rooms, good mics, good mixing, good preamps, and good a/d converters: that's what matters, and I think in that order.

I haven't owned a Tascam 38 in a while. It was a fun machine. It kicked ass compared to everything I could access or afford until about 6 years ago. The quality and capabilities of prosumer audio interfaces alongside of software development in the past few years has replaced the need for tape machines but not good mixers. If I a reel to reel still I'd never use it, except to do strange extended tape loop art installations.

That said, I'd give your plan a deeply fun and genial rating.

ekwon