Noob question about 2 Track Recording.

R

Ralm

New member
Hi everybody, first post here !

I'm wondering : I have to record a band playing live on a two track reel to reel tape recorder. The band has a drummer, a guitarist, and a bassist. The singer part will be recorded later on the second track. Can I use three mics for the drums, one for guitar and one for bass wired to an analog mixing console and then, bring all that five tracks to one on the tape recorder ?

Or do I have to use only a mic to record the whole band ?

I'm a bit confused there...
Thanks for reading,
RALM.

ps: sorry for my english.
 
And make sure your tape recorder actually has the ability to do one track at a time, IN SYNC with the other track...
 
Hammerstone said:
And make sure your tape recorder actually has the ability to do one track at a time, IN SYNC with the other track...
Click to expand...
Very, very good point! All "domestic" tape recorders and many semi-pro machines are "quarter track" stereo and you have to record BOTH tracks together or not at all.

Personally I would beg, steal or borrow an Audio Interface and get a 24bit recording that way. Almost any computer using XP or later will do 2 tracks and probably 16!

Then, when you have it all sorted and level squashed, bounce it over to tape.

Dave.
 
A Revox A77 or B77 would be able to record on just one track. But I think you'll archieve a better resoult if you record the instruments in stereo, bounce to the computer and sending a guide mono track back to the tape recorder, dub the vocals, send it back to the computer and line the vocal track up with that initial stereo mix.

If you're really patient you can make some nice recordings this way but if you wanna do the analogue thing for serious work without too many frustrations I'd get a Fostex or Tascam 8 or 16 track tape recorder. It'll get you far and you can leave the computer for what it's best for, yet still have the option to mix properly: asking questions about tape recorders :D
 
What I'm not sure about with the Revoxes is whether they can monitor off the record head, which you'd need to be able to ensure the two recordings happened in sync. The TASCAM-32 should be able to do it, though.
 
And if you're looking into getting a Tascam 32, it might be better (and cheaper!) to get a Tascam 34 instead...
 
To 'one track'.. or all in one pass?
It's either- mix several mic to a stereo mix (mixer to tape) or most or some mics to one track and some to the other track (mixer to tape with the difference one set panned hard L the others hard R), or a stereo pair with or w/o a mixer (a preamp direct to the recorder for example?
That #2 option implies something along the lines of 'band on one track, other track for vocal for example, then remix (and record again) through the mixer.

Scenario #1 figure lots of isolation from the band for the recordist/mixer, and (unless some skills) some trial and error.
 
What I would do, Mix the whole band on your Console send the outs to a Fostex MR8...... Left channel to Fostex A ,Right channel To Fostex B....then Run the Left, Right outputs from the MR8 to your Console(track 1 and 2) Plug your Singer in to the next Channel(3) on your Console, and run the outs to your 2 track tape recorder. this is close to what I was doing back around 2002 with a Soundcraft 200b we would record to a pair of Tascam 234's(4 track), we would record on to one 234, then take that 234 plug it in to tracks 1-4 on the board, then add the rest of the band to tracks 5-8 mix it all down out to a CD recorder.....and in the end we had a home made CD...LOL
 
Regarding the Revoxes, I believe the PR99 mk1 and mk2 do have the capability you need. Supposedly it was removed in the mk3, though!

The B77 doesn't appear to have this capability. It can do echo and it can do sound-on-sound, but that would end up with a single combined track which is probably not what you want.
 
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