What is your prime tracking tool these days?

What is your prime tracking method these days?

  • Cassette based multitracker

    Votes: 7 11.3%

  • Reel based multitracker

    Votes: 30 48.4%

  • Standalone DAW

    Votes: 7 11.3%

  • Computer linked DAW

    Votes: 16 25.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 3.2%
  • Total voters
    62
  • Poll closed .
Victory Pete said:
I looked at an ATR80-24 a month ago. First time I was ever near one. It was 3 hours away in NYC. I was immediately dissapointed when the seller opened a packed garage and found this machine covered with junk. It was a complete mess. The ironic part was that the heads were like brand new. I couldnt believe what I was seeing with my LED magnifying glass. I offered him $500 and he laughed. It was a long ride home.:mad:
VP
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I think I would have told him best of luck and call me when he can't unload it for what he "thinks" he could get for it.

Once I get things set up, I think I'll be tracking to my TSR-8 and then running that down to the 122b cassette. Well, until I get a 22-2. Then again, I could run it to my RT-909, but it only runs at 7 1/2ips. Still better than cassette I suppose. Still a project in the works, damn it!
 
I'm pretty much where Dr. Zee is, in that it depends.

I have a DAW type program (Live) on this machine, and I tried it out for a bit, but I'm really not into recording stuff into a computer, and this one is not even portable, which rules it out for recording elsewhere. Even recording the piano upstairs is far enough away to require a portable machine.

I have a Teac 4-track, and I've used it mostly lately, but it doesn't work well in some instances, such as tracking my bass drum. Tons of modulation noise (and not much signal!) when the drum is tuned low, and that after I set bias to minimize modulation noise.

So, at the moment the portable stuff and some projects that are better suited for it are done on the Yamaha AW1600, a digital standalone unit.

Anyway, I'm probably going to help out a friend and go pick up an MCI 8 track next spring. I'm also considering a Stephens machine that I can repackage in portable modules. That one would cost me a bit of cash. If that happens, that will probably be about all I track with, and I won't try to squeeze the MCI machine in here, too.

Cheers,

Otto
 
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Otto, those Yamaha AW digital all-in-one units are pretty neat...they share some components with my 01X mixer and it has performed flawlessly with considerable use...like most Yamaha stuff it is tops for design, build quality and features for price.

I can't remember what I voted on this poll way back when, but I'm still tracking direct to disk but longing to be tracking to open reel...getting there but the desire was reaffirmed with the completeion of a small demo project and the DAW sucks all the fun out it...really. I'm to the point (and its just emotional at the moment and I'll get over it) right now that I'd be okay if I never got another outside client because I wanted to go analog. The door is always open for bells and whistles with digital and I feel like the bells and whistles get used because I'm trying to get the vibe that is missing and it always falls short...it happens every time..."there's that brick wall again". Arg...I'm getting anxious again just thinking about it.

The guy that bought my Tascam M-520 has a Studer A80 2" transport that was originally setup for 24-track...he got it for free, along with the unused 16-track headblock assembly. THAT is the sickest deal I have yet to encounter...I got to see it when I went down to pick up a parts 388...The Studer was really need to see in person. He has a DAW that he uses...tracks through a Digi 002...that is his budget option for clients but he is considering just telling people that if they don't want to pay more to track to analog he can't help them. Not everybody can afford to do that. He mostly earns a living off of album sales so the studio is not his bread and butter and recording is just a moonlight venture for me, so its easy to say "analog only", but I'm there again as I was after the last full album project I did a couple-three years ago that sent me venturing into the analog pond...

Urg...gotta go out to the tiny studio workshop, get the mess cleaned up from the demo project and get the rest of the caps in the 58...its waiting.
 
sweetbeats said:
The guy that bought my Tascam M-520 has a Studer A80 2" transport that was originally setup for 24-track...he got it for free, along with the unused 16-track headblock assembly. THAT is the sickest deal I have yet to encounter
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A friend of mine bought an Ampex MM-1200 24 track for $50 :)

I think he paid somewhere around $1,500 to have a pro fix it up for him, but still...

The seller apparently just wanted to get rid of it. Somebody was liquidating a recording studio in Hollywood and this friend of mine somehow attracts these insane bargains.

He also got a bunch of 32-pair cable snakes from them for free, which is what I'm using to wire up my home studio. BTW, "snake skin" is an amazing thing! It's a lot cheaper to reuse old stuff than it is to buy new.
 
I'm finishing off a load of songs on a Tascam 488 while I'm doing my newer stuff on an AKAI DPS12i. In both cases I mix to a Phillips CD recorder. The 488 has been a faithful servant and will get a good retirement package....
 
Doing it all on my computer-based DAW.

That is, until I finally get my hands on a(some) working deck(s).

I've been having some real bad luck.

EDIT: Any suggestions on how I can convince the pops to let me "borrow" his Teac X-1000?
 
My rig is computer based these days, but my path went like this..

1, TEAC 1/4" 4 channel stereo reel to reel and a Radio Shack mixer, sound on sound bouncing!!!!!! (I don't remember the model # of that recorder)

2, Fostex 280 4 track cassette

3, TASCAM 38 1/2" 8 track reel to reel, with TASCAM M308-B console

4, TASCAM TSR-8 1/2" 8 track reel to reel with TASCAM M208 console

5, TASCAM MSR-16S 1/2" 16 track reel to reel with either a Mackie 24-8 or a TASCAM M-1600 24-8 console

I have a real soft spot for that brown TASCAM color they used on their 80's gear!! Ghost's TASCAM L/R meter pic from his M312B console is my current wallpaper on all of my recording computers!

:)
 
but my path went like this..
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Akai cassette deck with two mics.

Tried to use a cartridge as a backing track, was out of phase...

But what got me hooked on this hobby was (and this was 1984 mind you)

Sony Quad deck, you could simulsync the "rear" left and right with the "front" left and right. I don't htink it was designed for that, but it worked, so you got 4 tracks, but had to record them two at a time. That was connected to a JVC 6x2 mixer. Of note, loaned that mixer to the kid next store, all he had was a cheap microphone I loaned him, an SM57, a cheap sound card, and a metric s**t ton of talent, because he made some decent recordings with that setup.

Next was a Tascam 38 with a !Teac 5!

Finally that Tascam 38 with Tascam M-520. I like that board, but damn is it big.
 
Since I posted on this thread back in September of last year, I picked up an Otari MX-5050 MkIII 1/2" 8-track for basically the cost of shipping. That machine is really working well and so now it's basically the Otari that I track on while the Teac 4-track is more for jotting down the occasional idea prior to tracking a piece... though I must say there is usually something extra nice about the sound of drums tracked on the Teac.

Cheers,

Otto
 
I'm just now getting back into the art of recording with a Tascam DP-01FX after having been out of the loop for many years. So far I'm having a great time.

I started out many years ago using a Fostex X18, until I bought a TEAC A3440 open-reel 4 track for a good price. I loved that machine. I eventually donated it to a friend of mine who had it completely refurbished. From what I hear it still works a treat. :)
 
Let's see,

I use a pair of Apex 205's with re-tensioned ribbons and lundahl transformers in blumlein going into a DIY GreatRiver MP2 preamp which feeds a 1/2" 2 track Ampex ATR-102 running +9 to ATR tape.

Sometimes I'll swap in a modded pair of Oktava MK-319 or MK-012.

--Ethan
 
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