sonus,sjoko,blue bear and all other pros! help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C

czar of bizarre

New member
ok guys i need your help BIG TIME. when i first came on here i was talking about going digital and tracking to tape. yesterday i went to this studio www.prairiesun.com

its only 30 minutes away and i received a tour of the place. very clean and professional. the gear is in good shape also. now heres my question.



since i have my music as wav files would it be better to import those into pro tools tdm (i did that yesterday at a different studio just to see if i could and i was able to),record my vox in pro tools,record the live guitars in pro tools,record my dj in pro tools,mix in pro tools and then drop it to reel?

the guy said 15 or 30ips and said i would take less tape with 15 but it would have more hiss (2 inch).

for 30 ips i would need like 5 reels but thats if i was MULTITRACKING to reel. the cd will be under 60 minutes.

should i even bother with the 2 inch reel or should i mix down to the 1/4 or half inch??????


im trying to preserve MONEY and SOUND.


someone help me out here.


thanx a million


CZAR


ps they changed a lot of stuff around but if im not mistaking i will be in studio B.
 
I have recorded two albums with my band at Prairie Sun. That place is top notch. However, if you are looking for a place to mix, I don't think that's the best place. It's a recording studio, they have a nice Neve board for tracking, and some really nice sounding rooms. Their mics are top of the line. They get a really phat sound.

If all you want to do is add to your existing demos, I would suggest you go there and record to tape at 30 IPS. After that, you should either take the tape somewhere to get it mixed, or get them to dump the tracks to Pro Tools, then take that somewhere else to mix.

Unless they've changed their policies, you can actually rent 2" tape from them, if you're going to get the end result dumped to hard disk. But no matter what you do, it's going to be pricey, that is a pro studio, and it costs.
 
czar of bizarre said:

since i have my music as wav files would it be better to import those into pro tools tdm (i did that yesterday at a different studio just to see if i could and i was able to),record my vox in pro tools,record the live guitars in pro tools,record my dj in pro tools,mix in pro tools and then drop it to reel?

the guy said 15 or 30ips and said i would take less tape with 15 but it would have more hiss (2 inch).

for 30 ips i would need like 5 reels but thats if i was MULTITRACKING to reel. the cd will be under 60 minutes.

should i even bother with the 2 inch reel or should i mix down to the 1/4 or half inch??????


im trying to preserve MONEY and SOUND.


someone help me out here.


thanx a million


CZAR


ps they changed a lot of stuff around but if im not mistaking i will be in studio B.
Click to expand...

there are a couple of things that I don' quite understand...what do you have already recorded?...Seems you might record drums on a 2" (and 15 ips ought to be ok...you won't notice a major drop in tape hiss going to 30ips...at least in my opinion..unless you can cough up another couple hundred for tape costs, or rent the reels), and the do everything else in protools...using their outboard equipment to track with.

You also mentioned doing all your overdubs, mixing, THEN dumping to analog. To me, that is a long way about it, and not actually nec. Just mix to analog (and go 1/2" 15ips ...or even 30ips WITHOUT hesitation...don't even think 1/4" tape), if you want an analog r2r mix. Personally, I'd do it all digital...with the exception of certain instruments like drums....which are usually tracked first...eh?... so you'd be starting at square one with your recordings there.

you said "record my dj to protools."....what the hell is a "DJ"? (and don't say disk jockey!:rolleyes: )

Personally, if you are just overdubbing...track in their B room, and worry more about getting a good tracking engineer...then like suggested, see what they might do for mixing, or go somewhere else, and get a skilled mixing engineer then. ..and might as well just keep it all in protools. I wager, YOU won't hear a quality difference leaving the tape machines out of the equation....even when mixing.
 
@charger
However, if you are looking for a place to mix, I don't think that's the best place.
Click to expand...
why not? what type of experiences have you had in the past? what did they do wrong? basically i know how i want it mixed. i just want an outside engineer watching/helping. lil eq tweeks here a lil something there...nothing to major because i made SURE that i dont have any "fix it in the mix" type of tracks.

@charger
If all you want to do is add to your existing demos, I would suggest you go there and record to tape at 30 IPS. After that, you should either take the tape somewhere to get it mixed, or get them to dump the tracks to Pro Tools, then take that somewhere else to mix.
Click to expand...
only place i know of thats close to me that has a half or quarter is SOUND FARM. so i would have to track to half or quarter take it to Doug and mix on his tascam boards (he has two of them linked). i need to factor in the cost to see if thats a good plan or not. btw its an album. 15 songs (13 songs intro,interlude,outro)

however i see that as an EXTRA step. why should i track all of the stuff on tape (seperately)? why cant i just record everything to pro tools, mix in that environment and dump to tape (two track tape)?????


@charger
Unless they've changed their policies, you can actually rent 2" tape from them, if you're going to get the end result dumped to hard disk. But no matter what you do, it's going to be pricey, that is a pro studio, and it costs.
Click to expand...
man no one told me ANYTHING about RENTING tape......how long ago was this?????? i was told i would have to "rent" the 1/2 inch tape machine. nothing more.



@mixmkr

there are a couple of things that I don' quite understand...what do you have already recorded
Click to expand...
everything except for vocals,guitar parts on 4 songs and scratching on 2.

I wager, YOU won't hear a quality difference leaving the tape machines out of the equation....even when mixing.
Click to expand...
this is an option and i looked into it after i made this post. im thinking about using pro tools for the entire job.


im really close to just bypassing the reel.......


czar


ps yes that is what a dj is a disc jockey. he has shared the stage with MANY KNOWN hip hop artist.
 
Originally posted by czar of bizarre

everything except for vocals,guitar parts on 4 songs and scratching on
Click to expand...

to me...since the bulk is done, and just vocals are what are mainly left, it seems senseless to even consider going to 2", because if you are NOW happy with your tracks basically, dumping them thru another set of format generations (two.. if you mix analog also) isn't likely to really make them sound better...at least in my book. If you are one of the group of people who still swear by dumping to analog (when in my opinion, you should just start on a r2r anyway then)then by all means, do the transfering. ...you gotta please yourself first. I would be searching instead for a studio now that captures great vocals...and it looks like you probably found one. It seems to me, it would be fairly easy (even considering that you're still probably at a big- boy- rate studio), to keep your cost minimal sticking in Protools, and use some nice tracking arrangements. You then might get a clue on how the mixing.
might proceed as well.
Good luck...tell us what goes down, and don't forget us peons in the clinic!!

as an afterthought....you know, even though a major portion of stuff is recorded analog, still these days, ask yourself..."is there a project I've heard that was recorded analog, and sounds better because of it [over digital]?" Your answer, should be your future route to recording on this project.
(personally, I'd stay all digital at this point, and take advantage of the preamps, mics, and ears at your current choice of studio.)...plus I'd skip the Tascam setup, as good as they may be.
 
At this point in the project, with the drums already recorded in Pro Tools, I would probably just finish the whole project in Pro Tools and skip the tape.
 
Tape vs PT at Prairie Sun:
They get a really fat sound there out of those tape machines. 90% of their work is geared towards working with tape, and it shows. They have a minimum of gear for their Pro Tools machine, and it's pretty much geared towards dumping tracks to tape. Believe me, I love Pro Tools, I have a MixPlus and 001 system myself, and I used to work at Digidesign, and I would be the first person to tell you if that was the place to use Pro Tools. It's not. At Prairie Sun you want to track on tape. and if you have your drum tracks already recorded, that's pretty much the thing they do best...

I have heard albums that were mixed there and I was unimpressed. But a lot of pro stuff that was tracked there is awesome (a lot of Primus and Tom Waits stuff recorded there sounds killer).

Of course you can rent tape! I don't know why they didn't tell you that.

It seems to me that since your project is almost done, it would be a waste of your money to record there just to do vocals and guitars. It can't be that hard to find someone with a Pro Tools rig and the skills you need in your area. Look on DigiProNet.com, search for people in your area, someone will turn up.
 
ok......this is what we are going ot do.

import all the tracks into pro tools. bring in the mesa cabinet,bass head,mic the guitars and record them into pro tools AND record the signal direct at the same time. just to see which one we want. direct or recorded withs mics.

from that point we will do subtle changes in the mix (maybe some eq changes,dash of compression ,adjust some levels and panning). i pretty much know how i want the songs mixed because i have made 3-5 copies of each song mixed differently. i will need to adjust them according to the vox (when they are finished being tracked).

from pro tools we are going to mix down to half inch reel. from reel dat,cd or back to pro tools. i will have ALL files at my disposal. so when i leave i get all the pro tools files (in case i want to remix).


my options are still open.


thanx 4 all who replied.


czar
 
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