Stepping into the World of Analog NEED HELP

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Bguzaldo

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So thanks to those good old fashion Guitar Center employees, about 2 years ago when I started recording the sound guy told me, "Oh analog is dying go digital, I'm a huge tool" yadda yadda yadda, i believed him being naive and a novice to this world, but I'm finally considering steps toward the analog world and I'm wondering what I will need to survive.

I know almost nothing about analog recording other than what I learned with my first fostex mr-8 recorder, so If you can, I will need to know what exactly i need, mixers and anything else, and if your kind enough can you give me a basic procedure of how the process works for recording analog. I'd really like to spend a lot of money and get what I pay for in a nice sounding mixer so let me know. HELP!!!!

Thanks a pantsfull
-Barrett
 
Bguzaldo said:
So thanks to those good old fashion Guitar Center employees, about 2 years ago when I started recording the sound guy told me, "Oh analog is dying go digital, I'm a huge tool" yadda yadda yadda, i believed him being naive and a novice to this world, but I'm finally considering steps toward the analog world and I'm wondering what I will need to survive.

I know almost nothing about analog recording other than what I learned with my first fostex mr-8 recorder, so If you can, I will need to know what exactly i need, mixers and anything else, and if your kind enough can you give me a basic procedure of how the process works for recording analog. I'd really like to spend a lot of money and get what I pay for in a nice sounding mixer so let me know. HELP!!!!

Thanks a pantsfull
-Barrett
Click to expand...


If you want to spend money and want a brand new mixer I would consider looking into the Trident 8T mixer. http://www.oram.co.uk/SER%208T.htmThey're actually reasonably priced. The problem would be finding a vendor who sells them. I'm not sure who does. :confused: This is what I'm looking into getting when I can.

How many tracks do you need. What do you want to spend?
 
SteveM said:
If you want to spend money and want a brand new mixer I would consider looking into the Trident 8T mixer. http://www.oram.co.uk/SER%208T.htmThey're actually reasonably priced. The problem would be finding a vendor who sells them. I'm not sure who does. :confused: This is what I'm looking into getting when I can.

How many tracks do you need. What do you want to spend?
Click to expand...

Money right now isn't an issue i just wanna find something that will sound amazing and give me a nice warm, put together sound. This is a horribly stupid question but with mixers do you recording into a computer usually or onto tape or on a hard drive or what?
 
Bguzaldo said:
Money right now isn't an issue i just wanna find something that will sound amazing and give me a nice warm, put together sound. This is a horribly stupid question but with mixers do you recording into a computer usually or onto tape or on a hard drive or what?
Click to expand...

Some people use mixers to computers but if you want to record analog you need to get a tape deck. ;)
 
It can get confusing very quickly when it comes to tape decks. It's all going to come down to what you will be recording and how many channels you need for it. After that is established, it's a little easier to navigate through the vast options that we enjoy.

The guys here are top notch and know their stuff.;) Although, sometimes they are a little slow to respond to some things.:p I'll be watching this thread fairly closely myself to see what information can be gleaned from it.:D
 
Consider the Toft ABT mixers...I've heard nothing but praise for them.

Jjones is right...the big question is how many tracks do you need?

The next is money...when you say money is not the issue, it is always an issue at some point, and the sky is the limit whether you are looking at digital or analog recording...so what's your budget? JRF Magnetics has a nice 2 inch 8 track.... :D
 
Im probably looking for 24 tracks ideally, haha i will give you a number if you must, but I don't think i plan to go over 2500 for a mixer. Any more specs? by the way thanks for your help already.
-Barrett
 
Well, okay, 2500 ceiling for the mixer but what about the rest of it?
 
you need to be more specific. you can spend a couple hundred, or you can spend tens of thousands.

A quality 24 track rig is not cheap. Look at ebay auctions for Studer, MCI or Otari decks.
 
Yup.

1" 24-track will do a great job...depends on what you are going for, but if this is your first trip in this direction you'd be better off going for a 1" deck...$1000-$1500 for a good condition Tascam MSR-24 with accessories.

Keep in mind this stuff all adds up really quick...if you were to insist on a 2" deck save mony for tape...1 roll of 2" tape new goes for well over $200...plan on maintaining that 2" analog deck? You'll need the calibration tape then and that tape is pushing $1000...so yeah...we are kind of wasting time here without some specifics...
 
sweetbeats said:
Yup.

1" 24-track will do a great job...depends on what you are going for, but if this is your first trip in this direction you'd be better off going for a 1" deck...$1000-$1500 for a good condition Tascam MSR-24 with accessories.

Keep in mind this stuff all adds up really quick...if you were to insist on a 2" deck save mony for tape...1 roll of 2" tape new goes for well over $200...plan on maintaining that 2" analog deck? You'll need the calibration tape then and that tape is pushing $1000...so yeah...we are kind of wasting time here without some specifics...
Click to expand...

For $10,000 total what can I look forward to?
 
What would be a better option, Going with a costly nice mixer, or an average mixer with a nice tape deck etc.?
 
If you have that kind of budget I would skip the Tascam stuff. Maybe an Otari, MCI, Ampex.

This 1" 8 track went on ebay not too long ago:
http://cgi.ebay.com/MCI-Sony-JH110c...269385461QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220269385461

only 8 tracks though.

here is another up on the bay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/MCI-JH-24-Analo...ryZ15199QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

dunno what kind of cash it would cost for a decent mixer to complement a 24 track though. plus you gotta factor in outboard, maintenance, as sweetbeats said the cost of media, calibration tapes etc...

If I had that kind of budget I would prolly focus on 16 great channels (and 1" tape is cheaper than the 2" stuff).

I'm a fan of the Otari stuff (I own an MX5050-8). I think the MX70s look awesome, I would prolly try to track one down if I could afford it. A poster around here scored a real sweet deal on one of them not too long ago:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=266723&highlight=otari+mx70

somebody posted this new Allen & Heath mixer in another thread and it looks pretty cool. I have no idea how much it costs though:

http://www.allen-heath.co.uk/zed/

Dunno if this A&H board is for DAW only, or if it can be used as a front end for a tape deck as well (it would need recording outs for each channel), but I would be surprised if it didn't. Its packed with so many features, they must have put tape outs on this thing.

Just out of curiosity, what are you recording? your band? guitar + bass + drums? what kind of gear are you throwing in front of this (hypothetical) awesome analog rig?
 
Hi_Flyer said:
If you have that kind of budget I would skip the Tascam stuff. Maybe an Otari, MCI, Ampex.

This 1" 8 track went on ebay not too long ago:
http://cgi.ebay.com/MCI-Sony-JH110c...269385461QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220269385461

only 8 tracks though.

here is another up on the bay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/MCI-JH-24-Analo...ryZ15199QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

dunno what kind of cash it would cost for a decent mixer to complement a 24 track though. plus you gotta factor in outboard, maintenance, as sweetbeats said the cost of media, calibration tapes etc...

If I had that kind of budget I would prolly focus on 16 great channels (and 1" tape is cheaper than the 2" stuff).

I'm a fan of the Otari stuff (I own an MX5050-8). I think the MX70s look awesome, I would prolly try to track one down if I could afford it. A poster around here scored a real sweet deal on one of them not too long ago:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=266723&highlight=otari+mx70

somebody posted this new Allen & Heath mixer in another thread and it looks pretty cool. I have no idea how much it costs though:

http://www.allen-heath.co.uk/zed/

Dunno if this A&H board is for DAW only, or if it can be used as a front end for a tape deck as well (it would need recording outs for each channel), but I would be surprised if it didn't. Its packed with so many features, they must have put tape outs on this thing.

Just out of curiosity, what are you recording? your band? guitar + bass + drums? what kind of gear are you throwing in front of this (hypothetical) awesome analog rig?
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for all the help man! I'm mostly recording my band and all the local bands in my town I help out.
Mic wise: Nothing Extraordinary
-NT1000
-GT67
-sm57
-e609
-Audix f10 f12
-i5
mostly industry standards, I'm only about 2 years new into this business i just didnt see digital as my style.
I have a Eureka strip from presonus and the MPA gold is on its way thanks to ebay. I use t-racks which i plan to replace with actually compressors and limiters i just need to know where im gonna put my money right now, be it into analog gear or to continue digitally. Thanks again for all the help to everyone.
-Barrett
 
If somebody told me they'd give me $10K...

And I had to spend it on gear, I'd be getting one of these, and looking for something like this:

MS16.jpg


my operation is small and I can't justify 2" anything...the maintenance and supply costs on 2" would not pan out.

The MS-16 is a good 1" deck and I'm familiar with the Tascam stuff. Can be modded if yer into that...Tascam still carries parts and offers operational support, plus there's a good user following. Cool dedicated sync track capability. Can be found loaded for under $1500. Put that with a great board like the Toft, for which I've heard nothing but praise, and you've still got $4K for cabling, outboard dynamics processing, tape deck accessories/maintenance gear/supplies and maybe have some bones to add to your mic locker. ;)

Member Pianodano has this setup (along with a Tascam DM-24 and en entire DAW setup) and is very happy with his Toft and MS-16 combo...

my 2p...
 
If i started with a smaller sized console, say 4-8 inputs could i expand upon this eventually or would i have to get a new console?
 
Man im very glad that you want to go to the analog world, a word of caution: Be prepared to spend your last buck on your gear, and not just "one time" i mean ALL the time, maintenance is a ot of money. Also be prepared to solder/desolder, fix, also get used to the smell of white smoke, it is an exhausting job!!!, but very gratifying.

Now regarding your gear, ill say go big with the mixing console, try to get an old one, but be prepared to fight the machine (now i know why that band was called Rage against the machine, haha) old consoles sound really really nice, i have an MCI JH-500, of course i've spent all my money refubishing it, without counting the thousands of hours soldering and fixing stuff, im not even done by now. If you want to have a good console but not that troublesome, you might look for some of the newer small-format Neve's, SSL, or API. You might also wanna check www.purpleaudio.com and look at their rack modular system, which is a console you can design according to your needs.

See you on gearslutz :)
 
dualflip said:
Man im very glad that you want to go to the analog world, a word of caution: Be prepared to spend your last buck on your gear, and not just "one time" i mean ALL the time, maintenance is a ot of money. Also be prepared to solder/desolder, fix, also get used to the smell of white smoke, it is an exhausting job!!!, but very gratifying.

Now regarding your gear, ill say go big with the mixing console, try to get an old one, but be prepared to fight the machine (now i know why that band was called Rage against the machine, haha) old consoles sound really really nice, i have an MCI JH-500, of course i've spent all my money refubishing it, without counting the thousands of hours soldering and fixing stuff, im not even done by now. If you want to have a good console but not that troublesome, you might look for some of the newer small-format Neve's, SSL, or API. You might also wanna check www.purpleaudio.com and look at their rack modular system, which is a console you can design according to your needs.

See you on gearslutz :)
Click to expand...
Thanks so much man! That was a good chunk of what i needed to know!
-Barrett
 
You're welcome, just wanted to share some personal experiences and welcome you aboard. :) Let me know what you got and how you are doing
 
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