Stepping into the World of Analog NEED HELP

[Bguzaldo]

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

Well I decided to start out small first, just to get a taste and see if i like it better than digital, I'm gonna go with a tascam 388. I found one for 400 bucks which i think could be a more than fair price. I was just wondering if that has everything i need it in. It looks like it has a tape deck in it, or do i still need other hardware? It was just cleaned and inspected, so its fully functional.

Thanks
-Barrett

 

[dualflip]

Nice, well, did you get the heads calibrated, azimuth, bias, speed, etc??. A nice adittion to your tape deck would be something like a Dolby SR to diminish tape noise and gain Dynamic range.

 

[sweetbeats]

Dolby SR... :???:

Why spend the money on a rare outboard noise reduction system when the 388 already has dbx Type I built in??

 

[dualflip]

Dolby SR... :???:

Why spend the money on a rare outboard noise reduction system when the 388 already has dbx Type I built in??

I didnt knew that, but is it a good NR ???, i dont know a lot of the DBX only tried it a few times, but Type I is like Dolby A?

 

[Bguzaldo]

WHAT! The seller took the item down! maybe he realized how stupid he was for selling it.

 

[dualflip]

Man!!, well i dont know the Tascam, although im thinking of buying an APR-24 to use it with my MCI JH-500 mixing board, the thing i like of the APR is that its easily synced with other equipment like a pc using something like a Midi Timepiece.

 

[Bguzaldo]

Hmm really? I could see that being extreme convenient/useful. I'll have to look into that as well. Thanks again!
-Barrett

 

[dualflip]

Hmm really? I could see that being extreme convenient/useful. I'll have to look into that as well. Thanks again!
-Barrett

No problem, thats nice, for example if you have a digital session with 23 or less tracks (cuz one is used for the smpte sync) and you want to transfer it to analog tape and mix it in analog, as most interfaces have around 8 channels of output, you have to sync the tape machine in order to do various passes and to be sure that all tracks transfer to the same position, otherwise youll endup with a mess.

The opposite is also valid, imagine you want to record analog, but you are not into the "old-school" editing way (splicing tape, paste, i hate doing that), so you might want to transfer that to a multitrack software to do some editing and then bring it back or do what you want.

When going from analog to digital is not a must to have the machine synced, for example you can do something like record a 1kHz tone at the begining of all tracks, when you transfer the tracks to digital, you just match the begining of the tones, this is the least professional way of doing things but it works.

When going from digital to analog is imperative to have the machine synced unless you have 24 outputs on your soundcard, then a single pass will be sufficent and you wont need sync.

 

[sweetbeats]

I didnt knew that, but is it a good NR ???, i dont know a lot of the DBX only tried it a few times, but Type I is like Dolby A?

dbx n/r and Dolby n/r are apples and oranges.

IIRC, Dolby n/r is a companding filter but globally operates on a hi-pass circuit...in other words it is only messing with the upper end of the frequency spectrum whereas dbx n/r, also a compander, works more or less across the entire audio spectrum.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, please. I'm bein' lazy and not looking this stuff up at the moment but going from memory instead.

I've never worked with Dolby A...only Dolby B, C and S.

I like Type I dbx. It is a professional n/r. Not as sophisticated as the Dolby SR, but also heaps-a-lot cheaper. Try getting 8 channels of Dolby SR n/r for just over $100 shipped...not gonna happen, and I know there have been some issues at least with Dolby S chips going bad after x-number of years...IC logic chips...can't pull 'em and repair in your home workshop AFAIK, and replacements aren't cheap. dbx n/r is cheap, effective (as long as you mind the application notes from dbx and use it appropriately on a maintained deck) and reliable.

 

[Hi_Flyer]

Man!!, well i dont know the Tascam, although im thinking of buying an APR-24 to use it with my MCI JH-500 mixing board, the thing i like of the APR is that its easily synced with other equipment like a pc using something like a Midi Timepiece.

Do you mean an ATR-24?

I dunno if I would bother with all that sync stuff, I would probably just get the extra channels of digital I/O. 16 channels is affordable to somebody on a $10,000 budget. Then thats another reason to keep the deck at a 16 track format.

 

[jpmorris]

Do you mean an ATR-24?

More likely he did mean APR-24:
http://www.soundbroker.com/RECORD_PLAYBACK/?listingid=26018
(subject to change)
Sony machine. Supposed to be very nice, though parts support is poor.

 

[sweetbeats]

I dunno if I would bother with all that sync stuff

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, no offense to Dualflip...I've been through the same line of thinking, (and I keep getting on and off the train ), but just looking at the title of the thread indicates that the OP wants to know about analog tracking, not DAW/analog tape integration. Might just be getting ahead of things is all I'm saying. Good food for thought...for later.

 

[Hi_Flyer]

wow that sony looks cool. cosmetics are so different than the more common decks...

 

[dualflip]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, no offense to Dualflip...I've been through the same line of thinking, (and I keep getting on and off the train ), but just looking at the title of the thread indicates that the OP wants to know about analog tracking, not DAW/analog tape integration. Might just be getting ahead of things is all I'm saying. Good food for thought...for later.

Dont worry , i know sync is not a must have, but believe me when i tell you that its very useful, and well in my personal opinion when i buy something i like to have options for the future, sometimes when you need something you dont have it, and when you have it you dont need it hahaha, weird but true.

 

[sweetbeats]

dualflip, I'm totally with you. My response was definitely from my viewpoint...I tend to get more focused on options and details than getting down to brass tax and using the gear I have...MMMV!

 

[dualflip]

Yes thats also true, and in fact i think that getting down to brass tax and using the gear you have at the moment is one of the best things you can do, like people always say "I do what i can with what i have round" i think thats a nice philosophy, but also i've been gathering experience and i know what i will surely need in the future, and i try to be prepared for that. I appreciate you opinion cheers!!!!

 

[Bguzaldo]

Not sure if anyone still remembers/cares about this thread but here I am one year later finally taking the steps I had wanted to take. I bought a Soundcraft Ghost 24 track console with the desk($7,000 new), about 2k worth of cabling, and 2 patchbays all for $3,100!! Great sounding EQ and awesome functionality. Now I'm on my last steps to my analog goal.

1.) I need to find a 24 or 16 track R2R (Looking to spend 1-2k)
2.) I need the means of getting my recordings to CD (Maybe a Masterlink 9600)
3.) I'm also trying to decide if I should worry about mastering to a 1/4" deck first...(I have a Technics 1700 but it needs a lot of work)

Thanks for the help I wouldn't be here without you guys,
-Barrett

 

[pianodano]

Not sure if anyone still remembers/cares about this thread but here I am one year later finally taking the steps I had wanted to take. I bought a Soundcraft Ghost 24 track console with the desk($7,000 new), about 2k worth of cabling, and 2 patchbays all for $3,100!! Great sounding EQ and awesome functionality. Now I'm on my last steps to my analog goal.

1.) I need to find a 24 or 16 track R2R (Looking to spend 1-2k)
2.) I need the means of getting my recordings to CD (Maybe a Masterlink 9600)
3.) I'm also trying to decide if I should worry about mastering to a 1/4" deck first...(I have a Technics 1700 but it needs a lot of work)

Thanks for the help I wouldn't be here without you guys,
-Barrett

There is a nice looking MS-16 on Ebay now. It has all the remote options. It looks very nice and would be an awesome combination with you Soundcraft.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tascam-MS-16-Pr...66:2|39:1|72:1234|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Danny

 

[RRuskin]

dbx n/r and Dolby n/r are apples and oranges.

IIRC, Dolby n/r is a companding filter but globally operates on a hi-pass circuit...in other words it is only messing with the upper end of the frequency spectrum whereas dbx n/r, also a compander, works more or less across the entire audio spectrum.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, please. I'm bein' lazy and not looking this stuff up at the moment but going from memory instead.

dbx I does it's thing at all frequencies except 1khz. That's why 1Khz is used for level calibration between bypass and encode/decode modes.

 

[dodgeaspen]

dbx I does it's thing at all frequencies except 1khz. That's why 1Khz is used for level calibration between bypass and encode/decode modes.

Thanks for that info. I was wondering why DBX would specify a 1Khz tone.