Will Analog Multitracks ever be made again?

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Will Analog Multitracks ever be made again?

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grimtraveller said:
When you record into the card itself via the mixer, how many inputs of the card itself are used and do you have to kind of mix or get a satisfactory mix before recording ?
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i have this card. the mixer has TDIF outs so there's two IF-TAD converters in between. i'm using the mixers for preamps primarily and to get them into the computer. the board does have eq and effects but i usually just get the levels right and hit record. i use 8 tracks for drums.

i've had this setup for years. it's not current or efficient but totly effective for me and i can't afford to upgrade anything, not that i would anyways. it's just a means to record songs. Here's the last song i did.
 
ez_willis said:
i have this card. the mixer has TDIF outs so there's two IF-TAD converters in between. i'm using the mixers for preamps primarily and to get them into the computer. the board does have eq and effects but i usually just get the levels right and hit record. i use 8 tracks for drums.

i've had this setup for years. it's not current or efficient but totly effective for me and i can't afford to upgrade anything, not that i would anyways. it's just a means to record songs. Here's the last song i did.
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By the way EZ, since we're linking to songs, I'd be interested to get your opinion on this cover my wife and I did, which was recorded with dinosaur equipment:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=328768&songID=7774583
 
famous beagle said:
By the way EZ, since we're linking to songs, I'd be interested to get your opinion on this cover my wife and I did, which was recorded with dinosaur equipment:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=328768&songID=7774583
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wait, is this REALLY ochocinco i've been talking to? :eek: :p


later, i'm at work. and why does it matter what i think of your mix? chances are pretty damn good that i won't like the song and won't make it past 30 seconds. just warning you.
 
ez_willis said:
later, i'm at work.
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coworker just walked out. i'll comment until he comes back.

i hate chick singers and i hate folky acoustic songs. 1:48 and it's still acoustic and chicky.

coworker is back. i won't be revisiting this, but how hard is it to make one acoustic guitar and one voice sound good? Which it does sound good, just asking. do the drums kick in? electric guitar and bass? anything else?
 
ez_willis said:
coworker just walked out. i'll comment until he comes back.

i hate chick singers and i hate folky acoustic songs. 1:48 and it's still acoustic and chicky.

coworker is back. i won't be revisiting this, but how hard is it to make one acoustic guitar and one voice sound good? Which it does sound good, just asking. do the drums kick in? electric guitar and bass? anything else?
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The original of the song isn't really folky; that was just our arrangement.

No drums or bass come in --- just an organ solo doubled by (toy) chimes and a shaker. Guess you wouldn't like it.

Thanks for the partial listen anyway. This was recorded on my Tascam 414 cassette 4-track.

Edit: I don't suppose it's too hard, but I've heard acoustic and vocals sound much worse.
 
famous beagle said:
By the way EZ, since we're linking to songs, I'd be interested to get your opinion on this cover my wife and I did, which was recorded with dinosaur equipment:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=328768&songID=7774583
Click to expand...

hey. l liked it. she's got a great voice and both of your harmonies are pretty darn good too.

reminds me of back in the day. i used to do that stuff with my akai 4 trck r2r, a 2nd r2r for o/ds and mixdown, a peavey(!) 8x2 mixer, and 4 or 5 sm57s. maybe add bass and drums, maybe some electric instruments (or not).
i/we actually made records out of a few of them (45 rpm singles). they sounded great!
didn't get rich tho.:o
 
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famous beagle said:
Edit: I don't suppose it's too hard, but I've heard acoustic and vocals sound much worse.
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no doubt about it. it sounded good. i don't really think there's that big of a discrepency between analog and digital recordings made by people that barely know what they're doing like myself. for me it's more of an ease of use, and AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN, whatever it takes to get your songs recorded is cool, and it doen't matter if other people like your music or not!

I don't think analog multitracks will ever be mass produced again. maybe i'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.
 
ez_willis said:
no doubt about it. it sounded good. i don't really think there's that big of a discrepency between analog and digital recordings made by people that barely know what they're doing like myself. for me it's more of an ease of use, and AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN, whatever it takes to get your songs recorded is cool, and it doen't matter if other people like your music or not!

I don't think analog multitracks will ever be mass produced again. maybe i'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.
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I certainly (though sadly) agree that R2R multi-tracks probably won't be mass produced again. The profit margin just isn't there. They may come back as a boutique item, but we're not going to see them in Musician's Friend catalogs or anything, that's for sure.
 
There will always be a market for the real thing instead of a very good approximation of the real thing. As long as there is a market, analog decks will continue to be built. When sampled signals are high quality enough that their differences from an analog signals lie outside the range of human hearing, well, then sampled signals will have arrived and we won't be having this debate. Hasn't happened yet though.
 
dodgeaspen said:
I wish. But if they did they would probably be the same throwaway junk they make today. But even if I'm wrong, the price would be steep I would guess.
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The price of good analog was always expensive. However I still have the expensive analog gear I purchased decades ago, it still works, it still sounds great and there is/was nothing throwaway about it. IMO the main stumbling block against mulitracking in analog is that you need to be a good musician giving a good performance from the get go. I record myself these days with analog and digital depending on the circumstance and I find that when tape is rolling it demands so much more out of me on all levels.
 
A Dutch band (Normaal) has recently recorded a new blues album on a 2" 24 track MCI recorder.
It was released a few months ago.
I have it on vinyl!!! (Great!!!)
 
When sampled signals are high quality enough that their differences from an analog signals lie outside the range of human hearing, well, then sampled signals will have arrived and we won't be having this debate.
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But 0dBFs will still be 0dBFs...
 
192kHz is available, which is supposedly the best you can get digital because 48kHz was the best you could get until 96kHz was the best you could get......... The marketing geniuses that gave us crystal clear CD quality as if it had descended from heaven, haven't figured out a way to replace the CD with the DVD... or any particular standard.
 
Are we referring to 4-track tape machines? I don't really see those ever coming back, although it's certainly possible there will be one-off models made in the future. I think what's more likely is that the home market for small reel-to-reel machines will rise somewhat, in lieu of the really nice 4-tracks. 4-track recorders were always kind of for convenience, and digital has pretty much completely eclipsed that.
 
My question to this is what buyers would now want for recorded analog material.

I think the concept is interesting in light of the resurgance of interest again in analog reproduction.
 
That would be so cool, but...

Being a noob here, I don't wanna come off as a downer but...As much as I and many of you would love to see it, I don't think it would ever happen. I believe it's an end of an era. It's a shame.

Digital recording is EXPEDIENT. <--- Crap on a plate and feed it to people enough, they eventually buy into it and it becomes the next best thing to sliced bread. Personally, I can't use digital, it's messes with my head, something un-natural about it.

However, if analog mults were too make a comeback, IMO it wouldn't be the same. It would be cheapened down with low quality materials, just to make a buck, they wouldn't bring it back for the right reasons. I mean look at all this faux "tube" and "reissue" stuff, need I say more? But we can dream right???;)
 
I think they will be, although they are going to be very expensive, unless they are made in China!

VP
 
I dont see it happening. My understanding is that when the big multitrac
ks were at their zenith (say late 80's) that the price was appraching a quarter of a million dollars each. Digital didn't show up just because it was "better", but also because it was cheaper.

Producing a large high performance electro-mechanical device would be cost prohibitive.
 
mdainsd said:
I dont see it happening. My understanding is that when the big multitrac
ks were at their zenith (say late 80's) that the price was appraching a quarter of a million dollars each. Digital didn't show up just because it was "better", but also because it was cheaper.

Producing a large high performance electro-mechanical device would be cost prohibitive.
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My Tascams were somewhat affordable in the early 90's thanks to credit cards and personal loans.

VP
 
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