Wow!
Hey Sweetbeats,
Thanks for your post! It was great to hear from you. Sorry it's taken me a few days to get back to you, I haven't had much spare time this week and what time I have had has been taken up scanning in the manual. The good news is that I've finally *finished* it!
I haven't checked through it as fully as I should yet, but it's looking pretty good to me - I'll PM you a link if you'd to take a look
THAT had to be the longest post ever...
Yeah, sorry about that! I really should learn to edit a little, that likely goes for my music as well as my posts!
That's really kind of you to offer to scan the manuals - it *is* a shame there's a fair bit of water between here and there!
Oh well. The MS-16 manual runs to 225-odd pages, so I totally appreciate your efforts with the other tomes! Your scanner sounds excellent, I'd be interested to know how accurate its OCR is, and like you I'd probably not trust the sheet feeder! Luckily for me this manual's pages are all A4, or A4 foldouts at most, so it wasn't too bad to do. Took me a bit more than your 90 minutes though!
But hopefully it'll be worth it, and at least I know if someone gets some use from this scan the data and figures in it are most likely correct - I checked all the dang things myself!
Great idea having access to your manuals anywhere - I should do that. I find most manuals aren't needed until the kit breaks - man, I love schematics!
So it's been a while since you played harp? I bet it would all come back to you quickly though, and the calouses too!
Was it much worse than the guitar?? I know I still regret it when I don't play for a few weeks, it's always a good few days before my fingers toughen up again. Don't know how I'd get on with the harp!
Having a trombone, guitar, piano and your bro's kit around when growing up sounds cool, and a Minimoog? WOW!
That's a major little synth to have access to at that age! I'd have loved that, I bet you guys got some awesome sounds out of it. Making up pop-type tunes is really useful for learning structure, that must've been fun at least! Especially in that kind of musical environment. I know what you mean about not clicking at all with lessons, I was similar myself, and saw a lot of my schoolmates shared the view. As soon as a couple of guys at school picked up a bass and guitar and started running off tunes the others knew (badly!) they were *all* interested - but the theory just didn't appeal to them or me at the time. I wanted to *play*, and badly was fine (it still is sadly!
). My parents always liked seeing me enjoying music, but weren't pushy as such, so maybe that's why I loved playing so much and perhaps explains why you didn't until you connected your ability with music you were really feeling (amazing Zep track by the way!
). I'm glad you did though, I'm really enjoying listening to what you've managed to track up.
I've been playing for almost a quarter century now so that ought to be worth something in terms of ability right??
Lol! Definitely, but at the same time I think an untalented player could probably manage the whole century without learning accuracy or any interesting ideas!
I'm sad to say I've been playing keyboard now for almost that long myself, but I'm not sure how close I'm getting to your level of ability! I'm nowhere near in terms of guitar or drums, but I console myself with the fact that that's only been 7 years or so (and not a great deal of practising done in that time) - maybe there's hope for me yet.
I think about drumming a lot though, and there's usually something being composed in my head, like one mental channel is always cranking out music like a Play-Doh pumper
I think I understand, I had a job as a cashier for a while and always found myself tapping along to the background music (my drumming improved a fair bit at that time!), and I've always got some idea knocking around at the back of my mind that I can't wait to try out. It sounds like your ideas are pretty concrete though which is excellent, mine tend to be a bit weak and skeletal, and I have to make a concious effort *not* to keep repeating the same patterns and uninteresting structures / melodies so I come up with something I might actually *want* to write down!!
I think sometimes incubating an idea is what *makes* it what it is - I do have immense respect (and some suspicion!) for those pro songwriters who seem to be able to write an incredible track every couple of days! Any type of creativity is definitely a gift, and I'm glad you're using yours even though you haven't had much opportunity - so far.
I tend to be riding an edge where I'm just about to completely loose it and tumble into a train wreck.
I'm so glad you said that! Now there's an emotion I *can* claim a connection with! Especially when jamming with people, it's so embarassing when I lose the timing of something and stumble around for a few seconds whilst I work out what I *should* have been playing! Everyone does it sometimes I know, but it still sounds *bad*! My dad always said "It's not playing without mistakes that counts, it's being able to recover from them without anyone really noticing that's clever!". I guess he was right - but being able to ride that edge and *not* crashing and burning is the real mark of a good musician.
Practiced a lot with a metronome and I'm sure that's had a lot to do with being able to keep pretty good time and pulse.
For sure, that's a great idea too. You definitely do seem to have a tight lock to what's going on, that's especially evident in the track you did for the female singer. I have a *good* sense of timing, but it's not as clear to me when I'm playing to a click or backing track as when I'm listening outside the situation somehow, I always find myself disappointed with the way my playing drifts a little when I honestly thought it was a great take... I'm planning on spending a little more time with a click-track myself! I can definitely appreciate what you say about nuances and simplicity, especially in reggae (and man, what incredible influences!!), I always thought of the reggae thing as a more fluid extension of jazz timing, and simplicity in anything musical is almost *always* more powerful. I think the real prize is in the balance between clarity of concept and those often complex-nuances that appear within it, to me that seems the mark of music that's really come of age.
Sorry to hear about your first bass - I thought perhaps you guys had lovingly removed the frets of a battered bass as an experiment! What you say does sound sad though, I have a friend who almost has to be held back when he encounters someone who's abused a guitar! It's a real shame when people don't look after something that can be so beautiful. I was *given* the electric I currently use, it's been run into the ground a bit but it's a good instrument and I love it! I wish the string spacing was greater sometimes!
But I think that's just me, "piano fingers" don't work so well on the axe!
Ah, the Quadraverb - a classic little bit of kit! My first reverb was a Digitech unit designed for guitars, it sounded fabulous actually! A bit extreme as effects go, but very smooth, with some really deep reverbs and choruses. I have a keyboard with a Quadraverb-type processor inside it, it still sounds great. I've got to admit I'm a big fan of the real classic effects, the Echorec, Space Echo, almost anything by MXR... I don't own any myself but some of the available emulations are excellent, and the originals always add something special to a performance. It's all about the imperfection; and hiss is *gooood*...
Thank you *so* much for the download links - I've been waiting all week to speak with you about those. I've got to say that track your friend played and sang on is *amazing*, it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard and I felt very emotional listening to it. It's had a good few plays since then!
Definitely a very talented guy, and I love his playing, he's easily as compentent a guitarist as some of the best I've heard, and a whole lot better than a lot of them! Well done to you for the recording too, it's expertly done and perfectly complements the music I think, lovely gentle reverb and the multiband comp really smoothes out the sound, and I love the width and the warmth of the soundfield. A *huge* amount of clarity too, I can hear each string beautifully, I know I couldn't do better! I've never used the MS setup much myself, but I think I will after hearing that.
You guys *MUST* do some more work together, seriously, between you I feel you'll put down some real treasure onto that 2" tape you've got. If I had half the talent either of you have I know I'd be quitting my day job as soon as it was humanly possible! Please keep the forum in the loop with this one, I've gotta hear what you do once your space is up and running. And thank you so much for giving me the chance to listen to that track - all your efforts in fact! - it's a genuine and rare privilege.
after hearing just a few minutes I told him I had to capture it so we went out to the shop...
You ain't kidding! I know I'd have been diving for the mics myself!
I've never used any Studio Projects mics, but they do sound excellent on that track. I *love* Neumann mics (again, not that I'll ever own any! Lol!), but for my buck the best mic I've found is the Rode K2, it's surprisingly smooth when compared to other well-loved mics, not as much "sharp" clarity as a C-1000 maybe but very clear nontheless, and multi-pattern. It'd be interesting to hear it against the B3, there's probably not much between them either way.
The "Lion's Den" track you posted a link to is also very good, I really enjoyed it! Apart from the odd timing error the drums sound great and again very tight, and I really love what you do with the ambient guitars! That's definitely a great sound that's largely unique to you, it's beautifully ethereal. I'm always waiting for the rest of the tune to start when I hear your scratch ideas, there's so much potential there, and man your drums are always spot-on! I honestly can't wait to hear what happens when you and your friend get together. Makes me wish you lived *this* side of the pond and you needed a mix engineer!
Nothing wrong at all with your mic'ing technique there, I love the D112, it's an unbeatable kick mic, and although I've never used the SM94 it's got a fine response for that kind of application. It's a great demonstration on how "get it right at source" really *is* the answer! And your drumkit must sound pretty damn good in person, that's a good, clear drum sound! I hear what you're saying about compression (I've been there myself, and probably am still making all the mistakes in the book!
) but even so you did get some nice low-level detail coming through there as the compressor opens again, especially with your playing I would've thought you'd have liked that effect? Consider the classic "slam the 1176 with the kit buss" sound - compression at its most extreme, but it is a valid sound, and somewhere in between is a lovely level of detail without losing much of your original dynamics. Heavily compressing the kit and bringing it back on a separate channel pair on the desk is a useful technique, that can help find a balance that's appropriate. It's incredible to me that you didn't have any monitors - my "mixes" from headphone days sound *much* worse than you could probably imagine!
In any case I like the track a lot, another idea that's worth revisiting in your new studio space surely.
I'm often like the moths, flapping against the plastic even though there's an easy way 'round which is kind of ironic because moths seem to like me...
Rofl! Yep, I've seen my fair share of illuminated walls too
More than yourself probably! Especially in terms of songwriting, it all sounds so *easy* to backwards-engineer - but when it comes to building an idea with a similar template... well, let's just say it's lucky moths don't have long noses. I think I'd have found myself impaled in the plastic permanently! FWIW, I like moths, got some gorgeous ones here in the UK - but I bet you have some real beauties in the US!
I honestly don't think I have ANY songs that aren't scratch...
Hopefully that will soon change for you, I know I hate leaving an idea unfinished. I'm pretty hard-nosed (back to the moths again!) when it comes to completing a project, I know now if I don't pull my finger out it'll never join the pile of tracks I'm "happy" with. I dread not having the time to do that in the future!
I feel like I've made quite a lot of friends actually, if you guage it by level of trust yeah definitely, and one in particular that I figure will more than likely be somebody I'm in contact with the remainder of my life...
That's great! I'm really glad to hear you've found a bit of a kindred spirit there, true friends are hard to come by and the average person only ever has about 5 in the course of a lifetime apparently - I'm already almost halfway through my quota! Trust is definitely a good benchmark, the older I get the more I understand that. I find it harder to discover people who have a similar goal and outlook personally, it's always great to meet someone on the same wavelength as you and I'm really glad the forum's helped there. There does seem to be an absence of nastiness on this board - heck, that's rare too! I think it takes a lot of wisdom (and some patience!) not to resort to that, but it really is the only way to appreciate happiness. I really love what I've seen of this forum so far, some top people too - great stuff!
About the 3-hour mix...
Hey, seriously, its not to my credit. I create nothing, and that drum sound was just luck.
Well, I can see your point, but there's always a degree of luck involved with a good sound - probably more than most engineers would like to admit! And you sound like you know what you want to hear, so all credit to you I think. We seem different on the "hammer-mechanic" thing, I'm sadly more of an "obssesive-tweaker" in terms of process!
I can quite happily sit with a track and get a ballpark sound to it, run the track, improve it, run the track again, adjust the lower-mid, run it again, adjust the ambience, run again, compensate for the change in lower-mid due to the change in ambience... honestly, I don't think my approach is much better! Lol
I do know roughly what sound I'm after and normally get there, or find something just as good, but how good the overall quality of my work is I don't know. I read a quote once from a *proper* pro engineer which went something like "I've *never* heard a mix that took more than a day that was any good!", and I think there's a degree of truth in that, depending on your ability. Some of the best songs ever written were written in the shortest time, so I wouldn't knock your technique. Maybe having had little spare time again works in your favour there!
You have any clips accessible via the web?
Not online *as such*, but there is some stuff I can PM you some links to, I'd be very interested to get your feedback and I'm sure you could point me in the right directions for improving my work. It's a bit humble in many ways compared to yours, at the same time a bit OTT too!
I don't yet make much of my stuff public, not because it's necessarily any good or a valuable product, mainly because I'm not really happy with much of it and don't know where it belongs! But I'm finding more of a "groove" at the moment (technically speaking sadly, not musically!
) and I'm just adding the finishing touches to a track I've been working on for a few weeks, so far it doesn't sound so bad to me, so perhaps I can send you a link to the mix once it's completed? As I say I'd love to know what you think. I'll happily send you links to some other bits'n'bobs after that, but I'd prefer you to see the better side of it first before descending into some of my previous disasters!
I should be done with this track in a week or two, so I'll PM you once it's up and available.
Anxious to hear about progress on the MS16 when you can get to it.
Yes!
Sorry, I'm really drifting off-topic here aren't I! Well, I haven't made much progress so far, although since completing the manual scan I've managed to get a couple of hours' work in. At the moment I'm really stuck for a demagger (the guy I bought this from "warned" me it hadn't been demagged for a "while"!), I missed a Teac E3 a while ago which I'm gutted about, and don't really want to run my (possibly gluey and baked) cal tape over a highly magnetized transport! I'm avoiding the cheap cassette and wand types I'm finding on eBay, and ones from the US as I don't have a step-down transformer here, and I can't afford a HanDMag - so I'm anxiously waiting for a good demagger to turn up in some of the local listings!
I have however managed to rotate the guides (finally!), and discovered most of them hadn't been turned before (and showed fairly little wear), EXCEPT for the final guide before the pinch roller, which had a nasty trapezoidal wear pattern on the rear!
So your theory about the heads having been relapped already looks *very* likely, and they might not have that much life left in them.
But in general the wear seems okay, I'm just a bit concerned about why that wear pattern happened there in the first place, and only on that one spot, unless the guide was pinched from a scrap MS-16 which seems unlikely. I haven't yet done the alignment tests to make sure the changes I've made haven't thrown the transport out of whack, but I'll do that before running any tape next. I've turned all the guides carefully so they can be turned again a few times, and I've got some pics here of the results:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.humphreys40/tascam_ms16/guides_all.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.humphreys40/tascam_ms16/guides_angle.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.humphreys40/tascam_ms16/guides_closeup_left.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.humphreys40/tascam_ms16/guides_closeup_right.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.humphreys40/tascam_ms16/lifters_closeup_right.jpg
(I'll include the smaller versions here too).
The only guide I haven't managed to successfully rotate is the right-hand tape lifter. The lifters come off as a single assembly (pin straight into a drilled mounting-block made of a different metal), and I couldn't find any way of disengaging one from the other to rotate the pin, apart from maybe sticking the pin in a vice and getting a wrench on the mounting-block!!
Which would spell the permanent end of the lifter I'm sure! What I *did* do was swap the two lifters as the wear was in a different place on each, and they're interchangable parts. Unfortunately, although this worked well for the left lifter, the edge of the wear pattern on the right-hand one is now about 20% into the area of tape contact I reckon, so it's going to be dragging on the tape during every wind! The last picture here is taken from the approximate angle of tape contact, you can see the line of the oxide stain that's fixed itself into the top of the wear pattern. It *feels* pretty smooth to the touch, but I know that might not be enough to stop some nasty friction from building up, and I can't afford to damage my tapes like that. I'm afraid I might have to get the guides re-lathed to get rid of the existing wear, although I don't know much about the process so I don't know if the guide would turn out smooth enough, or if any type of finishing's necessary afterwards to complete the work. For now, I'm tempted to demag and go for a calibration regardless of this, and just stay clear of winds with the lifters out (I think I can defeat them for now) - I'm *desperate* to see if she'll come to spec! It's killing me having this gorgeous machine in my living room, and not knowing what state she's actually in!
The moment I get my hands on a demagger I'll have some more news, and post up the results ASAP - keeping my fingers crossed!
Thanks again for the message Sweetbeats - take care man! All the best.