Anyone who has gone digital...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rokket
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Rokket

Rokket

Trailing Behind Again
...ever go back to their old analog stuff? I have a Tascam MF-P01 that I still use every once in awhile to record my acoustic and then transfer that...

Anyone else do that? Or am I an odd nut?














I know I'm an odd nut, so that question is rhetorical.... :D
 
My marantz 4-track has been in a box for the past few years. Sometimes I miss it and want to pull it out to see if I can capture something I'm not liking in the digital world. But it seems like it would be a hassle to sync things up, so I never do. :(
 
I have a couple of TASCAM Portastudios...

that get regular use recording gigs and practices, but my demos are getting done multi-tracking with Digital Performer on my mac.

I miss the tweaking sessions of the analog world, fussing with cables and processors in the mixing sessions, trying to get the "perfect" mix while riding the faders and pots.

Digital, Schmidgital!
 
DigitalSmigital said:
that get regular use recording gigs and practices, but my demos are getting done multi-tracking with Digital Performer on my mac.

I miss the tweaking sessions of the analog world, fussing with cables and processors in the mixing sessions, trying to get the "perfect" mix while riding the faders and pots.

Digital, Schmidgital!
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Every once in a while I get to do a quickie project on the mackie and all the (semi-pretty good :rolleyes: ) comps I collected. Yeah, hardware is satisfying on a whole different level.
Wayne
 
I'm glad to see that I am not alone.... My Tacam is so rudimentary, but it's still cool. There are no eq's on it, no effects send/return, no stereo inputs. 4 tracks, period. Can't even bounce tracks... But it still has good sound, and setting up is easy...
The only problem is the signal-to-noise ratio because of tape hiss; but that's why I got software with a noise gate, right?
 
Rokket said:
I'm about 90-10 with my Tascam... I mainly experiment with different sounds...
Click to expand...

I do still have a serviable Fostex 8 track ... should try it out as a lark sometime :)
 
fraserhutch said:
I do still have a serviable Fostex 8 track ... should try it out as a lark sometime :)
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You never know... I tried to transfer tracks just as a hunch when I recorded my acoustic on the Tascam, and once I figured out how to get the better side of the signal to noise ratio (beyond the noisegate in my software), I liked how it sounded. I haven't done it lately, mostly because of the time I don't have anymore for recording, but it's an nice change from the digital...
 
I wanted to go digital in 1994 (technology and my finances weren't inline for it yet) but finally left analog recording behind totally in 1999. I don't miss it to be honest.

If you get decent converters and preamps, coupled with the right software, you can do stuff that sounds as great as analog.

There is no easy solution to good sounding audio other than time to track it well and recording experience.

I've heard and done bad stuff in either format. No big deal. Not every production can be a winner.
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
I wanted to go digital in 1994 (technology and my finances weren't inline for it yet) but finally left analog recording behind totally in 1999. I don't miss it to be honest.

If you get decent converters and preamps, coupled with the right software, you can do stuff that sounds as great as analog.

There is no easy solution to good sounding audio other than time to track it well and recording experience.

I've heard and done bad stuff in either format. No big deal. Not every production can be a winner.
Click to expand...
For me, it's not the analog sound that I miss. I think it's just nostalgia. I only play around with my analog gear anymore. I used to use it prior to transferring to my MR-8, so that I could add fills to drums and such, but since I got proficient with the MR-8, I hardly touch it at all, except for the occasional acoustic ditty....
 
Occassionly use my Tascam 424 multitrack for laying down quick rough sketches (Usually just a couple of guitar parts or something). Still have a Carver PST-14 analog cassette in my live rack for making rough 2 track masters of gigs (Which get transferred to the PC at home).
 
I decided that I was going to try and record a full song on my Tascam again. I am going to try to bounce tracks by mixing down to a cassette player (a boom box with an aux in), then record two more tracks. I want to compare it to what I do now, which is record on my MR-8 and then mix in pc (I bounce the tracks as a guide after that to record more...). I just want to see the difference. I am also going to try to record to pc using the Tascam as a pre amp, since someone stated that they did that. I will post the results as soon as I get it done...
 
Well, I did it.... and to quote my little sister: "eeewww!"

It didn't quite turn out to my satisfaction, to say the least. After I "bounced" the 4 tracks to 2, it got so muddy that nothing could fix it. And doing the vocals without at least some reverb in my monitors... what was I thinking?
Anyway it's done.... not a great performance, but that wasn't what I was going for...

I am almost too embarrassed to post it. Let me know if you want to hear it....
 
Cloneboy makes a good point...a big part of it is the time to do it right. If you have the time to spend, you can make a good recording with a 4-track cassette.

There is nothing that pisses me off more than hearing the line, "It's just a demo..."

"Get out of my studio".
 
EleKtriKaz said:
Cloneboy makes a good point...a big part of it is the time to do it right. If you have the time to spend, you can make a good recording with a 4-track cassette.

There is nothing that pisses me off more than hearing the line, "It's just a demo..."

"Get out of my studio".
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I never post anything unless I feel it's done to my ears. Then I go looking for the opinions of guys like you and Cloneboy so that I can make it better. The Tascam thing was just an experiment to see if I could still do a good recording with it. Since it can't bounce tracks without decent outboard gear (all I had was a boom box), and I don't have a mixer, it turned out like shit. I could do better with it if I took some time, but I didn't... :o

I will try it again later on with some fresh ideas (after I clean the heads and capstans) and see what I can come up with.

I agree, I hate it when someone posts something for critiques and prefaces it with "it's only a demo", or "I know this is wrong, or I didn't sing it well.. yada, yada, tada...."

Then don't post it if it's not ready...
 
Rokket said:
You never know... I tried to transfer tracks just as a hunch when I recorded my acoustic on the Tascam, and once I figured out how to get the better side of the signal to noise ratio (beyond the noisegate in my software), I liked how it sounded. I haven't done it lately, mostly because of the time I don't have anymore for recording, but it's an nice change from the digital...
Click to expand...

How did you handle sync issues? I have a tascam 38 - 8 tracks that I want to dump into the computer so I can use a software mixer. But I don't know how to handle sync. I do have a clic track recorded on one of the eight tracks but it is just a tempo click.
 
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