Ok so I have a macbook and an Alesis IO26 interface...I also have a Tascam 488. I want to use stuff like reverb and compression on my tracks but I haven't got an effects rack or anything so should I just record straight into the DAW? I have Reaper but am thinking Logic Pro looks easier to use, plus it has loads of built in amps etc. Thanks.
DAW or tascam 488
- Thread starter Will25
- Start date
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
You most certainly can and some of the questions you've posed over the last few months indicate to me that you're ready to make that step in a new DAW direction.
I suspect that you're a little concerned that you won't get the same quality of sound by going fully digital. But as one that moved from a 488 to a DAW, I have found virtually no difference in the sound. OK, that's not strictly so ~ if you overdo it with the treble {high end}, you'll get a harsher, shriller sound in digital. But one of the things that I've really had to pay new attention to in my three years of DAW life is gain staging/ signal chain and how my instruments and vocals actually sound. I think far too much is made of the differences between analog and digital. Many of the arguments you hear were applicable in the very early days of digital and you'd expect that. As time has gone on, things have been ironed out and for quite a while now, I think that recordings that are not all they should be are not do with things inherent in the medium itself. That's certainly been the case with me. I've recorded lousilly in analog and digital !!
Mistakes will be made but it's all part of the learning curve.
As I've said before, most of my recording life has been on the 488 and most of what I've learned has been on it. Much of the workflow carries over seamlessly to the DAW because when it comes down to it, recording is recording. I don't regret 17 years on the 488 at all. But it can simply no longer do for me what I want.
One funny thing. It's often implied that all the editing facilities of even basic DAWs make recorders kind of lazy and not so up for getting things right from the start. While there is possibly some truth in that, when I think about the amount of time that one may spend editing, laziness is one criticism that has to be struck off that list !
chuckduffy
Well-known member
Macbook and DAW. Hands down. I used a 488 for years. Loved it. IRT to Grims counterpoint about editing making for the lazy... I will add - you don't have to edit at all. You can use as much or as little of the daw as you want. The thing you do have to watch out for on the daw is effectsitis - especially when you don't know what you are doing. I hear recordings all the time where the basic tracks are good - but the mix has been destroyed by normalization, compression and 'mastering'.
Thanks guys, great advice I'll definitely take. Did a few trials on the DAW, it sounds ok and you're right...it's the same principles really. I think with the 488 I assumed it to be lo-fi but it isn't really...not a bad thing though as I know more about recording than I did before! Thanks again.