I also have to add something I've noticed since getting into recording a couple of years ago.
A lot of amateurs use Tascam equipment because it's cheap and easy to find used. Whenever someone says "Tascam equipment doesn't sound good" you have to think about the person who's using it.
Is it someone who doesn't have much experience in recording / mixing / engineering? Do the tracks sound muddy because the engineer didn't check the mics for phasing? Injudicious use of noise reduction? Inexperience with proper / wise EQing? Poor mic placement, or poor mics?
Think about it. I have to wonder when someone makes such a broad statement like that. Tascam wouldn't have been so successful in the 1980s if they made bad products.
Jeff...tried to rep you...have to "spread it around" first...
Listen, I think this is spot-on. I totally get what dinty is saying too, and I appreciate that he is being clear that he is expressing his opinion. That has been his experience. He's got his own ears and others have their own ears and the important thing for you to do, Allen, is to do the best you can to formulate your own opinions and that may mean going and doing some test tracking on that local MS-16.
Jack Endino's site on tape machine response curves has been linked
many times here...something to add to the mix of info. There is so much relativity, which is okay until somebody tries to push it as truth, or somebody decides to
take it as truth. Again, I appreciate that dinty is pulling no punches on his opinion and he's not trying to make it somebody else's either AFAIC.
I also know that dano has a
lot of experience with his MS-16 both technically and from a production standpoint.
I also know I've heard several
opinions about the MCI machines sounding flat or sterile...they are also a wildly popular machine historically is being "it" as far as "professional" goes. See?? Just LOOK at all the opinions...and they are all going to be based on the experiences and goals of the ones expressing said opinions. Bring 'em on, adopt what works and chuck the rest but always be mindful of what YOUR experiences and goals are...again, best test is to try the machine out.
I do see DX-8D's coming up every now and then if you decide noise reduction is needed, but figure $350 a pop unless you find a parts machine or go
the dbx 150X route...lotta hassle there.
The MS-16 is a well-built well-designed machine.
My
opinion is that it can produce very fine recordings. This
opinion is based on my limited experience with the model 58 I used to own which utilizes the same amplifier cards.
To return to my initial thoughts as I close...the home recording market has absolutely gone viral in the past 1~2 decades with the advent of digital affordability. What sounds "good" has changed...period. Consumer ears are now tuned to mp3's and I also think ears are tuned to the convention of digitally produced popular music which, in the loudness wars, has been so squashed. This is not a fault of digital technology...it is a result of the symbiotic relationship of the market and consumerism. Anybody with a USB interface or an all-in-one digital studio may now feel they are an engineer or a producer and it is a different scale today.
I'm not saying great stuff hasn't or can't come out of the lake today... its just a different point of reference.
There is a dangerous difference in opinions based on experience and opinions based on pride. I know I haven't got the former, so I
try to stay away from the latter, and if I'm repeating somebody else's opinon, well then I hope I'm being careful, especially when somebody else is trying to formulate their own.
I'm not trying to make some passive stab at anybody here as I think this has been a great and appropriate discussion, I just think we can all be wary of what we take in and what we produce in words and at least protect ourselves in the process.
I bounced so much and I managed to make it sound good by eqing and producing it well. And I do NEED 16 tracks, and dont want to be bouncing alot. So I would think... maybe this ms16 is a step up from my 1/4 inch 4 track recorder.
