Have Tascam TSR-8, need mixer

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jwl

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I have a TSR-8 and am looking for a mixer to go with it. I want to be able to send 8 tracks through the board to the machine and recieve 8 tracks back so I can monitor them during tracking. Any suggestions as to what would be a good mixer for this application. I have used a fostex 454 in the past with this tape recorder, but need to get another board.
 
Tascam M-208, made in the late 80's. Pairs up with the TSR-8 very nicely. Tascam recommended the M-208/TSR-8 combo in literature from the early 90's.

:cool:
 
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thanks

thanks beck. Do you or does anybody else know if the M-208 allows you to monitor tracks through the mixer while you record others. In other words, if I finsish recording a guitar track and then want to then lay down a vocal track, can I monitor the guitar track while recording the vocals? Sort of basic question, but would be good to know.
 
Mackie

I have a TSR-8 and use it all the time....Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro is the way to go...you can monitor your line outs and line ins at the same time, and it has 4 busses, etc etc.....and it MADE for 8 track recording... :p
 
jwl said:
thanks beck. Do you or does anybody else know if the M-208 allows you to monitor tracks through the mixer while you record others. In other words, if I finsish recording a guitar track and then want to then lay down a vocal track, can I monitor the guitar track while recording the vocals? Sort of basic question, but would be good to know.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! You build each track like that until you have your final product, monitoring the live source and recorded material together as you progress through each track. It's a piece of cake. A button on each channel 1 - 8 switches between tape-in or line-in. It all blends together in the monitor mix and the stereo out mix.

:cool:
 
The choices are many.

The ones I'm most familiar with, and would recommend:

Tascam M30,...
Tascam M35,...
Tascam M308/M312/M320,... & "B" model is an upgraded version,...
Tascam M520,... (a big, 20-input/8-buss, pro-level board).
Tascam M216,... the big brother of the M208.

Those are my picks. I have 4 out of 5 boards that I've mentioned, but I've only used one of those boards really extensively.

Cheers!! :cool:
 
which one of those mixers have you worked with extensively? I am looking into picking up the m520 for my new studio, and I heard the mic pre's are really nice. Do all of those Tascam M... mixers have the same preamps on them? The one that you have worked with a lot...is it reliable...do the knobs or faders make noise? How old is the one you are familiar with? Thanks a lot for the info man.

Mike
 
The most straight-forward way to go would be to get a 16 track mixer (or more) and set it up, like you said.

It is possible to use an 8 track board with 4 busses. You can hook all of your ins and outs to a patch bay. However, it's very complicated.

Another option is to get an 8 track board, and 8 channels worth of outboard mic preamps. Use the mic pres to send to tape, and use your mixer to mix the post-tape signal.

But, if you wanna get everything in one shot, and don't wanna worry about getting external mic preamps, a 16 track plus board is the way to go. The Tascam M-216's are good. The M-320b's are AWESOME consoles, and have phantom power. Whatever you get, make sure that at least 8 of the channels have direct-outs so that you can send just that one channel directly to a single tape input.

good luck

-callie-
 
I'm most familiar with the M-30, the smallest and simplest board on my list.

I think the M-520 is a topnotch mixer, with features galore.

Sound on these Tascam mixers is excellent. ;)
 
A few additional thoughts relating the "architecture" of the mixer:

- You can, of course, use an 8-bus mixer. There aren't a ton of these in the small / cheap format. I have an A&H 20:8:2, but there aren't a lot of those around.

- One tidy approach with a 4-bus mixer, which may not require any re-patching, and works if you never record more than four tracks at once, is to mult each bus to two tracks. That is: bus 1 to tracks 1 and 5, 2 to 2 and 6, etc. You determine which track(s) get recorded on by which ones you arm.

- Solutions which typically involve repatching include using direct outs or insert outputs. Those do have the additional advantage of bypassing unnecessary electronics, and basically just using the mic pres in the board.
 
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