altruistica
Member
If you've been following my threads over the years, you'll probably think I'm mad. I've setup various analogue studios, then ripped them down and sold stuff only to set up analogue studios a few years later. I don't think I'm mad. I've been trying to get the 'best' possible sound I can from my limited (though not tiny) budget. I estimate I've probably spent around £30-40000 on equipment over the last thirty years. I probably still have £20000 in equity in instruments and equipment so it's not been a bottomless pit and I reckon some people blow that amount of money in one year on clothes, cars, holidays so put in perspective it's neither extravagant or frugal.
'The 'best' possible sound I quantify as: the medium that intrudes in the least way in realising the composer's / artist's vision.
This is different for different artists and different projects.
That's why I've now ended up with a hybrid studio.
For me, I need an analogue mixer regardless of what the recording medium is. The tweaks I can make on a mixer ( mainly levels) I find impossible to do on a computer. The sound of the Tascam M3500, like all good mixers, has a sound of its own. I like what comes out of the speakers now, even if it's just an MP3 streamed off the inetrnet, it sounds better for going through the mixer. And I don't have any esoteric listening setup....just a well made Technics amp from the 80s /90s (SU-VX500) and some English 'JPW' Hi-fi speakers I bought about 25 years ago for around £100. I've even re-coned them about six years ago as the rubber around the edges disintegrated with age. It is the mixer that adds something.
So anyway, I now have a 24track 1" tape setup (Tascam MSR24) with the Tascam M3500. I can digitise the tape recordings via an RME UFX USB2/3 pre-amp /convertor which coupled with two Behringer ADA8200 will give me 24 analogue ins and outs to the computer. I'm going to buy a two-track tape machine for mastering to give me the option to mix direct from the tape when needed. But I think above all what my new setup is illustrating to me is this:
A good analogue mixer adds something special to any sound be it digital wav, mp3 or tape
A tape machine allows natural instruments (voices included) to record what seems to be a more dynamic sounding range (although on paper we know this to be impossible) and coupled with tape compression, gives a sense of power often missing on digitally recorded material. The thump of the toms, the air of a kick beater, the twang of a guitar string, all these sounds turn into a flat (dynamically speaking) sound, lacking depth and spread.
So for instance in this next recording, all the sources are digital. A student's granddad passed away and the funeral is being held at which she was going to sing, but her parents felt it might be a bit much for her on the day. She used the singing /piano lesson this week to record this against a backing track which she brought on a pen drive. I used the teaching room to record this using a Tascam US-1200 interface with an Audio Technica 4033 mic, straight into Reason. The backing track was simply imported into Reason.
The next day I pulled the project from the network drive and mixed it on the M3500. All 6 of the tracks (L/R backing track, two vocal, L/R reverb from Reason) came up on the desk from the outs of the RME, then I subbed them to a pair of outputs (Groups 1&2), patched them into 2 inputs of the Behringer ADA8200 (thinking about it I should have used the inputs of the RME which are available on the patchbay) and recorded the 'mix' back into the computer. This is the result:
https://altruistica.bandcamp.com/track/arms-of-an-angel-cover-by-ellie
It always helps when the artist is a natural like this student, but I honestly feel the recording has been taken up a level or two, just by being mixed through the M3500. It sounds like it introduces a touch of class..the difference between what we used to call 'demo' and 'release quality'. It could just be, that so much audio these days, quality wise, is much poorer than it was in the past. When I was setting out, the audio gods were Earth Wind and Fire, Steely Dan, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters etc. You don't have to like any of that music to hear quality recording and producing. It's the kind of difference between The Police's early stuff (which song wise is great but recording wise average) and the stuff Sting went on to do with Hugh Padgham.
In conclusion, I think I've now found a real solution. Having said all of that, the price on the secondhand market for analogue mixers in the UK has reached rock-bottom, so don't be surprised if I've gone and replaced the Tascam with something else. If I do, I'm pretty sure it will be an analogue mixer.
Al
'The 'best' possible sound I quantify as: the medium that intrudes in the least way in realising the composer's / artist's vision.
This is different for different artists and different projects.
That's why I've now ended up with a hybrid studio.
For me, I need an analogue mixer regardless of what the recording medium is. The tweaks I can make on a mixer ( mainly levels) I find impossible to do on a computer. The sound of the Tascam M3500, like all good mixers, has a sound of its own. I like what comes out of the speakers now, even if it's just an MP3 streamed off the inetrnet, it sounds better for going through the mixer. And I don't have any esoteric listening setup....just a well made Technics amp from the 80s /90s (SU-VX500) and some English 'JPW' Hi-fi speakers I bought about 25 years ago for around £100. I've even re-coned them about six years ago as the rubber around the edges disintegrated with age. It is the mixer that adds something.
So anyway, I now have a 24track 1" tape setup (Tascam MSR24) with the Tascam M3500. I can digitise the tape recordings via an RME UFX USB2/3 pre-amp /convertor which coupled with two Behringer ADA8200 will give me 24 analogue ins and outs to the computer. I'm going to buy a two-track tape machine for mastering to give me the option to mix direct from the tape when needed. But I think above all what my new setup is illustrating to me is this:
A good analogue mixer adds something special to any sound be it digital wav, mp3 or tape
A tape machine allows natural instruments (voices included) to record what seems to be a more dynamic sounding range (although on paper we know this to be impossible) and coupled with tape compression, gives a sense of power often missing on digitally recorded material. The thump of the toms, the air of a kick beater, the twang of a guitar string, all these sounds turn into a flat (dynamically speaking) sound, lacking depth and spread.
So for instance in this next recording, all the sources are digital. A student's granddad passed away and the funeral is being held at which she was going to sing, but her parents felt it might be a bit much for her on the day. She used the singing /piano lesson this week to record this against a backing track which she brought on a pen drive. I used the teaching room to record this using a Tascam US-1200 interface with an Audio Technica 4033 mic, straight into Reason. The backing track was simply imported into Reason.
The next day I pulled the project from the network drive and mixed it on the M3500. All 6 of the tracks (L/R backing track, two vocal, L/R reverb from Reason) came up on the desk from the outs of the RME, then I subbed them to a pair of outputs (Groups 1&2), patched them into 2 inputs of the Behringer ADA8200 (thinking about it I should have used the inputs of the RME which are available on the patchbay) and recorded the 'mix' back into the computer. This is the result:
https://altruistica.bandcamp.com/track/arms-of-an-angel-cover-by-ellie
It always helps when the artist is a natural like this student, but I honestly feel the recording has been taken up a level or two, just by being mixed through the M3500. It sounds like it introduces a touch of class..the difference between what we used to call 'demo' and 'release quality'. It could just be, that so much audio these days, quality wise, is much poorer than it was in the past. When I was setting out, the audio gods were Earth Wind and Fire, Steely Dan, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters etc. You don't have to like any of that music to hear quality recording and producing. It's the kind of difference between The Police's early stuff (which song wise is great but recording wise average) and the stuff Sting went on to do with Hugh Padgham.
In conclusion, I think I've now found a real solution. Having said all of that, the price on the secondhand market for analogue mixers in the UK has reached rock-bottom, so don't be surprised if I've gone and replaced the Tascam with something else. If I do, I'm pretty sure it will be an analogue mixer.
Al