I just got a new toy...useful?

[darins]

Visited my parents today and ended up inhereting something that my dad has been trying to get rid of for awhile (maybe the first indication that it doesn't have much use, who knows).

It's a circa 1970 Teac Reel to Reel system, along with about 75 tape reels (1/4" it looks like).

The reel question - does this thing have a practical use in my home studio? I'm currently recording everything on to PC but this looks like such a fun toy to use. I certainly wouldn't abandon the PC but I'd like to find a way to put this thing to use. I've been told it's in perfect working condition, though I have not yet checked it out - also not sure about the sound quality.

Anyone out there using something like this now?

-Darin

 

[Neil Ogilvie]

I have a DAW but I incorporated my Fostex G16 reel-to-reel into it in one of two ways.

1) I use the G16 to record drum and guitar tracks (I can record 16 tracks if I want). I then mix these down to the 8 busses and export to my delta 1010. This means I can get room mics on the drums and a decent scratch track for playing along to. From there I record the rest onto the computer directly.

2) I record directly to the G16 and then mix down to a stereo master track on my computer. This does limit me to 16 tracks though.

By using the tape machine it'll give you the 'tape sound'. I find it warms a sound source up a bit, a little bit of tape compression. Its all good usually.

If the reel-to-reel is old and rubbish though it'll just add noise to the source. Sorry!