Methods for syncing between DAW and Tape?

[WhinyLittleRunt]

I know this question has been asked in the past, but I wanted to get a bit of clarification based on my setup and what I'm trying to do...

I specifically bought an 8-track reel-to-reel (Tascam 38) for the occasion that I would need to record my drumset, as I have in the past using my Firepod interface righ into Cubase or whatever DAW I was in at the time. I'd love to keep it easy and only record 8 tracks analog and keep it there, but I know I'll want more since I can use up to 6 or 7 mics recording my kit. My typical procedure for recording a song (since I do it all myself) is to record the entire thing in layers and then do drums last. so my obvious approach was to record everything but the drums onto the reel-to-reel, then mix it in analog and bounce it to DAW. Then record from a bounced stereo track from the DAW back to the tape and be left with 6 tracks for drums, then record all of that back to the DAW for final drum mixing against my already mixed stereo track. This theoretically works, although I do usually need a click track as well, so I have to find a way to incorporate that. I've heard about SMPTE time code and read a little about it, but it sounds like more hassle than it's worth. My only concern is getting things to line up in the DAW if I start messing around with any timecode syncing, which is why I felt that my makeshift procedure would technically work...

 

[themaddog]

Hello,
If you're going to do bounces with a click track, you'll have to actually lose an entire track for a click, meaning you'll only have 5 tracks to record your music and then 2 to mix-down to before your bounce. You could do this as follows:

Tracks 1-5 music
Track 6 click
Track 7 left mix
Track 8 right mix

However, if you're thinking about syncing, it's really not that difficult to make the tape machine the master and your DAW a slave. If you're at all interested in this, buy this before the auction is up, while it's still cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JL-COOPER-ELECTRONICS-PPS-1-SYNCHRONIZER-/190426507035?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

The only other piece of gear you'll need is a MIDI cable, so long as your computer/DAW can slave to incoming MIDI Time Code.

-MD

 

[dodgeaspen]

Hello,
If you're going to do bounces with a click track, you'll have to actually lose an entire track for a click, meaning you'll only have 5 tracks to record your music and then 2 to mix-down to before your bounce. You could do this as follows:

Tracks 1-5 music
Track 6 click
Track 7 left mix
Track 8 right mix

However, if you're thinking about syncing, it's really not that difficult to make the tape machine the master and your DAW a slave. If you're at all interested in this, buy this before the auction is up, while it's still cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JL-COOPER-ELECTRONICS-PPS-1-SYNCHRONIZER-/190426507035?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

The only other piece of gear you'll need is a MIDI cable, so long as your computer/DAW can slave to incoming MIDI Time Code.

-MD

Will this work syncing 2 decks together?

 

[themaddog]

It will not sync two analog decks together. Any multitrack recorder that dedicates a track to SMPTE can be used as a master to any digital machine that can slave to incoming MIDI Time Code (MTC). Technically speaking, you could even record the SMPTE from the JL Cooper to a VCR, and then connect the audio out on the VCR to the JL Cooper PPS-1, which converts the audio SMTPE track into MTC through the MIDI cable, which can be interpreted by a lot of digital hardware. The digital hardware will not lose any tracks, but a lot of digital purists will be quick to point out that in syncing to a tape machine, you will lose some quality on the digital side because the clock will no longer be perfectly steady, but in my own experience I haven't had any problems from doing this.

As for digital hardware and software the can act as a slave in this situation, the Tascam 788 works just fine and I've synced with N-Track before.

-MD

 

[TimOBrien]

Put a sharp clap or clack across all tracks at the beginning or end of the song on the tape.

Then when you bring it into the computer, it's very very easy to line everything up....

(A very old-school solution)