LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
All these efforts here sound amazing. Analog sounds amazing. Neff, I don't know, that sounds fantastic.
Post Your Analog Recordings Here...
- Thread starter jedblue
- Start date
You are Les Claypool and I claim my free big brown beaver
Bravin Neff
New member
Thank you very much. I love working this way.
Hissy Shizzle
New member
Hi,
I am new here, just aquired this Marantz PMD 720 four track cassette recorder/mixer. Had some fun with it:
Sounds okay but sounds way better straight from the Marantz into my monitors!
I am new here, just aquired this Marantz PMD 720 four track cassette recorder/mixer. Had some fun with it:
Sounds okay but sounds way better straight from the Marantz into my monitors!
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Oh, nice! Very clean sounding.
And now, I've just realised I never posted the final version of this thing. One of the plus sides of hoarding tape decks is that I can represent many different decades.
On reflection the wolf robot is a bit creepy but it was a lot of fun to make and I learned a lot about shooting on 16mm. The vintage-looking videos from Freelove Fenner and Slugbug contributed a lot to this project.
GravesNumber9
New member
First post!
I've lurked here a bit to get some info, but it's time to sign up so I can share some stuff.
This link is to my first attempt at tracking something on my newly acquired Tascam 246. I don't have a mix down deck yet so I loaded the song (JJ Cale's "They Call Me The Breeze"... or at least a few verses of it) into Studio One through my Apollo x8 and then exported it to SoundCloud. All processing was analog and using inserts and patch bays with the exception of a master EQ at export.
I haven't used a four track extensively since I was a teenager (in the 90's) and my goal here was to get my head around a more creative way of thinking about recording as well as to find a medium for some more experimental stuff in the next few months. I gotta say, I'm really surprised at how good this thing sounds. Definitely low-fi (you can hear some wow and flutter here and there) but if it were any less low-fi, well, I have my normal rig for that so what would be the point?
Anyway... first attempt!
I've lurked here a bit to get some info, but it's time to sign up so I can share some stuff.
This link is to my first attempt at tracking something on my newly acquired Tascam 246. I don't have a mix down deck yet so I loaded the song (JJ Cale's "They Call Me The Breeze"... or at least a few verses of it) into Studio One through my Apollo x8 and then exported it to SoundCloud. All processing was analog and using inserts and patch bays with the exception of a master EQ at export.
I haven't used a four track extensively since I was a teenager (in the 90's) and my goal here was to get my head around a more creative way of thinking about recording as well as to find a medium for some more experimental stuff in the next few months. I gotta say, I'm really surprised at how good this thing sounds. Definitely low-fi (you can hear some wow and flutter here and there) but if it were any less low-fi, well, I have my normal rig for that so what would be the point?
Anyway... first attempt!
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Haven't seen him here recently, but he certainly has been.Is Slugbug a member here?
Nice! If it had been me I'd have added a little echo and/or reverb to the vocals to fatten them, but I dunno, you might have been going for a less polished sound as a creative decision.
GravesNumber9
New member
Thanks for the feedback! Actually I did have a bit of reverb on the vocals but what I didn't have was my studio monitors set up. So I mixed this on headphones and, classic headphone blunder, under-mixed the verb as a result. Also, I erred conservative since I was printing the mix virtually without opportunity for revision. Still getting the hang of this thing!
Hissy Shizzle
New member
That sounds really good! Not too polished, I like it raw. Good job.
GravesNumber9
New member
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Cool, I think that helped it a lot!
Level Anything
Member
Hey everybody!
Been a little while since I logged in but I just released a collection of home recordings. I put out music under the Free Country and this album is called Fast Asleep 2009 to 2012
I, shockingly, recorded these songs in those years with a Tascam DP02, Tascam 246, and mixdowned to a Tascam 22-2 at 15ips. Sounds a bit like Elliott Smith, Animal Collective, Phil Elverum. Would be honored for some feedback, thanks!
https://freecountry.bandcamp.com/
Been a little while since I logged in but I just released a collection of home recordings. I put out music under the Free Country and this album is called Fast Asleep 2009 to 2012
I, shockingly, recorded these songs in those years with a Tascam DP02, Tascam 246, and mixdowned to a Tascam 22-2 at 15ips. Sounds a bit like Elliott Smith, Animal Collective, Phil Elverum. Would be honored for some feedback, thanks!
https://freecountry.bandcamp.com/
famous beagle
Well-known member
I've only listened to "Foreign Cars" so far, but it sounded really nice. Beautiful guitar work. I will listen to more when I have a chance for sure. Your vocals remind me a lot of Connor Oberst.
Thanks for sharing! I look forward to hearing more.
Bravin Neff
New member
Here's an instrumental guitar rock song, recorded on the Tascam TSR-8. The song is call LMGBYH by Bravin Neff.
Song Called LMGBYH
Song Called LMGBYH
Bravin Neff
New member
Thank you. What do you want to know? How I record it? How I produce it? How I mix it...?
Bravin Neff
New member
My main technique insofar as there is any, lies in preproduction. I use the DAW for that: writing parts, arranging them, working out sounds, drum beats, etc. Everything goes through a process of experimentation and editing and chopping up and so on. During this phase, there are no rules. I will punch anything, edit anything, time stretch and mangle anything, whatever. No rules. Once I arrive at what I think is the final end product in terms of sounds, arrangement and composition, the preproduction is done, and it becomes the road map for actual production. Tracking then ends up with no surprises, I will just follow the road map. And now that I have the road map, I pause the recording process to practice my parts.
Once my stuff is adequtely practiced, now the production phase begins and I load up the tape. First thing is the drum tracks are transferred from the DAW. I often use Toon Track EZ Drummer 2. Then I record my parts, in this case guitars and bass. During production my rules change completely: I do not allow any edits or punches. My guitar parts and whatnot are tracked complete, live, locked in to the drums and purely on the best feel I can muster as a musician. I believe this comes through artistically in a way that copy/pasting/punching does not. And its the main reason I love recording to tape - the workflow and challenge of it. Once all this is done it's time to mix.
Mixing time. I'm not an analog luddite: I like the benefits of ITB mixing over analog mixing, so I transfer the tracks to the computer and mix it there. I like total recall, I like automation, I like infinite compressors and processors that I could never afford in the analog domain. So I mix it in the box and that's what you hear.
I should note this process outlined above is identical to what I do for all-DAW productions, meaning I have a line in the sand between preproduction and production. When preproduction is done, I just wipe the DAW clean and start recording "the real tracks" and follow my same change in rules of no-edits-no-punches, etc. With tape, in my case an 8-track, *half of the fun* is working out the track layout during preproduction. I literally set up my DAW with 8 tracks, 4 of which are drum tracks (kick, snare, OH L and OH R). Track 8 is bass. That leaves 3 tracks for everything else. By mapping it out, you are able to stuff many more parts on to 3 tracks because in the DAW, you can see where all the empty spaces are, which is just room for other parts. Once I transfer it to the DAW for mixing, I spread that stuff apart and often end up with something in the neighborhood of 14 or 17 tracks. This makes mixing infinitely easier than trying to mix it on an analog desk stuck at 8 channels, but still with the benefits of having done it all on tape.
I hope that makes sense.
The following piece was recorded to a Fostex R8 1/4" 8-track using the same process outlined above: Listen Here
Bravin