Recording Advice for A3340S

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teecam

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Hey everyone. Well, after some awesome advice from a few of the other guys on the forum, I decided to take what I have and work within those limitations; namely, a TEAC A-3340S at the heart of it all, a 6 Channel M2A Mixer, a Shure M67 mic mixer/preamp, a bunch of SM 57's, a Rode NTK, and a really awesome sounding room.

I'm recording my band (Americana/Folk Rock) Drums, Bass, two guitars, and keys. We'd love to play live in the room together and then have friends who play strings, and others who do backing vocals overdub later (because we all won't fit in the room, we certainly don't have enough mics to accommodate all that, and schedules are not lining up.

Here's what I'd love to get your input on:

With a four track and six channels, would it be best to record the core of the band live--Say drums on one track, bass on another, guitars on the thirds and keys on the fourth, mix them, bounce them to one track to open up room on the other three tracks for overdubs

OR

Make sure our mix is awesome (not that I wouldn't do that for the above scenario...it just seems more pressing here) and record the full band on one track, leaving the other two open for the overdubs.

OR something else I'm not thinking of, cause right now that's all I got!

I'm a newb to recording in general, particularly analog, and I have zero experience in engineering and mixing.

I have no idea how a final mix would happen with option two...I guess I'd be stuck with what I've got which may not be a bad thing gear-wise, but I'm not so sure about with a recording.

As always, thanks!

P.S. - A friend just handed me a Peavy 801 Mixer. Garbage? Seems like it, but I haven't found much on it and won't be able to mess with it until the weekend.
 
I'd go with option one. That way you can take your time figuring out a mix after the core of the band has been recorded on separate tracks.

Never had experience with a Peavey 801 but it looks to be a capable live mixer. You could always try it, experiment. Heck, it was free so why not but don't get distracted either. Your 2A (and meter bridge) might not have XLR's, 2 extra mic inputs and the bells & whistles but at least it was made to work in a multi-tracking / overdubbing situation with your 3340.
 
Once again, cjacek, thanks for the input!

I messed with the 801 tonight. Doesn't sound too bad. And it has spring reverb, which I wasn't expecting at all. Never messed with a mixer that had that, so it was funny bumping into it. Interested to see how it sounds using that reverb with vocals.

Thanks again!
 
Ooo, spring reverb!! Yeah, I'd hold on to it for that alone. It'll give your sound a nice touch of character that digital verbs can't do. Try it also on bass, guitars and keys. Should be especially cool sounding. If you get something recorded, however rough, upload it for us to listen, OK? Cool. :)
 
One quick thing: You need to leave ONE track open for the bounce, which means record tracks 1,2,3 ,, and bounce / mix to track 4. You then erase tracks 1,2,3, fill 1, 2 and bounce / mix all to track 3. You then erase tracks 1,2 and record to them.... So basically 7 tracks can be recorded to a 4 track machine. If you really want to go nuts, there's also the ability to record up to 11 tracks. I found this great explanation here: AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums - View Single Post - TEAC A-3340S Help
You can also experiment with the 2nd option as well, by trying to get your live mix good enough to record [premix] the band down to 2 tracks or even mono, in one shot, allowing for yet more overdubs. Just see what you like better.
.... try to Google info on how the Beatles recorded - some very informative texts and videos online. Remember they used 4 trackers for a lot of their stuff. It's fascinating to learn how they did it. Bouncing, premixing, overdubbing etc....
 
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Thanks for all the advice! It's funny you mention the Beatles and their methods; I just started watching videos with what they did, so I'll be sure do dig in more. As for the the spring reverb, yeah...I wasn't sure if that'd be cool or not, but after your thumbs up I'm pretty stoked. I found out that channels 6-8 are blown, but I think there's a way to hook up my M2A to that mixer and combine the channels that do work. I'll mess with that some more this weekend. I'm going to check out the links as well to record the multiple tracks.

You've been a huge help in this journey. Thanks so much!

I'll be sure to upload something as soon as I've got something together.
 
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