Recording drums with cassette tape!

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peacock_suit

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I have been experimenting recording drums recently. I would like to record drums using tape to get the 'tape sound' which I love. I don't want to spend much so Iv come up with an idea.

I have a Mackie dfx-12 desk which I could use to mic up a kit with as little or as many mic's as I like. I can use this to get the levels light. Then for the recording I am thinking of buying an old 4 track porta studio of ebay. some even have 2 or 3 XLR inputs which would be ideal. I may not even need the mixing desk :D.

Once I had the track recorded on tape I would hook up the 4 track to my sound card and have the track on my DAW (reaper in this case). I could then record guitar vox bass keys etc however I like.

Would I get the same kind of sort of sound as if I was recording drums on a reel to reel recorder providing I used good tape?

Ideas welcome :).
 
I've had somewhat pleasing results recording drums on my Tascam 424mkII 4 track using just one overhead mic.
If looking for a four track try to find the 424mkII or III.They have 4 line ins and 4 xlr ins.You could mic a kit up with with 4 mics this way
and if mics are placed just right and EQ tweaked alittle you could probably get a decent sound.Just remember it will still sound lo-fi and not the as good as a 1/2" reel to reel.Still somewhat pleasing though.Make sure to buy type II cassette tapes.
 
Thanks for the reply. Iv even seen some real cheap old reel to reel recorders however I think they are old HiFi tape recorders which pre dated the cassette.
Iv seen these go for around £60. Perhaps thats because you cant get the tape, i don't know. I don't know if they use 1/2" inch tape or not??

when you say 'pleasing' effect do you mean that nice warm yet punchy analogue sound?
 
Well what I mean about pleasing is,it's pleasing to my ears.I have gotten a nice compressed warm sounding drum sound.Just gotta mess around a little.Also its not a huge "open"sound.Well worth to get one of these 4 track cassette recorders to screw around with.They're fairly cheap.
 
I like the sound of drums on cassette tape.

Take some time and really listen to mic placement. Try a stereo pair of overheads and one on the bass and one on the snare. Move the overheads back enough to get a some natural room reverb. Then add a pinch of snare and bass drum to give them some extra presence. Make it sound good and no one will hear it as "lo-fi".

As for whether it will be "as good as" open reel, it depends on the four-track you have. Some can sound great. Others, not so much. Get a decent one with low mileage, use good tape and set your levels carefully. You might get close.
 
tascam 246 has 6 inputs! mix them down to 4 tracks and you are in drum tracking heaven.

but i use 3-4 mics usually when doing this: a large condenser in front of the kick, about a foot away, a sm57 close on the snare, one overhead mic for toms/cymbals, and then one room mic as far away as possible from the kit.
 
Don't underestimate a "hi-fi" reel to reel either. I used an old old Sony Quad deck (you could record stereo front, then stereo back, so you got four tracks in one direction, but had to record two at a time. You could 'simulsync' too. It wasn't really designed to do that, but it worked. Max speed was 19cm/s (7 1/2 ips) sounded OK. I sold that deck on ebay not long ago for ridiculously cheap.
 
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