Recording in 90's

[diggy_dude]

But alls I know is that by 1990, the idea of CD players was already pretty old news to us. I knew more than a few folks who were on their second CD player by then.

I had a CD boombox and a Pioneer 6-disc changer by the end of 1988, so yeah, they were old hat by then. That outrageously expensive Sony Discman didn't last very long at all.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

It's hilarious. Somehow everybody's arguing that CD players were not mainstream in 1982 when nobody ever even said that to begin with.

G.

 

[StevenJacksonMu]

I had a CD boombox and a Pioneer 6-disc changer by the end of 1988, so yeah, they were old hat by then. That outrageously expensive Sony Discman didn't last very long at all.

You're right ! maybe we should get back to our regular scheduled program before it was pre-empted !!!!

YouTube - Upon The Sea

 

[LDS]

hello, how they were recording in the old days?
i mean there were no powerful PCs and software.

what gear they used?

We used really thin, round piece of black rock (looked a lot like vinyl or plastic) and chiseled grooves in them to represent the sound. To play them back we used wind-up record players with long-beaked birds for needles.

Few people know this, but the reason Michael Jackson wore one glove for a while is because his hammer missed the chisel smashed a finger making a record.

 

[grimtraveller]

Man, I didn't get a CD player until the early 1990s... dammit!

I got my first player in '93. I had a couple of CDs from a couple of years previous but the reason I got a CD player was due to homerecording. Originally, I wanted to put my own "albums" onto vinyl but someone told me the quality would be crap and though I recorded on cassette tape, cassettes were never an option for me so CDs were the only sensible route I could take.

Yeah CD's didn't really take off till the late 80's, and even then, most people had to transfer them to casette to listen to them in the car.

I still do that now !

The CD was launched in 1983

That was certainly the case in England. March '83. I still remember the monday night "News at 10" item in which the compact disc was first mentioned. The reader said something like "This could mean the end for the vinyl LP...." . I also remember them saying that it's big + point was that it didn't jump like scratched records and that they were fairly indestructable. HA !
Interestingly, that same night, I watched a programme about herpes. I'd never heard of it and health experts were going nuts claiming it was a deadly disease that was going to clobber alot of people. At the end of the programme, almost as an afterthought, they mentioned this new disease that could be serious ~ AIDS. So all three bundled themselves for the first time into my consciousness in the same hour !

I bought a PC and started editing with "Fast Eddie".

Motorhead's guitarist was more versatile than he looked !

but we had Joe Punchclock and Sally Housecoat coming in there all the time

I could tell you a thing or two about Joe and Sally, a right pair that saw themselves as the Bonnie and Clyde of the north ! But I'm sworn to secrecy......

I bought about 10 magazines called "Making music" earlier this year. The reason I bought them was because I was curious to see how the new developments in recording technology were described during the 90s.

Having just gone through the May '94 issue, I noticed at the back they used to have hundreds of shops that would advertize themselves. Some of them are still there ! Rockstop on Charing Cross Road is still there, run by the same guy (he looks exactly the same. He honestly has not appeared to age !) and RayMan that sells exotic instruments (I recall buying sitar strings and a tampura from there) has moved a couple of miles up the road but is still run by the same Oriental woman. Cherry Grove, where I bought my reverb unit, noise reduction unit and Peavey Reactor guitar is now a second hand furniture store !
To be honest most digitalia and the transition to modern music making passed me by in the 90s. Heck, I was a reluctant microwaver.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

At the end of the programme, almost as an afterthought, they mentioned this new disease that could be serious ~ AIDS.

That was back in the days when one of the hardest parts of contracting AIDS was convincing your parents that you were actually Haitian.

(Remember that one? Bad taste, I know, but it's interesting how some punch lines only work within a certain period of history.)

G.

 

[John Willett]

That's a beautiful machine.

Yup - and I should hope so at £5,000.

I'm considering a used Portastudio 246. Is it worth having?

It was good in its day - but it is a cassette recorder and I would not actually use such a thing today. Too much tape hiss and the like.

But if it's very cheap and you want to play around with old technology .................

 

[diggy_dude]

It was good in its day - but it is a cassette recorder and I would not actually use such a thing today. Too much tape hiss and the like.

But if it's very cheap and you want to play around with old technology .................

The shipping cost wasn't very reasonable, so I gave it a miss.

 

[leddy]

The shipping cost wasn't very reasonable, so I gave it a miss.

I still have a Tascam 244, and it sounds surprisingly good. (Many confuse the sound of a standard tape deck running at 1-7/8 ips with a better 4-track with decent electronics running at 3-3/4 ips and noise reduction. Big difference). The Tascam 246 is pretty heavy, and best acquired locally rather than risk damage in shipping.

I have some open reel Tascams, as well as a Nagra IV-S. Tape can be rewarding, but there is a much bigger PIA factor when little problems arise here and there. (My Nagra is rock-solid, but the Tascams need more attention).

 

[Bguzaldo]

I got my first CD player in 1988, and was the second person I knew that had one. Mainstream after 1982? Don't think so.

I read somewhere and I can't recall the exact year but I wanna say that it wasn't until 94-96 that CD sales surpassed the sale of Vinyl records sold. Which was weird for me because growing up (in the 90s) I never even really saw records, dont even think I ever heard one until 2002-2003. But from 2007-2008 the amount of vinyl records sold doubled, so who know where the future is...

 

[StevenJacksonMu]

I read somewhere and I can't recall the exact year but I wanna say that it wasn't until 94-96 that CD sales surpassed the sale of Vinyl records sold. Which was weird for me because growing up (in the 90s) I never even really saw records, dont even think I ever heard one until 2002-2003. But from 2007-2008 the amount of vinyl records sold doubled, so who know where the future is...

This is very interesting, because a lot of people I know are going back to vinyl.
At the local Sunrise Records here in Kingston, Ont. they had a whole rack of vinyl records and they have literally flown out of the door.
They can't keep them in stock right now !!!!.
Personally I prefer the sound of vinyl to CD just as I prefer Analogue to Digital for recording......

YouTube - Up Above My Head

 

[John Willett]

I still have a Tascam 244, and it sounds surprisingly good. (Many confuse the sound of a standard tape deck running at 1-7/8 ips with a better 4-track with decent electronics running at 3-3/4 ips and noise reduction. Big difference). The Tascam 246 is pretty heavy, and best acquired locally rather than risk damage in shipping.

I have some open reel Tascams, as well as a Nagra IV-S. Tape can be rewarding, but there is a much bigger PIA factor when little problems arise here and there. (My Nagra is rock-solid, but the Tascams need more attention).

When I used analogue it was with a half-track open-reel running at 7.5ips minimum.

That's x4 the speed and about x5 the track width of a cassette (x5 instead of x4 width to take account of the guard bands) - that's about x20 the amount of tape used with correspondingly better quality and lower noise compared to a cassette.


But a Nagra IV-S is still superb today.

Now I use the new Nagra VI

 

[Richard King]

Me in about 1976 or so recording a local band at a gig in Minneapolis. This was just a bit earlier than the timeline of the discussion.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Me in about 1976 or so recording a local band at a gig in Minneapolis. This was just a bit earlier than the timeline of the discussion.

There's something about seeing a 3340 with it's TEAC take-up reel and a Maxell feeder reel that has a "home cooked meal like your mom used to make" feel to it. It's like the comfort food of home recording .

Take that exact setup and put a Pioneer 1020L loaded with Maxell and a Pioneer take-up reel to the right of that, monitored through a Technics SA8100X 4-channel receiver downstream, and the ARP 2600 (grey face) and Sequential 800 sequencer and custom controller via TRS-80 Model 1, and you have the setup I cut my teeth on in the late 70s and early 80s.

Man, what I'd give to go back to that setup. And mixing on long-throw 3-ways instead of in-your-face nearfields was the gravy on the potatoes, though I didn't realize that at the time. I'm looking for the opportunity to go back to that part of it at least.

G.

 

[leddy]

When I used analogue it was with a half-track open-reel running at 7.5ips minimum.

That's x4 the speed and about x5 the track width of a cassette (x5 instead of x4 width to take account of the guard bands) - that's about x20 the amount of tape used with correspondingly better quality and lower noise compared to a cassette.


But a Nagra IV-S is still superb today.

Now I use the new Nagra VI

Like I said - everyone forgets that the good 4-track cassette recorders were 3.75 IPS. So 7.5 IPS is 2x's cassette, not 4x's. And with decent NR, the hiss is negligable. To your point - I'm not saying the cassette competes with open reel, I'm just saying it's still capable of producing respectable results. Not that it matters anymore, since the equipment and media is becoming rare. I'm just defending the format because I've produced some recordings with it that still sound good to me. Sure, my open reel machines sound better - no contest.

 

[leddy]

But a Nagra IV-S is still superb today.

I have to say, my Nagra - even at 7.5 IPS - is ridiculously good. I can't believe the nice high end I can get at slow speed. Not to mention running 15 IPS with the Nagra Master setting. Wish I could use it more, but it is seldom that I can get by with only a stereo pair.

 

[John Willett]

Me in about 1976 or so recording a local band at a gig in Minneapolis. This was just a bit earlier than the timeline of the discussion.

Yes, that brings back memories.

You have the same machine as me on the left (Teac A7300-2T).

Those were the days.

 

[AbuseTheMuses]

1989 got me a x-10 fostex and a boss DR rhythm when some lady ran me over in a crosswalk with her car. My 13 year old bruised butt took the cash bribe to not sue her and kept walking right down the street to the little music store. now I have a drum machine, a distortion pedal (xmas present), a radio shack mic (allowance), a guitar (8th grade graduation pawn shop wannabe strat), and a 4 track! A WHOLE STUDIO IN MY BEDROOM! I had these tapes I made and actually sent them to places like geffen and such as demos. At 13 years old, I figured I was gonna be famous before I graduated high school. They never got ahold of me, but I imagine they got some good laughs.

 

[buzzard bass]

I have to say, my Nagra - even at 7.5 IPS - is ridiculously good. I can't believe the nice high end I can get at slow speed. Not to mention running 15 IPS with the Nagra Master setting. Wish I could use it more, but it is seldom that I can get by with only a stereo pair.

Nagra gear is coming up in a home recording forum?

 

[Richard King]

And mixing on long-throw 3-ways instead of in-your-face nearfields was the gravy on the potatoes, though I didn't realize that at the time. I'm looking for the opportunity to go back to that part of it at least.

G.

I used to bring the tapes back to the studio that I worked out of and mix on a custom Auditronics console and Altec Big Red monitors. Before the Auditronics I used a custom built console with big rotary knobs, quite a challenge. Note the custom built tape machine consoles in the second picture.

You have the same machine as me on the left (Teac A7300-2T).

Those were the days.

I loved that machine. I actually used the 7300 to gain mic inputs when recording. With the 4x2 mixing capabilities built in it was quite handy. That machine was released under the Ampex brand as an ATR-700 (with slight cosmetic differences).

I eventually upgraded the 3340 in my mobile rig to an 80-8 with built in DBX. I had an Anvil case with castors and used to haul my "stuff" around in the back of an orange Datsun 510 station wagon lined with orange shag carpeting in the cargo area. The carpeting made it easier to load and unload than the normal rubber lined cargo area. That machine in the case weighed a ton.