Revert to Analog (HELP)

[Zona Mona]

I am posting this thread because I am considering doing a technology revert from a USB DAW to 4-track cassette or 8-track reel-to-reel (My dad has the reel-to reel recorder/player so I don'tneed that). I was considering a Tascam 424 mkIII but didn't know if that would be better than buying a mixer goinghe reel-to-reel or cassette recorder. I just know very little about analog recording (even less than I know about digital, scary) Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

p.s. I want to keep it around $500-$600, but if this is ont possible, let me know. I can probably build my own mic pres, if necessary, manning gave an example.

p.p.s. (or is that p.s.s.?) I am doing this because I am tired of computer problems, I share a computer with my family (I'm still in high school) therefore there are lots of problems (damn my downloading happy little sibling).

 

[manning1]

well . i wouldnt build any electronics until you learn electronics properly for safety reasons. building electronics products like mic pre's should only be done with the proper level of expertise.
frankly also - with the price of the yamaha mg mixer at 90 bucks its not worth building your own.
frankly on the other issue i think your regressing. going away from pc.
and your going to loose a lot of track capabilities.
my own pc will do 80 tracks.
but if you must ...both music123.com and zzounds.com have digital and analog recorders.

 

[Zona Mona]

Manning, I was hoping you would notice this post.

About the electrical engineering, that is what my father does for a living, and he and I have done similar projects before, like building alarm clocks and stuff.

About not having enough tracks, I really just want to record my band. As of right now I am not interested in doing a lot of overlayin upwards of 20 parts for a song (you said yourself in one of your articles for newbies that you limit yourself to 24, for fear of overprodicing), that may change, but I plan on doing music buisness/technology in college so I will have a chance to experiment with that there, butfor my personal stuff, I think this is what I am looking for.

Now back to my orignal question, can you recomend a general setup? Tascam 424 mkIII into a mixdown deck? or something a little more? I just want to find out what you would do. I can find mics and stuff like that on my own.

Thanks a lot. You are like the proverbial Merlin of the home recording BBS round table.

 

[manning1]

i was just concerned for your safety. i feel better knowing your dads an expert. tell him to look at 3 op amp instrumentation mic pre schematics. one op amp each for the +/- mic signal legs followed by a driver op amp stage.
analog.com will send a free book of circuits using op amps if your dad asks nicely. big thick book. a FANTASTIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS BOOK. your dad will love it.

well ...if you want to muck about. try TWO 4 track cassette recorders.
record 4 track on one bounce to two on other and add two more tracks and bounce back to the original. OR 4 track plus a cheap minidisc recorder to bounce to and fro from.

 

[Zona Mona]

Cool, I had not thought of that. I already have the MD player/recorder, howver, it is in the upper line of the portable recordables, so the bounced tracks would come out nicely (it has the type-r uncompressed recording format)

Thanks again

 

[manning1]

yeh - that should work. good luck.
occassionally you see a 8 track cassette recorder used for cheap.
like a tascam. THAT would give you lots of tracks by bouncing with theminidisc. minimum of 14 tracks anyway.

 

[DigitalSmigital]

I am posting this thread because I am considering doing a technology revert from a USB DAW to 4-track cassette or 8-track reel-to-reel (My dad has the reel-to reel recorder/player so I don'tneed that).

What make and model recorder does he have? With $600 for a used mixer and some outboard effects, you could have some pro recordings.

 

[Zona Mona]

Sorry, after I posted this I checked with him and he said it has a lot of problems, like speed control and stuff. I it only a two-track anyway and I don't want to mix down to one, I wanted one to record 8 or even 16 tracks on.

About that recording unit, I found the tascam 488 (8-track) on e-bay for under $150. I am thinking about getting one.

 

[invisiblenemies]

The 488 is definitely a nice machine...especially for the price.

 

[DigitalSmigital]

I just know very little about analog recording. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The biggest difference in the switch will be signal strength. With digital, too strong of a signal will clip immediately, resulting in a horrible, harsh distortion.

Tape requires a good strong signal, and a little clipping can sound good.

The 424 or the 488 are great entry-level analog, demo-quality recorders.