scottianstewart
New member
Thinking about getting a teac 80-8, what would be a good console to go with it? something with good pre's and maybe in the 500-1000 range? Or more if you really love it. Go!
Some good console ideas..
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scottianstewart
New member
Also, what do you guys think about a Revox A77 as a mix down deck?
witzendoz
Senior Member
It should be, the M3500 was 4 or 5 times the price of the m2524 when new, yes it does sound better but the M2524 gets very good results and is smaller (will fit in a smaller room). Actually if you can fine one for the right price grab a M3700, it is like a 3500 with automation. I still own a M3700 and still have my M2524 around the place.
Alan
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Do you know which version of the A77 it is? Older versions would damage tape if you went straight from fast wind to stop. I think it was fixed in a later revision, but I can't find any references to the interlock now.
Try and make sure it's the A77HS version, which can do 15ips. Also check that the heads are half-track and not the 4-track stereo ones...
Try and make sure it's the A77HS version, which can do 15ips. Also check that the heads are half-track and not the 4-track stereo ones...
scottianstewart
New member
Well what would you suggest as a good mix down r2r? I actually read that the a77 might not be so good
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Depends on your budget. For a home machine, the Tascam 32 if you can find a good example. I used one for a while, but it was rather beaten up and cheap and I never really got it working. The BR-20 is a step up from that, a studio-level machine with a nicer transport. I haven't had one myself (I really regret not buying one from River while they were still new, but circumstances prevented it).
For a Revox machine you might consider the B77-HS, though they're more prosumer machines and the transport is a little clunky by comparison, with a mechanical counter. The PR99 MK2 or MK3 might be better since it's the same basic machine but in a rackmount format and an electronic counter mechanism. These were often used in broadcast.
The Otari MX5050 is another nice machine, though I haven't used one myself. They don't seem to have much parts support in the UK - TEAC machines are a bit better in that regard and there are often Revox bits on ebay.
I'm using a Studer A807, which has a nice microprocessor transport like the BR-20. They're quite large and often rackmounted and annoyingly they usually come without a meter bridge - I kludged one from LED VU meters, but it makes alignment a pain in the ass.
A807s are proper pro machines and tend to be more expensive than a small studio/consumer machine. A807s were often used in high-end broadcast, e.g. for production. I believe the BBC still use them as archive machines. I believe production run was from 1988-2001 or so, with the Mk2 introduced around '92.
Mine needed the audio cards recapping and took a little effort to get it up to spec, but it's nice machine.
The A810 was similar but more robust and higher end. The A807 cuts a few corners, having lots of functions merged onto several big circuit boards. The A810 has lots of smaller cards which can make troubleshooting less problematic.
There's also the Otari MTR10 and similar, but I have no experience with those.
scottianstewart
New member
You're a big help, thank you. What machine(s) do you use for the recording bit?
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Until recently I was tracking to TASCAM TSR-8s, two of them in sync. Now I use an MSR24 to record the backing tracks. To save wear on it I record the vocals and other things which will likely have a lot of retakes to my original TSR, and then copy them to the 24-track using the synchroniser - I got fed up of mixing songs with tape sync as it can be hit-and-miss.
For songs with a low track count I just track them on the TSR-8.
Bear in mind that I compose things in MIDI and record them layer by layer so my personal approach may not work so well with a proper, live recording environment.
EDIT: IF you're curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkB7i-bS4Mc
The MSR-24 is up to about 3:44, and the A807 follows. I think it switches back and forth between those two for a bit. There's a clip of the TSR-8 tracking vocals using it's handy auto-punch-in feature around 7:29.
The soundtrack was a transfer from that very mix of the song, though it was dubbed onto the video afterwards - the cameras didn't have audio inputs.
For songs with a low track count I just track them on the TSR-8.
Bear in mind that I compose things in MIDI and record them layer by layer so my personal approach may not work so well with a proper, live recording environment.
EDIT: IF you're curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkB7i-bS4Mc
The MSR-24 is up to about 3:44, and the A807 follows. I think it switches back and forth between those two for a bit. There's a clip of the TSR-8 tracking vocals using it's handy auto-punch-in feature around 7:29.
The soundtrack was a transfer from that very mix of the song, though it was dubbed onto the video afterwards - the cameras didn't have audio inputs.
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