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Hey guys, I have done the dangerous music summing thing for a long time and am just looking to do something different. I have some options for tape machines 1/4 and 1" coming up. I was thinking about either tracking drums to tape then transferring to the computer or another thought that crossed my mind if I got a 8 or 16 track machine was to sum directly to tape then use my mico to get back into the DAW. Anyone doing anything like this?

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RemyRAD Mon, 11/28/2011 - 18:37

Thanks to our digital multi-tracks since the affordable ones came out in 1992, it's something that I've been able to utilize quite often since you can adjust the timing to shove beats up or down in time. Works great on those drummers who are always pushing the beat. Especially since DAW's really weren't up to snuff back in 1993 yet. Now it's even easier. And one doesn't even need $15,000 for a 24 channel multitrack machine as my DA 88's cost in 1993. Now it's 1/10 of the cost for something even better on inexpensive computer hard drives. You could still rack up a fair cost for all of those 8mm metal particle tapes which would now exceed the cost of a 1 TB hard drive, today. I'm just waiting for the next half dozen of manufacturers to come up with something even more affordable than the Joe Co Black Box. The new units were pretty outrageous at this years AES show. I'm just waiting for everybody else to come out with something similar for under $1000. Then the planet will explode and we won't have to worry about anything anymore.

Felt any good earthquakes lately?
Mx. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD Wed, 11/30/2011 - 10:38

Might I also suggest that you utilize the MX 50-50 to re-record snare drum/bass drum tracks through the 50-50, back into your digital multitrack, in real time, with the 50-50 placed into record/repro. Meaning, it's coming right off the playback head while recording. This will offset your snare drum/bass drum tracks with a delay of approximately 80 ms. You then take that rerecorded track and synchronize it to the original snare drum/bass drum tracks. This will give you that marvelous limiting saturation on those drum tracks. Then you can do your entire mix down through the 50-50 in record/repro, spooling it back to your digital multitrack in real time. This will give you quite a hybrid type of quality level that can rival having an entire 2 inch 24 track machine, a couple of tracks at a time. So it will require a bit of time line sliding to keep everything in perfect synchronization on individual tracks while the mix down will be complete with only 1/2 of the wow/flutter & NO PRINT THROUGH echoes. And this is a method I recommend to all a lot of people were only a practical used 2 track machine utilizing 1/4 inch tape of a single reel used over and over again until you wear out the freaking tape. This will certainly keep your costs in check this way. And since you are using this essentially as an effect, there is no need to provide your clients with a reel of tape of the mix down. You'll provide your clients with a CD, DVD or an outboard hard drive of your analog tape mix down.

You've got it now so go get it and never look back.
Mx. Remy Ann David