Anyone record with something like this ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160169837222&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=006

Kool Dan.....wow the memories!!!

I also remember recording onto Vinyl Demos with metal in-between also.....

thanx for the trip down memory lane!

Memories, memories. I owned several Otari MTR90-II 24 tracks and absolutely loved them. As digital began to evolve further much of my client base preferred to use digital over analog due to 2" tape costs although the analog sounded better IMO. There are only a few digital recorders I know (Fairlight, Radar) capable of producing the type of warmth and bottom end reproduction of a well kept Pro 2" 24 track. The Fairlight is by far the best DAW I've ever owned and used. Pro Tools a.k.a. "Poo Tools" and "Slow Tools" is one of the worst but has a strong market share thanks to clever marketing. Just goes to show that quality doesn't always win out in the marketplace. Even the PT HD isn't great but sure costs a bundle of money. Hopefully Digidesign will catch up with companies like Fairlight and make a product that's actually great sounding and innovative although they've tried for years ad haven't succeeded yet.

Memories - I remember back in the 50's, our band's first demo was recorded on a big wire recorder then redone on vinyl.
Ciao

Man, do I ever have a pile of used old 2" tape. I still have the 16 channel board for the first 2" machine at a studio I invested in...the first 16 track one in Lexington.

That's back when an engineer did all settings manually during mixing...in fact, we'd hire an engineers specifically for the sound he develped on a particular kind of equipment. That's when mixing was an art form that separated the "men from the boys". Everything was manual. The rythem section was always the same, to minimize set-up (and costs). The typical project took one hour for the basic rythem track (piano, guitar, drums, bass), an additional hour for the "sweetening""-horns, vocal, etc. and an hour for the mix-down and voice-over (for a basic commercial package). Selling price was $3-4000.00 range. It was critical that the rythem track be completed in an hour...not 65 minutes, because time and payment to players was per hour. If the rythem track took more than an hour, we broke even, at best. Studio guys got to be very close and worked together for years. We could read each other's minds. Studio instruments stayed in place. The studio drums, bass and piano were in permanent positions, with direct boxes, baffles and mikes in place. The studio bass I used never left the studio. Settings were marked with duct tape near the controls. A grand piano was tuned once a week, and again if there was a particularly big project. The piano tuner was always on call.


Different than today, but a real thrill when it all came together. My big projects are still done in a similar way...no sequences...rythem track first, with real players. that's whenever it's within budget. Of course, with newer technology, there are those out there selling the equivalent of a $3-4000.00 project for $500-750.00. that's why I made the transition to film score music
for international corporations. with a budget in the six figures, scores at "full mark" are a relatively small portion of the budget, and great productions become affordable.

Ah, "Memory lane",

Russ

I recorded my LP "Licorice Factory" in 1984 at the Rudy Van Gelder studio designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Englewood Cliffs NJ . Rudy the legend was engineer. He did all the Blue Note Jazz stuff in the 50's/60's

We recorded live to 2-track tape. Rudy was a sly devil and he encoded dbx so we had to return to him for any remastering since so few studios had dbx. We did most of the tunes first take, none more than 3 takes. no overdubs. came out great:

personnel:
perry robinson on clarinet
mark whitecage on alto clarinet
myself on bass clarinet
dave lalama (saxman ralph's kid bro) on piano+ DX7
michael fleming on bass
walter perkins on drums

email me if u want a cassette: $10



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Miami Mo

Actually, we still use one of these in the studio on a regular basis...

Tape does something to drums, especially, that nothing else can. So, when tracking rhythm section stuff, we track through the SSL to the Otari, and then record to ProTools HD after each take (at 24/96 through Apogee AD-16 converters).

Best of both worlds...

Russ..."Rhythm"

Fran, remember, I got my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Communications from the University of Kentucky. You can identify my school from my class ring; visible when I pick my nose.

Tell you what. I'll either slow down, follow your outstanding skills in terms of grammar and punctuation, or just not bother.


"Redneck" Russ

Russ just having fun with you...That is the most misspelled word by musicians..