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#143940 - 10/24/07 11:20 AM
Re: recording -- how it use to be
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Senior Member
Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7285
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
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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
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#143943 - 10/24/07 02:46 PM
Re: recording -- how it use to be
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Senior Member
Registered: 05/26/99
Posts: 9673
Loc: Levittown, Pa, USA
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#143947 - 10/24/07 04:49 PM
Re: recording -- how it use to be
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Member
Registered: 06/24/05
Posts: 892
Loc: Baltimore, MD USA
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Diki, what you're talking about is tape compression. It's a natural compression that occurs when you saturate the tape, especially with drums. Many people who are used to that find that digital leaves them a little dry. You are definitely describing the best of both worlds. My studio is completely digital, but Sheffield which is right up the street still has a couple of the 2 inch machines and they still get calls for them. Ciao, Joe ------------------ Songman55 Joe Ayala
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PSR S950, PSR S900, Roland RD 700, Yamaha C3 6'Grand, Sennheiser E 935 mic, several recording mics including a Neuman U 87, Bose L1 Compact, Roland VS 2480 24 Track Recorder Joe Ayala
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#143948 - 10/24/07 06:40 PM
Re: recording -- how it use to be
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Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14194
Loc: NW Florida
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Yes, Joe... No substitute for it on plug-ins, yet. They keep trying, but so far, no luck. The hard part has been getting hold of new tape stock that matches the characteristics of the old stuff. The whole Quantegy fiasco really woke some people up to how important tape is, even in the digital world.
But, on the other side of the fence, it's getting pretty amazing what you can do with a plug in like BFD, if you output all it's channels individually to the SSL, and process it just like a real drumkit feed... I can't remember if BFD's drum samples were tracked to tape, but if not, I can see it as the next logical step. Vive la tape!
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!
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