Nakamichi... Wasn't one of their decks called the Dragon? Wonder why I don't have one of those?

 

I think it'd be too much to hope for that the tape that's on it is still usable. The guy I got it from said he found it sitting in a non climate controlled storage building. Almost in a barn! I'm expecting to have to replace all of the belts/rubber just to get it going. Don't know, haven't opened it up or even plugged it in yet.

 

I see.Inspect it and If its dead put it on a wall for inspiration,lol.

 

Just like @Cav Emp inspired me to go back to additional learning with his enthusiasm for learning and knowledge.Enthusiasm is catchy as fuck.
Right now reading some manuals and demoing new Acustica plugins

 

That's right - what I lack in smarts I make up for with enthusiasm

 

Tape. Machine.

 

Try this

A hack

 

do you have any clips that highlight the effect you get from your gear?

4G's.. yeap that popped my eyes again

 

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It is all about how hard you hit the levels. The tape can only hold on to something much information before it begins to compress the sound by rounding off the transients and hopefully adding 3rd harmonic residue. The added benefit of going through tape is the added dimensionality that tape imparts on the audio field. Deeper and wider tend to be a byproduct. I recorded to tape back in the 80's and it was just another world where everything was analog, and although the basic technique of audio recording is quite the same, performance, mic placement and room, recording to tape was more forgiving and one didn't need be so focused on going into the red as a good level could actually mean hitting it hard to achieve a certain sound you were going for. I wish I had more technical info, but I only really started getting into production post tape. I ran 16 tracks of Alesis silver faced ADATs with a 32-4 Mackie board. 16 coming and 16 going. Man those preamps sucked big-time.

 

On the video on the "hack" link, that is not lo-fi tape compression but that kid pinning the neddles on his tape deck. I used to have an Akai real to real and used it as a distortion device achieving a Neil Young kind of total obliteration.

 

I hope the preamps in my 24 track 8 buss Mackie are better than what you experienced, @superliquidsunshine. So far I like them better, but not surprising as I moved from a Mackie DFX12 to the monster board. It really helped headroom and clarity from my perception.

 

I worked with tape for decades, and really miss it. I love the smell and the rewind sound and even the noise floor. I miss editing with a razor blade. I even miss the stress of a real time punch in and out situations. When you take that heavy 2" tape off of the machine you had tangible proof of the recording session. What do I miss most, the people. Recording sessions were not isolated work by yourself situations.

I do not miss tape machine calibration, or tape costs.

It is so ironic that during that time everyone wanted crystal clear digital sound though it was unattainable then.
Now that digital is the norm people want the tape sound. We disliked the sound of tape coloration and tape hiss.

I am so glad I lived through the tape era . Many fond memories and music.

 

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I have a dfx12 that I use for live/dj stuff and as a submixer, for some direct monitor reverb when Im recording vocalist.
My audio device is a Mackie 820i 8inx2out which is also a live format mixer. There is a noticeable difference in the pres on the 2 different units. The "onyx" pres in the 820i are definitely cleaner.

@digitaldragon Does that Ultramix have onyx pres?

 

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Yeah, I was toying with the idea of selling the DFX12 and applying that towards my insatiable gear addiction, but after thinking about lugging that 24 track board to do simple acoustic shows, nah. You can't ever have too many mixers, right?

@subGENRE, my biggest beef with the DFX was how low the output is for the monitor sends. Never could get a decent level monitor mix with it. It made me think I had blown an amp when I first tried it.

 

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@digitaldragon .. I had that 32-4 in the early-Ish 90's. The newer versions I hope would be better. To mix with it was ok, but the preamps were meh. I had a couple of Manley 40dB Mono Microphone Preamps and two Meek VC1 units which I just loved to death. Using 414's for rooms and a single Rodeo Classic set to a narrow cardioid 6ft in front of the kick and aimed in the space between the top of the kick and snare was all I needed to create a space for my drums. Every time I used the preamps in that Mackie I would loose any sense of depth that was possible with the other pres.

 

A couple of years ago I was in a band that recorded an album in a big studio near Hamburg on a 24 track analog. The music was very dynamic and the sound was very good but in my opinion the amount of hiss was unacceptable for today standards. No noise reduction was used, and I think that the engineer was a professional one. When I listen the first cd versions I bougth years ago of my favourite 60' - 70's records -- eno, tangerine dream, steve hillage etc.. I hear a lot of hiss, that is not part of the music, that was partially hidden by the reduced dynamic of the vynil. However the use of massive DBX noise reduction was common when it became available and so the "sound of the tape" is the sum of the sound of the tape itself plus the sound of the DBX/Dolby NR machines. For me tape noise, if it's not part of the composition, sucks!

 

Yep! Too much flutter when the mashine wasn´t working well because the studio hasn´t asked for a technician to solve the problem and all that jam etc etc!

I dont really fancy those days at all!

 

@superliquidsunshine, I'll have to keep that in mind next time I'm running drum tracks through it. My current setup, though is overheads, kick, and snare all get driven through two ART MPA II's, rest of the kit (which is really just the toms) uses the boards preamps. Been using a Behringer 32 track board until now. I planned on busting the Mackie loose on the next drum tracking session. Drums are really the only time I use all 12 tracks in the MOTU. Until the drummer adds something else to beat on.

 

I cant blame you really, many people prefer the digital workflow.
Do you use tape plugins though?

 

I guess if it is just the tom toms it will be ok as I guess you could blend them in just enough because they are still being picked up by your other mics. Panning those to sit correctly as well as phase will be the challenge I guess.