| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: tube+tape! also studio wiring help needed
by phatkidd | 06/09/01 at 05:59:08
wassap guys! I'm a composer/(wannabe DAW engineer) and I'm currently building a new home studio in the Persian Gulf. Lotsa Opps here, believe it or not...
I have the folowing gear;
logic platinum 4.0
Audiowerk 8
soundblaster platinum 5.1
cakewalk pro audio 9
Behringer 2004a desk
Alesis dm5
Roland r 8
roland handsonic
korg x5d synth
tascam cdrw
Studio condenser mic (apex 420-it rocks)
samsung pc audio interface
studio monitors w/sub (2-point)
Cambridge soundworks 4.1 (w/ sub)
I wanna add:
4-track reel to reel tape machine
tube preamp
behringer patchbay
pod amp simulator
The rig iwill be divided this way:
AW8/logic for audio recording. SBL platinum 5.1/cwpa 9 for midi.
What I envision, is to take all my drums recorded into logic, using the dm5 tones, and using 4 of the outs on the AW8, and send 4 channels (toms/cymbs l/r,kik, snare) to a 4 track reel to reel and tube preamp to warm things up. I HATE the plug and play mentality I have often seen with new gear like drum/tone modules and amp simulators. You know, map out some drums, randomly mess with their velocities and think of yourself as an audio genius... The tones are usually great in these devices, but something often gets lost in translation. I have yet to hear a POD guitar track sound KILLer on a home recording, although I know it can. I have heard some outrageous tones come from that thing, but never on the final product. I would use the same process described above for recording guitars, to warm and fatten things up. Check out the tones on the brilliantly recorded Arcangels record- rich, fat drums, and guitar tones where EVERY nuance is captured!
You can hear the differences in pressure applied to the strings, regardless of gain level/overdrive!
This is the magic of recording i want to capture, using the new toys, and some lovely old gear.
Any thoughts? Any suggestions for wiring? how about the patchbay? how do I put this stuff together for optimum performance?
I'm a musician that has fallen into this whole DAW/engineer thing-Self taught, with lots to learn...Thanx 4 any help!!
O
Subject: Re: tube+tape! also studio wiring help needed
by phatkidd | 06/10/01 at 04:21:45
wow- do I feel lonely... Nobody care to respond?
Has nobdy else pondered the the advantages or pitfalls of re-recording digital audio to tape in order to achieve a certain quality that tape can give? What about Old Dan? ever messed with this process?
Subject: Re: tube+tape! also studio wiring help needed
by Maury | 06/10/01 at 13:03:35
hey man don't be lonely :) i, too, once posted a question here about dumping from digital to analog ... long story short, the general consensus was that once the signal is digital, it's more or less too late. many responded with an answer like "you'll gain more hiss than warmth". i got the impression that analog during tracking is where "it's at". good luck with whatever you decide. i have to run for now, gotta go to a gig... maybe i'll check back later to see how this topic evolves.
maury
Subject: Re: tube+tape! also studio wiring help needed
by old_dan | 06/11/01 at 02:51:24
I think it's a good idea. You will want to limit the number of conversions. For instance you may want to record the drums on tape first, then import them. Another alternative is to mix to tape.
You can also mix the digital and analogue tracks together. Record the drums digitally, copy the tracks to the tape then bring it back in on another channel(s). Using a filter or some heavy eq lop off the topend on the analogue track to reduce the hiss.
Putting everything together should be interesting :) I would think the patchbay would be needed. You might want to take a peek at [url=http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/patchbays.html]Sliders Article[/url] for some good info on patchbays.
Take care,
Dan