I built and ran a pretty high end home studio, as I discussed up thread. I had a niche so I was pretty busy. This was right before digital really took off. I really, really hate telling you this but as someone that has done this and came out the other end after about three years of doing it, that article suggesting that you "don't do it" would be right in 99.99% of the cases. I got married at the end, and my wife pretty much made me choose between her or the studio, quickly after getting married. So, that part is right...you will have to be married to your spouse/girlfriend, or the studio. You are not going, in general, any real talent coming in. It will be "wanna be" bands/singers. Otherwise, they most likely wouldn't be at your studio. What I learned is you need to market to producers, not the acts, and I had just come to the place where producers were liking the sound I was getting for the genre of music I worked in, and they were starting to book with me. Hard to say how far I would have gone had I stayed with it, but likely I would have started spending more and more money to keep up, and eventually I would have gone bust. You just can't charge that much and if you do, people will just go down the street. Everything in the post is true. Here is why it wasn't for me, and why maybe it won't be for you. IF you are only doing it for experience and enjoyment (but trust me, it ain't gonna be fun all the time...wait until you work with some of those temprements. I had to disallow a very talented female bass player from recording sessions because she would sceam and yell and blame the enginner (me) for her mistakes. The best advice in that link you posted? Get a job somewhere else doing what you think you are going to love doing. They have to spend all the money, you get to just do the fun stuff. And they can deal with the pain in the butt clients. All that said, I'm glad I did what I did. I wouldn't follow that advice! But I'm just like that. I've owned a few businesses, I not adverse to risk and I wasn't trying to raise a family back then. It IS very good, practical advice however. You weren't asking for this kind of advice, but you posted he link so I thought I would just throw some thoughts your way, since you seem to want to do exactly what I have already done and been through. Oh...one other thing I observed. We're talking about what sounds good and what doesn't. A lot of musicians are like the general public: they wouldn't know good sound from anything else. I wouldn't worry too much about that. If you have a client that is really worried about sq, they probably are looking at far more expensive studios. But, you ARE going to get very nice sound from a reel to reel if you work everything correctly.
If it's going to be a hobby...go for it!! Don't let us discourage you...just pull out the useful tidbits and ignore the rest. Sorry, I didn't see your post until after I wrote mine above. You ARE who I described....someone not doing it for the money. Awesome.
A Tascam 1/2" 8 track, no doubt, will sound a lot better. I had a friend that got an advance to record an album and he used the money to build a nice little home studio, and he recorded his whole album to that deck (he also bought a Linn drum machine, which was pretty state of the art back then, so with that unit, a good keyboard, the tape deck, and reasonable mixing board and mic, and one good effects box, you were set). I wasn't aware of issues with the Fostex units, but I didn't really have them too long either. So, the poster should take what you said with a lot of consideration imo. At least with a little four track, there isn't going to be any stress about expenses...he wants to do this as a hobby and using a cheap four track will keep it as such.
I think that replaced mine. Let us know if it still runs...I don't know why it wouldn't. Great little machines for what they were, and relatively affordable. I'm assuming that was the last one they put out? If he could get one of those for under $1000 that would be a home run I think. I still have a pile of tapes; just occurred to me I guess I could sell them off. I don't know if I have any of the 1/2" left. I think I literally threw most of that stuff out. If I could have some of my old stuff back, and the 5000 or so vinyl albums I tossed out years ago, I'd be plenty happy! Occurs to me he could just buy a few rolls and reuse them unless the client was willing to pay to keep them. That would keep costs down.
Damn straight they are. Many thousands for a 16/24 track head for example. Many thousands. Hell, if you just want a head block relapped, its gunna cost you BULK $$. My advice is if you cant spend serious $$$ for analog, dont bother.Its not like digital where you can be on your way with reasonable sound for $300, no siree. Then there is learning to align the damn thing, how hard to hit it, tape costs etc etc...
I missed that. It seemed like the OP was expressing a preference for tape. Either way, the comments are valid for all of us. If you like tape better, then use it. I find that most people on this forum, as on most forums, like very different things. Certainly more people like older music as there is simply more of it. That in itself does not suggest that they like it specifically because it was done on tape, nor does it suggest that they wouldn't prefer it if those same old recordings were better quality. In fact, there is a huge market for remastered original material. I, personally, like good sound and what I consider to be my "go to" music pieces, but I don't obsess over how they were recorded or mixed. I do collect Lp's and not so much CD's although I have plenty of those too. My favoring of the Lp has many reasons, sonics not being the sole one. Tape is another matter entirely, and one that I have given up on entirely. Just my preference. -Bill
If you want analog sound on the cheap I'd follow the route on forum member suggested a few posts ago: get two Tascam DSD 5.6 Mhz recorders, an analog mixing desk, maybe you have one already, and the final trick, a good second hand analog tape deck, better if it has Dolby S for the mix down master tape, and there you have your pseudo analogue recording without spending a fortune.
How did I not hear about this??? I've been waiting for news on the Horch House/Revox deck and this has been available all along??
I managed to buy these two tape units. One from online goodwill and the other craigslist. Got the portastudio for $110 w/shipping. It came in original box. Looks like it was used once and the owner gave up on how complicated it is The fostex I got for $200 from craigslist. I've normally seen some for sale around $4-500. So I snatched the deal. It is surprising how many people are bidding for this stuff on goodwill. Lot's of "junk" gets multiple bids. I am going to make some recordings with my guitar and see how these decks sound.
I have to say that I have heard a lot of claims over the years about digital sounding better than it used to, but my ears are yet to hear anything that comes even close to the beauty of analogue tape. With the renaissance of vinyl and people finally realising that digital audio is flat and lifeless at best, and harsh and uncomfortable at worst, it would not surprise me at all if multitrack analogue machines make a comeback. I speak to a lot of engineers who prefer the sound of analogue. A close friend of mine runs a hi-fi shop and tells me that Revox IIRC are about to bring out a two track reel to reel with no record head and will sell tapes of albums. So, you just never know what will happen with mutltracks.
I think it all depends on who is doing the recording with what equipment. There are lots of great digital recordings out there just like there are great analog recordings. I think the beauty of digital recording has been the quality of technology that has trickled down to the consumer level. The tools available to somebody who wants to set up a small recording rig at home are pretty amazing.
I would certainly agree with you being able to get way, way better results at home on something like Logic than the "good old" four or eight track cassette recorder! If I had a little more money though, I'd buy a 2" 24-track in heartbeat for my home studio.
I agree. Digital and analog have their strengths.. in analog the key is in alignment of the deck and not having to go more than one or two generations in the mastering. I am currently working on several of my former projects from the master tapes. I must say both analog and digital are useful. Take away one, and the result would be less. For example, analog parametric EQ sounds much more musical, as well as conservative use of an aural exciter.. magical on some of my more lackluster recordings. This analog stage can not be replicated in the digital domain. In the digital phase, I can take apart the waveform to adjust problems with the difference signal, manipulate/edit instruments in the waveform, and/or sum the bass for a more full, louder, more balanced sound. Tape drop outs can be repaired. Pitch problems can be adjusted (the singer had one too many) It's fun to play with since there's no generational loss.... any degradation of sound would be my fault, mistakes cost nothing and easy to AB compare.
They have increased their dealer network, and they have been introducing new products, so to me, they are doing fine
So, how many Ballfinger machines did you end up buying? And whatever happened to Horch House. Seems they called themselves Entertape for awhile. I was hoping to buy some tapes but I guess not since their websites are down.
i know this is an old thread but i still use the fostex r8 with the 16 ch 450 desk. in no way do i consider it to be lofi i have been using this since the day it came out and have mastered the art of how to use it and what not to do. the digital smidgital nonsense that it sounds better is crap. there is no reason not to get a great sound whatever the format. i still have my old recordings from a teac 144 cassette multitrack that sound great. i can get a better sound on my fostex than any digital crap studio out there. every time i hear someones demos it is mind boggling how bad they sound. everyone comes to me to record their demos because analog is still great too. great post by thefrindge.
Fostex is a machine I DO NOT recommend. Built cheap, too lightweight to be reliable. PITA to repair and maintain, and get parts for. And those machines got ran until they broke, before they got any maintenance. R8 is not what analog is really capable of.
i will not disagree with you because i respect everyone's OPINION. yes it is built cheap. hmm think of today's cars etc. i have never had to repair it or needed parts so i consider myself lucky. getting a great sound is all that matters. having a great song also helps. i stand on my love for the r8. people flock to me to record their demos for a reason. again maybe i'm just lucky.
Hi Mobility, I see you're new-ish so welcome to the forum. The R8 certainly offers an alternative to all the digital options out there. What tape are you using on it? Old stuff or new?
I never had any issues with their E16 or the 8 track units back in the day. Both were used an awful lot! You enjoy it!
Not to sidetrack...Does anyone know where one can get a Tascam Porta One repaired? I have two, both non functioning.
Search your area for shops that sell cassettes and ask around. Look in the musician forums or sites on FB or similar. The groups of musicians that are producing cassettes currently should be able to give you some leads. There's a place in Toronto here called The Dupe Shop that does all of this, I'm sure there are similar places in most cities around the states.
There are a few techs on tapeheads.net cassette forum ( Cassette - Tapeheads Tape, Audio and Music Forums ) who can probably repair them. Though the porta one is a really low-end model.. You can find them easily on ebay for cheap.
Yes $200 is very high.. I see portastudios quite often at goodwill. I used to own a portastudio. I loved it but digital is so much easier, although I’ve considered grabbing one for nostalgia. They seldom cost more than $30 at goodwill.
