Madonna's Like A Virgin and True Blue (recording studios)

This two Madonna albums seem to be uncredited regarding their recording studios.
I guess Like A Virgin was recorded at Power Station in New York (did they have digital tape recorders at the time?) by looking at the "thanks secction" of the linear notes, but I have no idea where True Blue was recorded.
Was True Blue mixed-down to digital or is it an all-analog recording?
More information about the equipment used on these two albums?

 

Nobody?

 

I believe that 'Virgin' carries a DDD SPARS code, and I am pretty sure it also said 'A Full Digital Recording' along the bottom of the CD booklet.

Not so sure about True Blue, as the only copy of that title I ever had was the cassette.

DASH decks were the hot thing at the time that both of these albums were recorded, and I am pretty damn sure that most if not all of the major studios had at least one of them, so I would guess that True Blue might at least be digitally recorded. Not sure about mixdown though.

-Aaron

 

Like A Virgin was a full digital recording as it is stated on the linear notes, "fanatically recorded digitally on Sony equipment", I guess it was tracked on a PCM 3324.
True Blue was tracked on analog tape recorders as it is stated on the rear cover of the old CD, but always made me think it may have been mixed-down to digital.
Any info about where these two albums were recorded?

 

"Like A Virgin" was recorded and mixed at The Power Station in NYC.

 

What about True Blue? Where was it recorded and what kind of equipment was used? Digital mixed down of an analog tracked recording?

 

It's in the liner notes. "Like A Virgin" was recorded at The Power Station in NYC, produced by Nile Rodgers, engineered and mixed by Jason Casaro, and the band was basically Chic, of which Rodgers was also a member. It was a multitrack DDD recording, done on a 16-track Sony DASH.

"True Blue" was produced, recorded, and mixed by Stephen Bray. I have my CDs packed away, so I can't say whwre it was recorded, but if I recall, it was done in L.A.. My guess is that it was an analog Dolby SR recording.

The next album, "Like A Prayer", was also recorded, produced, and mixed by Stephen Bray, but was DDD recording.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=218485

 

Actually, most of both True Blue and Like A Prayer were produced by Pat Leonard, with just a few tracks on each produced by Bray. And they weren't the engineers, just the producers.

 

"supplemented on the EQ front by a rack of 24 Pultecs" Holy cow!

 

The "True Blue" album was recorded at Channel Recording in Los Angeles. Michael Verdick was the main engineer on the project, and the album was also mixed there as well.

The "Like A Virgin" album according to the producer Nile Rodgers was recorded on a Sony 24-Track PCM 3324 DASH digital multitrack, through an SSL E-series console, and mixed to a Sony PCM F1 two track 12-bit deck.

 

Motown did that stuff all the time! They would EQ the EQs!

 

Right! the only thing I could not remember if it was a 24-track or 16-track machine. I know Nile Rodgers bought one when they hit the market.

 

I made a mistake. Correction: "True Blue" was produced by Patrick Leonard.

I'm surprised no one caught it before I did.

 

12 bit deck!!!??? This really existed in 1984?

 

I've always thought that "True Blue" was a digitally-mixed analogue recording. What made me think that, I can't recall, but I seem to recall that the original CD said "ADD" on it, which means analogue recording-digital mix-digital mastering.

 

It sounds like an analog recording mixed down to digital but on the original CD (European pressing) it was stated to be an analog recording, on the long text (the music on this Compact Digital Disc was recorded to analog equipment...) Warner CDs had until the late 80's.

 

Surprising, isn't it? I thought it was all 16-bit by then.

 

from mixonline.com...(the highlighting is mine...sc)

1981 Sony PCM-F1 Digital Recording Processor
Sep 1, 2007 5:10 PM


Once in a while, an audio product arrives that’s a failure in the consumer realm (such as the DAT format or Yamaha’s NS-10 speakers) but is a hit with pro recordists.

Sony’s PCM-F1 is one such example. Originally designed as a means for consumers to make digital recordings of CDs, FM broadcasts or home performances, the PCM-F1 debuted in 1981.

Essentially, the system combined a recording processor that used the EIAJ’s (Electronic Industries Association of Japan) 14-bit PCM specification for digitizing audio and storing it as a video signal—essentially a moving monochrome barcode. (In the original specification, the two "extra" bits were used for error correction.)

The concept of a two-piece system (connecting a PCM processor to any VCR—Beta, VHS or U-matic—for recording) was unpopular with consumers, but at $1,900, Sony's PCM-F1 was a hit with studios.

The Technics SV-P100 ($3,000) went one step further: It was a 14-bit EIAJ processor combined with a VHS transport. Years before DAT, it was the first digital audio cassette recorder, and Mobile Fidelity even released a few projects—such as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon—on stereo PCM VHS tapes.

PCM processors from Aiwa, Akai, Sansui, JVC and Technics rigidly stuck to the 14-bit EIAJ standard; only Sony's PCM-F1 as well as the later PCM-701/501/601 units and the Nakamichi DMP-100—a black-finish F1 with improved analog components—offered a choice of (switchable) 14/16-bit performance. Apogee Electronics once sold upgrades for replacing a PCM-F1’s anti-aliasing filters with high-performance Apogee versions.

Recording on EIAJ digital processors had its ups and downs. Being video-based, the system recorded at 44.056 kHz rather than 44.1kHz and digital editing was difficult—at best—and only frame-accurate, requiring a high-end assembly editing rig with multiple synchronized decks.

On the plus side, the processors had no moving parts, so a worn-out transport simply meant finding another VCR; and tape clones/backups could easily be made using two VCRs. And as the PCM-F1 had separate encode and decode circuitry, 4-track, sound-on-sound recordings were possible using one processor and two VCRs—with one designated as play/the other as record.

Alternatively, one could make simultaneous 4-track recordings by combining the PCM digital tracks with a video deck’s “Hi-Fi” tracks. This was great for live recordings where a board mix or close-in mics went digital and room ambience/mix position mics were routed to the Hi-Fi tracks.

Paired with the optional SL-F1 Betamax deck, the PCM-F1 was the first portable, battery-operated digital recording system. A few brave souls—myself included—even went so far as to make multitrack recordings using two (or more) synchronized PCM-F1s. But one thing was certain: whether stereo or 4-track, the democratization of digital had arrived.

(c) 2010 mixonline.com



I used one of these machines in 1987...my first digital recording. I did not care for the sound of it...

SC

 

True blue DOES NOT SOUND like Genesis's album INVISIBLE TOUCH (Which is digital on the record) or Bryan Adams RECKLESS on Quiex VINYL which also is.... (I believe CRC copies of this record are the original analog recording (sounds much better))

I would love knowing also about TRUE BLUE but it sounds like ON THE RECORD,its analog.....