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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!cmcl2!rocky2!cubsvax!peters
From: peters@cubsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Home studio
Message-ID: <194@cubsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Apr-84 13:49:19 EST
Article-I.D.: cubsvax.194
Posted: Thu Apr  5 13:49:19 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Apr-84 04:41:23 EST
References: <2938@fortune.UUCP>, <3195@brl-vgr.ARPA>
Organization: Columbia Univ Biology, New York City
Lines: 54

I saw the follow-up comparing reel-to-reel (note spelling!) to
multitrack cassette, and just about everything in it is true.
(I missed the original article.)

I have a Foxtex Multitracker, a 4-channel cassette machine
with integral mixer, and have used it quite a bit for both
live and "studio-style" (meaning overdubs, ping-ponging, etc.)
work.  The cassette runs at twice normal cassette speed, so you
do pick up some S/N, and Dolby C helps a lot.  After 2 ping-pongs
thing begin to sound lousy.

Teak was the first on the market with this kind of device;  Fostex
followed soon after, and now I see Yamaha has one.   There are
various grades and options (including cassette speed).  From what I've
seen, the latest model Teac has some very nice features, including
parametric eq on the mixer.

Sound quality is better than on a normal cassette deck;  one can cut 
reasonable demos and do very nice live recording (although a total
of 22.5 min of program material on a C-90 is a limitation here...
this is the main reason someone might go to the 1 7/8 speed, which
would give 45 min).  I have been very pleased.

Naturally, you get what you pay for.  The whole deal comes to about
$1000, and you get quite a bit of flexibility, including the ability
to use the 4x4 mixing board alone.  Although there's no question that
virtually any reel-to-reel multitrack deck would give better sound,
you have to consider that that's a much larger investment, especially
since you also have to buy a board.  Also, the portability is a virtue.  What
some people do is dub down a partial studio mix onto a multitrack
cassette deck, leaving one or two channels open -- eg, mixing the
rhythm section + dummy vocal down to two tracks -- then using the other
tracks to experiment with leads and fills in preparation for a return
to the studio.

Furthermore, if you're not sure a home studio is really your thing,
one of these jobs is an inexpensive way to find out (it's all relative,
of course!).  Even if you later get fancier equipment, you'll probably
still end up doing lots of things with your multitrack cassette deck,
since it's so easy to set up.  (It's been compared to a "musical notepad.")

One more comment.  What you'll need in addition to mics, cables and
so on are a reverb unit and four channels worth of single-ended compression.
You'll probably need these for a reel-to-reel-based operation as well.
Reverb is kind of the minimal effect you'll need;  analog or digital delay
would be nice, too.  Compression is more of a necessity for the cassette-
based operation than for the reel-to-reel, because low S/N means small
dynamic range -- you'll want to compress the program material, in effect
losing a bit of "realism" in return for S/N.  (I have reverb, but not 
compression;  I couln't live without reverb, but have been living without
compression -- if you call that living!)

{philabs,cmcl2!rocky2}!cubsvax!peters            Peter S. Shenkin 
Dept of Biol. Sci.;  Columbia Univ.;  New York, N. Y.  10027;  212-280-5517