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Post by ninworks on Apr 22, 2021 11:40:27 GMT -5
The digitization project I started back in 2018 is complete. I finished up with the 4 track tapes yesterday. I counted how many tapes I had to go through. I had 27, 1/2", 8 track tapes, 16, 1/4", 4 track tapes, and 9, 1/4", 2 track master mix tapes. They all had to be baked for at least 8 hours before I could play them due to the Sticky Shed Syndrome old tapes acquire after many years. Luckily I could bake anywhere from 3 to 5 tapes at once in my food dehydrator.
I didn't transfer each and every tape since some of them were either just little ideas or projects I did for other long-lost people. Now I can sell the tape machines and throw out all the tapes. If anyone here needs and empty 10-1/2" diameter NAB 1/2" or 1/4" reels hit me up. I'm keeping the empties for now. I can store them in a box in the shed. When they had tape on them they had to stay in the climate controlled house and took up valuable space. I put a couple empty reels on eBay to see if they will sell.
This project took a lot longer than I meant for it to. Initially I did a few tapes and then let it go over the summer months because I didn't want to add the additional heat from the dehydrator to my AC load. Putting out a considerable amount of 130 degree air, inside the house, for days at a time, didn't make sense during the summer months.
I have some songs I am going to re-mix using Pro Tools. I did one a couple days ago. Only about 10 to go.
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Post by ninworks on Apr 24, 2021 17:54:07 GMT -5
I sold the 1/2" Otari 8 track machine to a studio in Nashville who restores and sells vintage recording gear. He's even paying me to deliver it on Monday. All the tape is gone. He is even taking all the empty reels off my hands so I won't have to store them or find a place to get rid of them. I have a hard time throwing them away because they could be of value to someone. Getting all of the tapes out of the closet opened up a considerable amount of space in there. Nice and tidy. I sorted through 2 big boxes that had nothing but numerous miscellaneous cables. Guitar cables, mic cables, snake cables, customized snakes cables that were inside old effects racks, Leslie cables, power cables etc. I sorted and consolidated them into two smaller boxes. I moved another utility road case out of there and into the shed as well that had a bunch of cables in it. I can't believe how much cable I have accumulated over the years. Decades of live gigging and multiple recording studios I've built amassed a ridiculous cable inventory. I never throw a working cable away. I'm slowly getting the stuff I don't need out of here. I sold a DigiTech GNX-3 guitar processor this week. With any luck the guy from eBay will pay me for the mixer he bid on this week so it can be gone next week too. Now if I could finalize a sale on my Minimoog the stars would be aligned for me. That would be most of the stuff I want to get out of here.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Apr 24, 2021 19:09:33 GMT -5
It's kinda sad seeing tape go away. I use the Softube Tape plugin on most of my busses in PT. Sometimes I click the virtual Stop button just to hear that sound of tape coming to a stop, lol. Ahh, that old rocking the reels back and forth to find that exact splice spot.
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Post by ninworks on Apr 25, 2021 4:28:33 GMT -5
I don't miss tape editing at ALL! There's no telling how many rolls of splicing tape I have gone through in my life. Performing 10 or more mixes of the same song, cutting the best sections out of each one, then taping all the good sections together to make a final mix. It was a good experience to learn how to do that but what a pain it was. The advent of the DAW put a much welcomed end to that, thank goodness. That's where I learned the importance of keeping good notes and keeping things tidy and organized. It was absolutely necessary in order to keep track of all the different song bits. Post-Its were a big help once they came around.
The first time I used automation I was so excited. No more resetting everything on the console to start the mix over. Taking snapshots of channel settings with a Polaroid camera or putting labeling tape across the fader path for a stopping point or along the sides of faders and trying to write tape counter locations on them with index marks for fader locations at different parts of the song. There was so much room for error. I don't think I ever did a mix all the way through that was perfect but editing made it possible to get very close. Then SMPTE Timecode and MIDI sequencers came along and the MIDI stuff could be automated to some degree but it was very cumbersome. Anytime a level decision was changed on something that wasn't sequenced it affected the level of some MIDI'd doo dad and you would have to go into the sequencer and manually change controller information to make a change.
Them dern kidz these daze doan know how good they have it.
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Post by ninworks on Apr 27, 2021 10:01:25 GMT -5
The 8 track machine is gone as are all the empty tape reels. I had 52 reels that would have gobbled up more storage space. I was happy to get rid of them.
I still have the 4 track machine. I need to work on it some before trying to sell it. There is a problem with one of the playback channels I need to figure out. It still works but has to be messed with to make that happen. The machine has to be good and warmed up or there's a nasty hum on channel 3. Probably a bad ground somewhere in the playback circuit between the head and playback amplifier for that channel. I have all the documentation so hopefully I can find and repair it.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Apr 27, 2021 11:42:44 GMT -5
I totally forgot about automation, watching those knobs and faders magically working by themselves. I think I only experienced it once, at Studio A in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.
Glad you're getting it all sorted out. It's amazing how exponentially more functional the non-linear digital recording technology changed the industry. It almost feels like cheating by comparison.
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Post by rickyguitar on Apr 28, 2021 3:20:00 GMT -5
Sounds like you are getting there. Good on ya. Bro
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Post by ninworks on Apr 28, 2021 7:47:23 GMT -5
I totally forgot about automation, watching those knobs and faders magically working by themselves. I think I only experienced it once, at Studio A in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Glad you're getting it all sorted out. It's amazing how exponentially more functional the non-linear digital recording technology changed the industry. It almost feels like cheating by comparison. It is cheating and everybody does it these days but I won't tell if you won't. I was referencing automation inside a DAW but yeah, moving faders on a console are cool. I have never mixed on an automated console. Only in the box.
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