388 users: 8+ tracks?

mjt335 · Post by **mjt335** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:40 pm

I'm curious how any other 388 users like to work when you need more than 8 tracks. This is not so much a call for advice, more like a survey out of curiosity.

When you need more than 8 tracks, do you record 6, bounce them down to a stereo pair and then record 6 more?

Or, do you prefer to dump to a DAW and work from there?

Or, are you recording to a DAW and then sending sub-mixed groups to the 388?

Those options seem like the most logical solutions to me, but are there any others scenarios that I'm missing? I'm just curious how you guys like to work as I'm starting to experiment with a 388 (and a band that will usually need more than 8 tracks!).

Thx!
Mike

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:47 pm

The only time that I actually needed to do this was when there was a lot of overlapping vocal parts and such. In this scenario I actually had the song printed twice in a row, and so when we ran out of tracks we went on to the second one. Comped it together in the DAW. The reason we did it this way was because we didn't have the pro tools setup in my drummers basement that day, but we wanted to get the singer down while we were all together. I believe I recorded the mix out of the first take of the song to a laptop line in and then played it back to get the second print.

Honestly though when I'm on the 388 I like to work within its limitations...simple drum miking/bouncing, etc...if I am at a point where I need to bounce tracks though, I'm probably not doing "stereo pairs," everything is mono, including drums.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:44 pm

I'm not a 388 user but did many years and many records on a tascam 38. My 8 track days were all well before I went digital so dumping tracks into the DAW was never an option. When we ran out of tracks (which was all the time) I'd usually bounce things down. I don't know if it's the same on the 388 but on the 38 you had to leave a track between the tracks being bounced and the destination track. That would mean 1-6 could bounce to 8 as long as 7 wasn't part of the bounce. If it was you'd get a crazy feedback/crosstalk loop happening. On songs with multiple bounces I'd have to have everything worked out in advance, usually with notes, charts and diagrams.

I would also end up using one track for multiple parts - solos, chorus percussion, backing vocals etc, anything that wasn't happening at the same time. Come mix time I'd mult that track to as many faders as I needed for each part and use the mutes to bring each element in with its own eq, panning and fader levels.

When I did all of the above and still needed tracks I'd record solos and pads to a separate reel to reel and fly it in during the mix. The parts had to be pretty short for this to work. It usually took a few passes to get it just right but once you were in the zone it worked pretty flawlessly.

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:23 am

I've done both, but usually if I know it's going to be more than 8 tracks, I'll use the 388 for what it shines on IMO (that would be drums, bass and vocals) then bounce to the DAW for everything else.

Mine was out of commission for a while and I just got it up and running again. I'm working on a film score now and I'm planning on trying to send stems (recorded in Logic) to the 388 for some premix dirtiness. Never done this before and have no idea how it'll sound and if I'll get too much drift, but it'll be a fun experiment anyway...

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:57 am

DrummerMan wrote:I've done both, but usually if I know it's going to be more than 8 tracks, I'll use the 388 for what it shines on IMO (that would be drums, bass and vocals) then bounce to the DAW for everything else.

Mine was out of commission for a while and I just got it up and running again. I'm working on a film score now and I'm planning on trying to send stems (recorded in Logic) to the 388 for some premix dirtiness. Never done this before and have no idea how it'll sound and if I'll get too much drift, but it'll be a fun experiment anyway...

You don't think it's great for elec guitar too? I think that is one of my favs on it...

Yeah there absolutely is a very noticeable amount of drift, definitely will no longer sync up to the original take...which is the same thing I could say about some 2" decks I've used too...but maybe with a dreamy film score it'd be ok..

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:44 pm

I never particularly liked it on electric guitars. I generally like my guitars pretty uncompressed, though, and my experience with the 388 just didn't give me the sound I wanted. Not unuseable, just not what I'm going out of my way to use the 388 for.

I really LOVED the sound of bass direct on the 388, like perfect for me in so many ways.

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:46 pm

kslight wrote: Yeah there absolutely is a very noticeable amount of drift, definitely will no longer sync up to the original take...which is the same thing I could say about some 2" decks I've used too...but maybe with a dreamy film score it'd be ok..

We'll have to see. In general, these film cues are pretty short, not TOO much stinging on the action. The only way to find out will be to try it out....

mjt335 · Post by **mjt335** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:05 am

Thanks for the info, everybody!

For what we are going to do, I think we will likely cut all our rhythm tracks on the 388 and then dump to digital for everything beyond that (which should be minimal).

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388 users: 8+ tracks?

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