recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

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joninc
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recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by joninc » Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:03 pm

So I have an artist who wants to do a live off the floor folk recording to tape.

I only currently have this otari 50/50 2 track which I occasionally use for mixdowns and I am thinking about the best ways to use it for this project.

It has 2 built in mic pres - my tech says they are transformer balanced and should be decent.

Naturally they correspond to CH1 and 2.

But I am trying to envision a scenario where that makes any sense, meaning I don't want guitar and vocal panned hard opposite each other...

I can bypass the pres and use the line inputs and send a mix off my board of as many channels as I like as well and have more control of the pans
etc.. I also have much nicer external pres and outboard...

but I like the idea of using the onboard pres and keeping it super direct and simple. He's going for an older dusty sound and it doesn't need to be super modern and hi fi.

Maybe capturing with a stereo pair that get both guitar and vocal as opposed to trying to isolate vocal and guitar somewhat...for some reason my brain isn't finding these one easy to think about...

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markjazzbassist
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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by markjazzbassist » Fri Dec 28, 2018 5:37 am

i would record them with your fancy outboard and console and just have it pre-mixed to stereo 2 track, panned and everything. to acheive this i would go with a more minimalist approach mic wise so you're not having to mix 24 channels down to 2 track live. maybe 8 tracks or less if possible.

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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by standup » Fri Dec 28, 2018 6:16 am

If the artist really is thinking of early 60's folk recordings, maybe a stereo recording of guitar and vocal would be ideal.

I'd at least try mid-side, this might be a situation where it's a good idea. Depending on your room, probably.

Expect a long session, lots of record-listen-adjust?

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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by Magnetic Services » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:09 am

Couldn't you capture Guitar and vocal on channels 1 and 2 but not have to make it stereo? When transferring the tape and mixing down, couldn't you just balance them in mono?

Or do the same thing with a close mic and room mic, both capturing guitar and vocal but allowing you to control the space?

I suppose it would depend how dynamically this person sings/plays and how well they balance their voice and instrument.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Dec 28, 2018 2:18 pm

You could track through the Otari to the computer. I have a lengthy thread here somewhere about a project that used this approach. It's was pretty simple and sounded great.
Failing that I'd go with a mix on the board to 2 track. I've used the 5050 pres before. There ok but nothing to get excited about. Totally fine if they were all you had but if you can do better why not?

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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by drumsound » Fri Dec 28, 2018 2:51 pm

Are we talking about one person playing guitar and singing, with no other players?

I would use my console and live mix to the stereo deck. I'd have a figure 8 on the vocal and another on guitar. I'd also have a stereo room pair, or two. I'd prefer to possible do a couple takes to make some blend decisions.

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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by I'm Painting Again » Wed Jan 02, 2019 8:27 pm

I'd ask the artist for a main reference song for the sound then reverse engineer that as best I could with what's available

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Re: recording live to Otari 50/50 2 track

Post by joninc » Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:17 pm

Thanks for the input guys.

We tried this a few weeks ago and I opted to use external pres and make a mix on the board which I printed live to the tape - sounded really great!

on a side note - I'm listening to some Alan Lomax recordings today of Mississippi Fred McDowell and noticing that they kind of mix it with vocal hard left and guitar hard right - sounds like some kind of stomp in the middle... works pretty good for this kind of bluesy slide stuff.
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