Romancing The (bad) Past

[TapeOpLarry]

Hey all,
I'm currently mixing archival music from the early-mid 70's. It's totally awesome, and some aspects would leave you stunned in how much commitment and foresight was involved, how good the players were, and how well most tracks sound. But man, dealing with a live concert where one of the most important mics is a tube mic with major issues and a tube going bad (and a bunch of room mics all fail at one point!), I can see why engineer folks back then were ready to embrace phantom powered mics and less intermittent gear. Especially on a remote recoding gig! We spend a lot of time researching the gear used in the past and getting all excited about it, but I dunno, part of me is pretty happy with the way things are now. I guess this is me after 40 hours in iZotope RX.... Stop romancing the past, at least be selective and not stupid.

(yes, I know this sounds like an End Rant from Tape Op.)

[vvv]

for yer patience.

But I gotta admit, sounds kinda fun, too.

And yeah, like a end rant.

[drumsound]

Live recordings are a unique experience, I'd hate to add old intermittent tube mics and tape deck to it. Those cats were much braver than I!

[kslight]

Live recordings are a unique experience, I'd hate to add old intermittent tube mics and tape deck to it. Those cats were much braver than I!

Aww man I’ve done some live shows to Tascam 388, turned out way cool. As it happens, this actually can be more reliable than doing a hard disk recording sometimes, because you’re not subject to vibrations and computer glitches.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Live recordings are a unique experience, I'd hate to add old intermittent tube mics and tape deck to it. Those cats were much braver than I!

Agreed. I do a few live sessions a year and it’s always terrifying. Even with modern, mostly reliable gear that has been checked and double checked something always fails at the worst possible time.
Even when I feel like the stars aligned and everything went perfectly I’ll go listen to Sinatra At The Sands and then feel like a hack.

[drumsound]

Aww man I’ve done some live shows to Tascam 388, turned out way cool. As it happens, this actually can be more reliable than doing a hard disk recording sometimes, because you’re not subject to vibrations and computer glitches.

Sweet. I 388 in a club. You must have really been the envy of all the bearded hipsters!

Agreed. I do a few live sessions a year and it’s always terrifying. Even with modern, mostly reliable gear that has been checked and double checked something always fails at the worst possible time.
Even when I feel like the stars aligned and everything went perfectly I’ll go listen to Sinatra At The Sands and then feel like a hack.

Yeah, that's a pretty high bar.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Agreed. I do a few live sessions a year and it’s always terrifying. Even with modern, mostly reliable gear that has been checked and double checked something always fails at the worst possible time.
Even when I feel like the stars aligned and everything went perfectly I’ll go listen to Sinatra At The Sands and then feel like a hack.

Yeah, that's a pretty high bar.

Recorded on 4 tracks and two of those are for the vocal. It's crazy.

[kslight]

Aww man I’ve done some live shows to Tascam 388, turned out way cool. As it happens, this actually can be more reliable than doing a hard disk recording sometimes, because you’re not subject to vibrations and computer glitches.

Sweet. I 388 in a club. You must have really been the envy of all the bearded hipsters!

Agreed. I do a few live sessions a year and it’s always terrifying. Even with modern, mostly reliable gear that has been checked and double checked something always fails at the worst possible time.
Even when I feel like the stars aligned and everything went perfectly I’ll go listen to Sinatra At The Sands and then feel like a hack.

Yeah, that's a pretty high bar.

A beardless hipster wanted to buy it from me lol.

[drumsound]

Aww man I’ve done some live shows to Tascam 388, turned out way cool. As it happens, this actually can be more reliable than doing a hard disk recording sometimes, because you’re not subject to vibrations and computer glitches.

Sweet. I 388 in a club. You must have really been the envy of all the bearded hipsters!

Agreed. I do a few live sessions a year and it’s always terrifying. Even with modern, mostly reliable gear that has been checked and double checked something always fails at the worst possible time.
Even when I feel like the stars aligned and everything went perfectly I’ll go listen to Sinatra At The Sands and then feel like a hack.

Yeah, that's a pretty high bar.

A beardless hipster wanted to buy it from me lol.

I'm not surprised!