Insert tape tascam 424 mkii
"My early attempts at mixing usually resulted in over‑emphasised vocals, with everything swimming in reverb. Having been in the business for 25 years, working with well‑known artists, he can provide an instant critique of my recordings. The band were delighted, though I don't know what SOS's Demo Doctor would have thought! Fortunately, Michael Law, the person who duplicated our first CD, has been very helpful and acts as my personal demo doctor.
#Insert tape tascam 424 mkii pro
We used the services of a friend in the village who was a self‑employed pro in the music business to master and duplicate our first CD.
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Two‑hour evening practice sessions might yield only one good take, but eventually, using the band's Zoom effects unit and a second‑hand Alesis 3630 compressor, I was able to produce some passable demos on cassette. At live gigs, with the auxes used to feed the four‑track, the PA headphone output had to be used as the vocalists' stage monitor feed, but you could, with care, get some acceptable recordings with a nice '60s feel. "Typically, drums were sub‑mixed through the band's Yamaha powered PA mixer via an aux into one channel, with auxiliary two used for vocals, and the bass and lead guitar would feed the remaining two channels on the four‑track. The 424 cassette multitracker has been reviewed in SOS a number of times and, despite being an entry‑level machine, is capable of producing very good sonic results. I used to buy records more for their recording quality, whether they were rock, folk or classical." (Almost) Absolute Beginner "Subconsciously, I suppose I always had an interest in recording, as I used to listen for good arrangements and effects in a lot of the progressive '70s music. To save money back then, I built my entire system from kits, and I still build my own loudspeakers. Hi‑fi has also been an interest for me, right from my student days. I briefly took piano lessons in my late '30s, but I only got as far as Grade Two, and I became disillusioned when I saw how fast my daughter was progressing with her lessons. I did have a go at recording some 20 years ago, but good equipment was really out of reach financially. "Judging by the SOS reader surveys, at 46 I must be at the upper age range of people starting out with this hobby.
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The purchase of the 424 marked the start of a real addiction to live sound recording for Gary, though he's had a long‑standing interest in music. So I invested in a Tascam 424 MkII Portastudio." Then Sound On Sound was discovered and I was amazed at how inexpensive multitrack recorders had become. "Early on, to make myself useful during weekly rehearsals, I started to tape the village‑hall practice sessions in order to (diplomatically) help the band improve, playing back songs over the PA. As things progressed, rugby club, pub and birthday party gigs came along, and I found myself as their 'sound engineer' and general dogsbody, replacing blown transistors, making stage wiring looms, and so on.
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Some friends in our Somerset village said they were forming a band and I offered to be their roadie! Before I knew it I was in a garage on an industrial estate, sorting out microphone leads and allowing my friends to relive their youth by playing at being a '60s and '70s cover band. Gary Amos has been close to the music industry before, as manufacturing manager of what was once the Philips CD factory in Blackburn, and is, in fact, a professional engineer - well, a chemical engineer, anyway! Gary takes up the story. The subject of this month's Readerzone, somewhat unusually, doesn't have a home studio at all, but instead has chosen to concentrate on location recording - and with his modest Portastudio‑based setup he's achieving a degree of local success in the heart of Somerset.