Thanks for all of these videos on the M-35. I just picked one of these up a couple of weeks ago and have been spending my weekends restoring it. Watching you use it has been incredibly helpful in understanding the manual and getting a handle on what it's capable of and how it operates in the real world. I can't wait to get it out of the garage and into the studio!
I'm glad the videos were helpful. The M-35 is a very well built console and a great candidate for restoration. It is a little different than a lot of other recording consoles but it will do most things you need a console for once you understand how it works and figure out your own workflow. I'm sure you'll really enjoy the M-35. Thanks so much for your comment.
Thanks for taking the time to show how it was done before computer's & DAW's started ruling the recording process. It's a good reminder of why so much of the creative process has been changed over the years. Not to say either way is worse, but it's good to remind the people that used to use it as well as show the people that have never used it to perhaps inspire them each to find or redefine their own methods for creating in today's multi-faceted technological times. Nothing new here, but still very achievable results! Great job!!
Thank you! I have a lot of fun making the videos and using my old analog gear. I use digital much more in the professional world but I have had a lot of questions since starting UA-cam and hoped videos like this would be helpful. A lot of people are buying or otherwise acquiring analog mixing consoles and don't have the knowledge of how their particular console can be used in their setup. It's the same with tape machines. I have a lot of fun making the videos and hope it helps preserve more of the older gear by educating people on how to make it useful again.
@@TwinCreekAudio You're offering up sage advice and I believe it will spark some new creative inspiration to those who've not used these devices in their hardware format. And again, I also believe to those like you and I that come from the older methods, such as these, it can be a gentle reminder that the devices are still relevant and extremely useful and inspiring to use today.
@@tonyaxtell9216 I think it's important even when using a modern digital system to know and understand where all of that came from. Like you said, it can help spark different and more creative approaches to the craft of audio engineering. I am really glad that people are enjoying my videos. I work really hard on them and each one takes hours to film and edit so I'm really glad you think it's helping the community because that was the main reason I started making UA-cam videos in the first place. I have to admit it was also to have an excuse for keeping all of my old gear and acquiring new and new old gear.
That's true. My Ludwigs add to the vintage flavor as well. I think the dbx sounds good and actually makes the machine sound more analog and less noisy of course
I love analog. Keeps things honest, makes one a better player too. It has for me anyway. Aside from outboards, you can't fake it, no digital crutches to lean on, no over-compressed, highly processed end game with it. I do like digital mastering as it's just effective and everything is digital these days. I have an 8-track 1/2" I use.
I love analog too! I started out back in the early 90s with an analog 4 track, then 8 track. When I was getting my degree in audio engineering in college, we mostly used analog gear but I did learn Pro Tools 3.0 which was the new thing at the time. I remember even then preferring the sound of the Otari MTR-90 analog multitracks they had at school. The old school work flow is really good for spontaneity as well. I only have 1/2" 16 track at this point but one day hopefully I'll find a 2" 16 track to restore and use as well.
@@TwinCreekAudio and it’s very easy to see how much work has gone into making those. You’ve actually inspired me to try to do a couple of things using sync and I’ve just ordered a syncman and midi interface. I have 2 use cases: in the first use case, I want to record tracks from DAW to tape cassette, however I need to do several passes as my yahama MT8X can only record 4 tracks at a time. The DAW would slave to the cassette, I’d hit play on the DAW and record+play on cassette. I will have to do that multiple times as I dump 8-10 tracks from DAW to cassette. The other use case is a simpler one I think. I have an old Boss BR1600 with a bunch of songs on it. I want to dump them to DAW. Midi sync where the Boss is master and DAW is slave (again), except this time I arm the tracks to record on DAW and hit play on the Boss. I hope these 2 use cases make sense to you but please if not do let me know if I’m talking rubbish! Thanks again for the great work you put on here.
Anything Tascam makes is amazing. I started with a 1/2” 80-8, now i’m working with a 1” Tascam 90-16 be it through a Neve board but none the less, the noise levels on those machines are so low. With the 16 channel, my songs sound so clean, nobody believes me when I say I make them on tape from start to finish
I love tape and the 80-8 sounds great! I'm working on restoring a 1" 16 track Otari right now. I plan to use more tape on my personal recording projects when it's up and running. I've always heard good things about the 90-16. If it sounds anything like the 80-8 or better, then it's a good one.
@@TwinCreekAudio To me it sounds a lot better than the 80-8. I do wish it was an 8 channel, that would most definitely sound better than both. However, it all depends on your application. The 80-8 is definitely more suited for home recording. The 90-16 would fit well at home with a smaller commercial studio getting into tape. It’s a lot more expensive since it’s 1/2” cables vs RCA and of course 1” tape is a lot more than quarter inch tape. It’s a great overall machine, and let me tell you they are indestructible. I don’t know anything about the Otari machines but I’ve heard they’re a step up.
@@PrestonHazard if the 90-16 is a step up from the 80-8, it probably sounds incredible. I haven't used the Otari yet since I'm still gathering parts etc but I used MX-80 24 track and the MTR-90s back in the 90s. I'm hoping the Otari project turns out well but I'd also love to have any Tascam machines. I have had great luck with all Teac/Tascam and even Fostex gear.
That surprised me too. The M-35 in particular is really clean and the R8 with Dolby C has acceptable noise levels too. It's more work to record with something like this especially when you're filming it too but it's a lot of fun.
@@TwinCreekAudio I know what you mean. When I’m recording a UA-cam video at the same times as tracking to tape, it takes 10 times longer to get a song completed 😅
I have a question! I plan on getting a completely analog setup eventually. I have a mixing board with 8 inputs. Very similar to the board you’ve got in this video. I have some rackmount gear I’ve been collecting as well. I’m just curious how it would be possible to bus inputs when recording? Say I have two mics on the snare (top and bottom) and I want to use a mix of both signals for one track. I also would like to record multiple tracks at the beginning of the process and then mixing them down to some stereo tracks. Do you have any knowledge of how this could be done? This is just so I can record a larger number of takes within the limitations of an 8 track or even a 16 track tape machine. Any advice would be appreciated! If you have any books you would recommend to read for analog recording techniques that would be cool too!
I know how you can do all of those things but it's a lot to explain in a comment. I have a lot of videos dedicated to hybrid setups and moving that might help. In simple terms, to record multiple signals to a single track, you would use a bus. Assign the channels you want to record to a bus and then make sure the bus output for that bus is connected to an input on a recording device. Direct outputs are useful for sending the signal from a single channel to a recording device but buses are used to combine multiple signals to a single track. Not as necessary with a DAW but extremely useful for tape where tracks are limited. Here are a few videos that might help as well. ua-cam.com/video/OlMjnQP58nU/v-deo.htmlsi=owhpTU8jKCttO93G ua-cam.com/video/z1Uuay48ecs/v-deo.htmlsi=0KysTJDvwdNBNgeG
My space really isn't that big. Camera angles and placement are everything! I guess it's a lot bigger than a closet though. I have a lot of extra gear around taking up space that I make videos about too. It gets pretty cramped in here at times.
Well, you beat a computer I remember back in the old days. We kicked out all those digital tapes for a reason thank God for analog. Nothing beats it as far as his goes. I’ll be 902 baby all the way.Yeah kick it up why because you can say you have wave bodyguard
I’d love to see how you integrate your tape machine stuff with DAWs . I recently had a teac 3340s restored and looking for interesting ways to use it besides just stereo bounces
I really don't integrate the 2 that much other than recording to tape and transferring the tracks to digital which I've done in videos with the MSR-16. I will integrate outboard hardware and use an analog console for hybrid mixing a lot. I've also experimented with syncing the DAW to tape with the Fostex R8 but I do not have the synchronizer for the tape machine so I can only have the computer follow the tape machine and not the other way around which might work better and avoid digital artifacts from the DAW having to slip time to keep in sync with the tape machine. I made a video about that and it worked pretty well with the R8 but it would be nice to have more flexibility. In your situation I would say the best use would be as an analog mixdown machine or to record four tracks to and then transfer all four simultaneously to digital to add more things to. There are a lot of other possibilities as well. Overall I usually use my tape machines as the master recorder with a mixing console like they were used when they were new. There are devices that will do other advanced integrations with digital systems such as the clasp system but I don't think those are made anymore. The best and easiest way is just recording things onto tape and then back into digital as any kind of synchronization is likely to be somewhat of a headache these days with the older equipment.
@@TwinCreekAudio thanks! Since it has simul-sync function I’ve been overdubbing 4 tracks to tape and back to the computer . I’ve been mixing on pc adding fx and then mastering to the tape in 2 tracks. I think I may mess with recording to the pc and then just running those tracks through tape as well like bass and drums etx separate
@@TwinCreekAudio ya haha. It’s funny but it’s so much more satisfying recording to tape . I think it’s like using physical buttons etc just triggers something in the brain
Awesome video ! I have a Tascam DA 20 mk2 recorder... I've been messing with it but honestly I have no idea what I'm doing 😂. Are you familiar with these kinds of systems? Thanks
The Tascam DA-20 MKII is a stereo DAT recorder. It's basically a stereo digital two-track machine and works pretty much like a standard cassette machine. It's capable of stereo two track recordings so it's completely different than the equipment shown in this video. They make a really good machine for a digital stereo mix down if you don't want to use a computer-based system but aren't a multitrack machine. It should be really simple to use though. They have a left and right input and left and right output just like a standard cassette deck though the connections may be different than RCA connections on standard cassette recorders as these were made for professional studio use. Unfortunately, DAT machines are not used that much anymore and the tape for them are not easy to find and a bit expensive now.
@@TwinCreekAudio I awesome!!! I usually send stereo mixes through it to see if it can add some vibe. Its pretty cool to use but wasn't sure if there was some multitracking feature. Sometimes I'll bring it for recording band practices on the fly.. it has a great sound...... Thanks again for the info
@@bear-headstudios1212 It's definitely a good machine for mixed down or for recording a live performance in stereo. I'm not sure if you can record one track separately from the other one to allow overdubbing or not. It's a digital tape machine but those have pretty good converters so the sound quality should be excellent. It's good that you're getting use out of it and it's working well for you.
@@TwinCreekAudio it's definitely a keeper, I like that I can mix down into 48K and just re-record back into digital quite effortlessly. It was also gifted to me so I felt obligated to use it Haha. Most of my musical journey has been spent in the box so when it comes to analog anything It can be a challenge.
I haven't seen one for sale in a long time. That's one I'd like to have myself as well. With the right upgrades and mods, they can be really great consoles. The Model 10 is similar with less features but would probably be a good centerpiece for a hybrid setup if you don't as many Aux sends and tape returns.
That was a really nice demonstration. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your comment. These videos take a lot of time and effort to make so I truly appreciate it.
Thanks for all of these videos on the M-35. I just picked one of these up a couple of weeks ago and have been spending my weekends restoring it. Watching you use it has been incredibly helpful in understanding the manual and getting a handle on what it's capable of and how it operates in the real world. I can't wait to get it out of the garage and into the studio!
I'm glad the videos were helpful. The M-35 is a very well built console and a great candidate for restoration. It is a little different than a lot of other recording consoles but it will do most things you need a console for once you understand how it works and figure out your own workflow. I'm sure you'll really enjoy the M-35. Thanks so much for your comment.
Thanks for taking the time to show how it was done before computer's & DAW's started ruling the recording process. It's a good reminder of why so much of the creative process has been changed over the years. Not to say either way is worse, but it's good to remind the people that used to use it as well as show the people that have never used it to perhaps inspire them each to find or redefine their own methods for creating in today's multi-faceted technological times. Nothing new here, but still very achievable results! Great job!!
Thank you! I have a lot of fun making the videos and using my old analog gear. I use digital much more in the professional world but I have had a lot of questions since starting UA-cam and hoped videos like this would be helpful. A lot of people are buying or otherwise acquiring analog mixing consoles and don't have the knowledge of how their particular console can be used in their setup. It's the same with tape machines. I have a lot of fun making the videos and hope it helps preserve more of the older gear by educating people on how to make it useful again.
@@TwinCreekAudio You're offering up sage advice and I believe it will spark some new creative inspiration to those who've not used these devices in their hardware format. And again, I also believe to those like you and I that come from the older methods, such as these, it can be a gentle reminder that the devices are still relevant and extremely useful and inspiring to use today.
@@tonyaxtell9216 I think it's important even when using a modern digital system to know and understand where all of that came from. Like you said, it can help spark different and more creative approaches to the craft of audio engineering. I am really glad that people are enjoying my videos. I work really hard on them and each one takes hours to film and edit so I'm really glad you think it's helping the community because that was the main reason I started making UA-cam videos in the first place. I have to admit it was also to have an excuse for keeping all of my old gear and acquiring new and new old gear.
Very interesting for someone like me which has never been exposed or seen the process of recording to tape. Thank you for this!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks so much for watching!
Love it! 👌 It’s wild how drums automatically sit so differently with tape.
That's true. My Ludwigs add to the vintage flavor as well. I think the dbx sounds good and actually makes the machine sound more analog and less noisy of course
I love analog. Keeps things honest, makes one a better player too. It has for me anyway. Aside from outboards, you can't fake it, no digital crutches to lean on, no over-compressed, highly processed end game with it. I do like digital mastering as it's just effective and everything is digital these days. I have an 8-track 1/2" I use.
I love analog too! I started out back in the early 90s with an analog 4 track, then 8 track. When I was getting my degree in audio engineering in college, we mostly used analog gear but I did learn Pro Tools 3.0 which was the new thing at the time. I remember even then preferring the sound of the Otari MTR-90 analog multitracks they had at school. The old school work flow is really good for spontaneity as well. I only have 1/2" 16 track at this point but one day hopefully I'll find a 2" 16 track to restore and use as well.
Very cool stuff. We’ve been watching your videos and have enjoyed everything about them.
Thank you! I have worked very hard on all of the videos.
@@TwinCreekAudio and it’s very easy to see how much work has gone into making those.
You’ve actually inspired me to try to do a couple of things using sync and I’ve just ordered a syncman and midi interface.
I have 2 use cases: in the first use case, I want to record tracks from DAW to tape cassette, however I need to do several passes as my yahama MT8X can only record 4 tracks at a time. The DAW would slave to the cassette, I’d hit play on the DAW and record+play on cassette. I will have to do that multiple times as I dump 8-10 tracks from DAW to cassette.
The other use case is a simpler one I think. I have an old Boss BR1600 with a bunch of songs on it. I want to dump them to DAW. Midi sync where the Boss is master and DAW is slave (again), except this time I arm the tracks to record on DAW and hit play on the Boss.
I hope these 2 use cases make sense to you but please if not do let me know if I’m talking rubbish!
Thanks again for the great work you put on here.
Anything Tascam makes is amazing. I started with a 1/2” 80-8, now i’m working with a 1” Tascam 90-16 be it through a Neve board but none the less, the noise levels on those machines are so low. With the 16 channel, my songs sound so clean, nobody believes me when I say I make them on tape from start to finish
I love tape and the 80-8 sounds great! I'm working on restoring a 1" 16 track Otari right now. I plan to use more tape on my personal recording projects when it's up and running. I've always heard good things about the 90-16. If it sounds anything like the 80-8 or better, then it's a good one.
@@TwinCreekAudio To me it sounds a lot better than the 80-8. I do wish it was an 8 channel, that would most definitely sound better than both. However, it all depends on your application. The 80-8 is definitely more suited for home recording. The 90-16 would fit well at home with a smaller commercial studio getting into tape. It’s a lot more expensive since it’s 1/2” cables vs RCA and of course 1” tape is a lot more than quarter inch tape. It’s a great overall machine, and let me tell you they are indestructible. I don’t know anything about the Otari machines but I’ve heard they’re a step up.
@@PrestonHazard if the 90-16 is a step up from the 80-8, it probably sounds incredible. I haven't used the Otari yet since I'm still gathering parts etc but I used MX-80 24 track and the MTR-90s back in the 90s. I'm hoping the Otari project turns out well but I'd also love to have any Tascam machines. I have had great luck with all Teac/Tascam and even Fostex gear.
Cool, it’s surprising how clean the recordings are using these two machines.
That surprised me too. The M-35 in particular is really clean and the R8 with Dolby C has acceptable noise levels too. It's more work to record with something like this especially when you're filming it too but it's a lot of fun.
@@TwinCreekAudio I know what you mean. When I’m recording a UA-cam video at the same times as tracking to tape, it takes 10 times longer to get a song completed 😅
@@wehappyfewmusic that's why I typically use shorter arrangements of songs in the videos. lol!
I have a question! I plan on getting a completely analog setup eventually. I have a mixing board with 8 inputs. Very similar to the board you’ve got in this video. I have some rackmount gear I’ve been collecting as well. I’m just curious how it would be possible to bus inputs when recording? Say I have two mics on the snare (top and bottom) and I want to use a mix of both signals for one track. I also would like to record multiple tracks at the beginning of the process and then mixing them down to some stereo tracks. Do you have any knowledge of how this could be done? This is just so I can record a larger number of takes within the limitations of an 8 track or even a 16 track tape machine. Any advice would be appreciated! If you have any books you would recommend to read for analog recording techniques that would be cool too!
I know how you can do all of those things but it's a lot to explain in a comment. I have a lot of videos dedicated to hybrid setups and moving that might help. In simple terms, to record multiple signals to a single track, you would use a bus. Assign the channels you want to record to a bus and then make sure the bus output for that bus is connected to an input on a recording device. Direct outputs are useful for sending the signal from a single channel to a recording device but buses are used to combine multiple signals to a single track. Not as necessary with a DAW but extremely useful for tape where tracks are limited. Here are a few videos that might help as well.
ua-cam.com/video/OlMjnQP58nU/v-deo.htmlsi=owhpTU8jKCttO93G
ua-cam.com/video/z1Uuay48ecs/v-deo.htmlsi=0KysTJDvwdNBNgeG
@ thanks!
Great! Nice big room you have. I'm in a broom closet.
My space really isn't that big. Camera angles and placement are everything! I guess it's a lot bigger than a closet though. I have a lot of extra gear around taking up space that I make videos about too. It gets pretty cramped in here at times.
Well, you beat a computer I remember back in the old days. We kicked out all those digital tapes for a reason thank God for analog. Nothing beats it as far as his goes. I’ll be 902 baby all the way.Yeah kick it up why because you can say you have wave bodyguard
Analog Rules! The old digital machines like ADATs were dogs. Modern DAW is more reliable but also buggy and overly complicated.
inspiração depois de assistir a esses seus vídeos. obrigado cara. hoje eu comecei a fazer uma música. obrigado.
Obrigado! Fiz todos esses vídeos para ajudar as pessoas. Estou feliz que eles sejam inspiradores. Muitas felicidades em sua música e gravação!
I’d love to see how you integrate your tape machine stuff with DAWs . I recently had a teac 3340s restored and looking for interesting ways to use it besides just stereo bounces
I really don't integrate the 2 that much other than recording to tape and transferring the tracks to digital which I've done in videos with the MSR-16. I will integrate outboard hardware and use an analog console for hybrid mixing a lot. I've also experimented with syncing the DAW to tape with the Fostex R8 but I do not have the synchronizer for the tape machine so I can only have the computer follow the tape machine and not the other way around which might work better and avoid digital artifacts from the DAW having to slip time to keep in sync with the tape machine. I made a video about that and it worked pretty well with the R8 but it would be nice to have more flexibility. In your situation I would say the best use would be as an analog mixdown machine or to record four tracks to and then transfer all four simultaneously to digital to add more things to. There are a lot of other possibilities as well. Overall I usually use my tape machines as the master recorder with a mixing console like they were used when they were new. There are devices that will do other advanced integrations with digital systems such as the clasp system but I don't think those are made anymore. The best and easiest way is just recording things onto tape and then back into digital as any kind of synchronization is likely to be somewhat of a headache these days with the older equipment.
@@TwinCreekAudio thanks! Since it has simul-sync function I’ve been overdubbing 4 tracks to tape and back to the computer . I’ve been mixing on pc adding fx and then mastering to the tape in 2 tracks. I think I may mess with recording to the pc and then just running those tracks through tape as well like bass and drums etx separate
@@mastermachetier5594 that seems like a good logical way to use it.
@@TwinCreekAudio ya haha. It’s funny but it’s so much more satisfying recording to tape . I think it’s like using physical buttons etc just triggers something in the brain
Awesome video ! I have a Tascam DA 20 mk2 recorder... I've been messing with it but honestly I have no idea what I'm doing 😂. Are you familiar with these kinds of systems? Thanks
The Tascam DA-20 MKII is a stereo DAT recorder. It's basically a stereo digital two-track machine and works pretty much like a standard cassette machine. It's capable of stereo two track recordings so it's completely different than the equipment shown in this video. They make a really good machine for a digital stereo mix down if you don't want to use a computer-based system but aren't a multitrack machine. It should be really simple to use though. They have a left and right input and left and right output just like a standard cassette deck though the connections may be different than RCA connections on standard cassette recorders as these were made for professional studio use. Unfortunately, DAT machines are not used that much anymore and the tape for them are not easy to find and a bit expensive now.
@@TwinCreekAudio I awesome!!! I usually send stereo mixes through it to see if it can add some vibe. Its pretty cool to use but wasn't sure if there was some multitracking feature. Sometimes I'll bring it for recording band practices on the fly.. it has a great sound...... Thanks again for the info
@@bear-headstudios1212 It's definitely a good machine for mixed down or for recording a live performance in stereo. I'm not sure if you can record one track separately from the other one to allow overdubbing or not. It's a digital tape machine but those have pretty good converters so the sound quality should be excellent. It's good that you're getting use out of it and it's working well for you.
@@TwinCreekAudio it's definitely a keeper, I like that I can mix down into 48K and just re-record back into digital quite effortlessly. It was also gifted to me so I felt obligated to use it Haha. Most of my musical journey has been spent in the box so when it comes to analog anything It can be a challenge.
Ey do you have or you know anyone with a teac m15 they might sell?
I haven't seen one for sale in a long time. That's one I'd like to have myself as well. With the right upgrades and mods, they can be really great consoles. The Model 10 is similar with less features but would probably be a good centerpiece for a hybrid setup if you don't as many Aux sends and tape returns.