Analogue Recording Studio 24 track

[@australianbloke3934]

Hi Bangers and Chumley. Loved this video. Back in the seventies I worked in a small studio, the heart of which was an Ampex A440 half inch four track machine. Modest but great sound. Now, fifty years later I recently bought a Fostex B16 with about 90 tapes full of wonderful historical recordings. My first job was to coax the Fostex back to life, as well as the tapes! All the mechanical functions were clagged up, the capstan drive pulley kept dropping the belt (that was still intact!), the foam card support under the 16 line amplifiers had disintegrated and a number of soldered connections had to be re-soldered. Two months later, having thoroughly cleaned up, re-soldered and re-lubricated, I had to make a new brass pulley on my lathe with some subtle modifications so that the drive belt now stays in place as it should. As for the tapes, I had to bake them in a food de-humidifier for many hours to get rid of moisture and sticky syndrome. That worked beautifully and I am now able to use the machine for playback and am making 16 track digital archives of the the tapes for the owner(s) of the copyright. Then I can erase the tapes and embark upon some analogue recording adventures of my own. Of course, I don't yet know if the machine will record properly, but the whole project is a great way to spend some of my retirement. Cheers from Australia.

[@monzarace]

That's the way to do it. No digital! Thanks for sharing.

[@ciatangallaghe2485]

Alright lads love your videos

[@pauldiaz4273]

Awesome ! Sounds good

[@Salantsoundstudios]

Nice vid guys!

[@jon_c]

Just found this video. I wish your videos were longer. This was a fun exploration into some awesome gear! I have the Yamaha Rev-1. Yamaha did some awesome FX.

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

we will review some revs if you would like,,chumley and bangers..i think we have them all lol

[@jon_c]

@@takethefearoutthegear6229 Revs would be cool. The Rev-1 doesn't get hardly any action on KZbin. I have a Lexicon 300L that I couldn't afford and had to buy one dusty, grungy, and broken. I've managed to get it mostly working as I'm used to repairing audio electronics. There are some issues I have to trace down as they're probably some bad op-amps. I do love 80s reverb units.

[@blackmoofou6385]

Very informative very interesting lwhat a desk! On the subject of reel to reels i just got a brennel mark 5 s2 needs a bit of work but ive always wanted one.

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

Love the Brennel machines

[@blackmoofou6385]

@@takethefearoutthegear6229 it's a beautiful thing only powered it up a couple of times and it doesn't half honk as it warms up. The knobs need fixing which is very common they come loose very easily but it works so that's a start. Another youtuber who posted a video restoration of one offered me any help if I get stuck. Gear heads are the best folk! Keep up the good work really enjoy your channel. 😃

[@mikegrubertmusic]

Sounds fantastic. Can't believe you've kept it in storage for so long.

[@NLGVIDEOS2]

Good info thanks I'm from the MCI AMPEX era - best to you

[@EgoShredder]

19:24 - The most important thing in the studio IS the studio, e.g. the acoustic environment because if that is plagued with problems, then even the best monitor speakers in the world will be useless in a bad room.

[@bob4analog]

Analog Recording - I'm in the right place!

[@davidham6102]

Lads this is awesome loved it soooooo much well done to the pair of you keep up the great work

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

thanks dave your a star bangers and chumley

[@MrPiratebrain]

My fostex 8 track was not as forgiving in the read. And the fostex 8 channel mixer was thin sounding. Now I've had a sound craft ghost with mute and recall automation for 24 years and I love it. But I record to my old black face protools HD system with 7 TDM farm cards and I love it.

[@AllenPendleton]

I mixed on a dc2000 for years

[@VintageMusicGearTV]

Love the analogue gear keep it coming boys awesome!

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

your welcome

[@joesalyers]

I had a Tascam MSR24 which is in storage now the only issue was headroom but it was the pinnacle of 1 inch machines. I also had a Fostex in our other room that was a 1 inch 24 track machine. The Fostex G24 was not as well built as the Tascam machine and it's inputs were very cheap made. The Fostex died in 2008 and the Tascam is in our storage area just in case someone wants to re-mix an old album. We use to charge $12 an hour for the Tascam & Fostex and $25 an hour for our MCI JH-24 2 inch machines back in my early days. You also had to buy the reel of tape of course. Those MSR24s are great machines.

[@EgoShredder]

I used to own an Alesis 3630. I hear they released another version ten years ago fixing the stuff people moaned about with the original. The one I had was the original which was okay for most things if careful, although I would have preferred a dbx model perhaps.

[@joaoantoniovione484]

Almost bought one of these in 2018, but the pinch roller disintegrated even before testing... Still saving for it tho. Cheers from Brazil, new subscriber!!

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

thanks for your support bangers and chumley

[@theblowupdollsmusic]

I wish you would've actually recorded some sound off the board so we could hear this amazing set up!

[@kevinsmusicroom1362]

Is the song posted somewhere I’d love to hear it mixed

[@EgoShredder]

I hear the 456 tapes suffered from epic shedding as they aged, although the formulation improved in the late 80s to combat this. I have an old 406 1" with 16 track recording format, done on possibly a Tascam (my memory is fading as it was in 1992). I've kept it in good condition although it has not been spooled or played since 1992 the day it was mixed. I would love to get that transfered over to digital, so I can do a mix inside Cubase. Might need oven baking to loosen it up a little I guess.

[@trakliteproductions]

Peace. You guys don't stripe the tape machine to use the automation with the Soundcraft?

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

Yes you have to stripe the tape with smpte time code to use the automation on the desk thanks for your comment bangers and chumley

[@e.apollis2877]

in a studio like this is where brittle sounding Chinese mics will shine on tape

[@benthegardener6304]

Are you guys in Suffolk?

[@e.apollis2877]

nowadays if have to go back, i will go with adat?

[@Shifty1050]

I love all your stuff, but this was an especially great vid. Who does the editing? It’s getting pretty slick 👌🏼 To what’s becoming quickly one of my favourite Tube channels, keep up the top content, guys 👍🏼😃👍🏼

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

tis eye bangers doing the editing thank you so mutch jb

[@geraldelisha710]

instablaster

[@mikemacheese7174]

WARNING. This video was shot with 100% digital video and audio equipment. Lol.

[@nigelhansen2376]

Nice one dude, you did a great job on those tracks, it`s weird cause i was having a clear out the other week and found that CD . I hadn`t listened to it for years and it sounded really well recorded. I agree with you that analogue sounds much better, even when your ears are fucked like mine. The thing about digital though is its so convenient/versatile with all things like drop ins and redo , copy and paste etc etc, and they`re getting closer all the time with saturation etc to that old sound. Harrison Mix Bus sounds good. Are you getting that studio back together again ? xxx

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

thanks nige love you bud..miss u

[@nigelhansen2376]

You too mate, that was 7 months ago , how come you`re replying now ? you been hibernating through lockdown ? how about a `take the fear out the gear` a/b ing Analogue and Digital Blindfold challenge ?

[@takethefearoutthegear6229]

yes nige i hve.lol sorry bud. im terrible with time and so on.i agree it sounds great.. love ya buddy..jb

[@morbidmanmusic]

that room needs some serious treatment.