Mixing with No DAW! No Screens.. No ProTools.. Just Tape!

Analog mixing with No DAW. Mixing a fully analog tape session with outboard hardware only on the Tascam M3700 and Tascam MSR16 reel to reel multi-track machine. From start to finish this was a fully analog music production. The band was recorded on half inch tape then mixed using only traditional analog production techniques. No screens, no protools or digital audio workstation of any kind.
The band is Civil Service and you can check them out here
Insta: @civiservicetheband
Spotify: open.spotify.c...

[@lorenhoward8178]

Had a Tascam M3500 at the audio school I attended back in 99. It just sat in the corner in one of the classrooms not connected to anything. I used to just stare it at. That board helped me learn signal flow. Even though I've worked on many much more expensive consoles since then I always think about that Tascam. Most of the boards I used to drool over can be had for pennies now. I've owned a few of them but console maintenance is no joke.

[@aramyssierra2355]

amazing how crisp and open it sounds right off the bat without any processing

[@dreammix9430]

Ahhh yes. Back to the good old days. I remember them quite fondly

[@TRPproproductions]

Thank you so much for this amazing walkthrough of Analog Mixing, as a digital producer I learnt so much by just watching. One day I would love to record on Analog, it's one of my biggest dreams.

[@massapower]

ANALOG always a KILLER !!! 😁👍🏻👍🏻

[@shaynes.9773]

This looks like the exact same gear set up that I learned to record on. The college I took two recording courses at had the Tascam M3700 console and the MSR-16 deck. Plus they had a Tascam DA-88 for extra tracks if needed. It sure took me back to the 1990s and taking those recording evening courses. We never got to experiment much with the M3700's onboard automation computer. Mixdowns were either to two track reel to reel or a Tascam DAT. I don't remember the brand or model of the mastering reel to reel. But anyway, consider me subscribed to your channel. I look forward to checking all your videos out. I still want to get an analog console and multitrack set up some day. I have fond memories of using them. I always enjoyed getting to the college studio and cleaning the tape heads and cueing up the tape before other students got there. There was something meditative about doing the pre-session setup of the tape deck. Thanks for reminding me of how wonderful working in analog is.

[@intersweat]

This is a great channel and awesome content. Wish there was more. I’m currently going through all your vids and it’s some of the best I’ve seen for those who want to stay in analogue as much as possible. Awesome job!!

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

Thanks, we're looking forward to creating a lot more content. We've just been working on a music industry project which has demanded our time this year but we'll be back at the videos soon

[@RegularSean]

When you stumble upon good content

[@sylvaind9086]

Wow! You're really hitting that tape!😀

[@DavidAndrewsPEC]

Shades of the Comsat Angels going on in that sound. Very likeable!

[@MrGingerPirate]

Very very nice setup and even lovely dreamy shoegaze sound too

[@jonstringer3436]

Brilliant to see someone using proper recording gear. If only people could hear the difference from this old recording tech, it’s like night and day to my ears. I have the msr 16 and and msr 24 and I love them both. Incidentally I don’t have the outputs patched via a bay. But since watching yourself I’m going to do this. I have individual trk inserts patched to hardware and aux’s. But this only enables one trk to one piece of hardware. If you can tell me something? How would I couple one piece of hardware up to a patch bay so multiple outs from the other patch bay access it? Just can’t work this one out. Thank you for posting your great content on analog recording John

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

Hi John, the short answer is with lots of wires. We're gonna be doing a video about patch bays and how to route them soon, so stay tuned for that. Essentially all the outputs from our MSR16 go to the back of the bay, and from the back of the bay there are connections which return to the console. Each input and output of each piece of outboard hardware is also routed to the back of the patch bay. Then we can take a patch lead and connect it to the front of the patch bay and take that signal from that channel and route it to any other channel in the bay before taking another patch lead and routing it back or to another channel on the bay. Enabling us to route a signal through multiple outboard units.

[@jonstringer3436]

thank you for your reply to my question. I’d kind of worked it out what you was doing, like putting the patch bay in line in the outputs of the msr. So basically only one piece of hardware to one channel? Unless coupling a few out boards together in series. Only way I’ve connected one piece of hardware to multiple channels is via auxiliary sends returns, I wondered if anyhow it could have been done via the outputs? Great to discuss things with you. Incidentally I’m currently using a Mackie 32 8 2 which is kicking a few issues up and am going to be in the market for something soon. What’s your thoughts on the M3700, there’s one currently on EBay I’ve come across. Again a pleasure in chatting with you regards the analog world and look forward to your future patching videos 🎶🎶🎶

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

@@jonstringer3436 I would absolutely recommend the M3700 it is a fantastic console to work on and competes with much more expensive and revered units like an SSL

[@jonstringer3436]

Ahh brilliant thank you, I will look into things, again thank you…

[@sfundawge]

thanks a lot for the video; really enjoyed it. very interesting track.

[@bigchiefcinema9654]

wow amazing work.

[@buddhiaudioparadise6925]

Man Love the sound of it.How many compressors running thru the mix??

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

In this case I ran the kick, snare and bass through the outboard compressors. Technically everything has some compression on it as the tape machine naturally does this to the signal anyway. Some refer to it as tape saturation but its really just a kind of compression.

[@buddhiaudioparadise6925]

@@guerrillastudiosmanchester Yeah tape has lot of things free with it.Sounds awesome.please do more videos mixing! love it.The pain is for me that it takes some time to operate the tape machine and wait! doesn't it? FF/PRE like things.Don't you like the record that tape into the daw and mix it ?? It just came inside to my head! but its all how we like to work.anyway nice sound! what about using board EQ's than full band parametrics?? the board has semi parametrics. Right? Is it useful? can work with very little details like dipping some resonants and swetening with semi paremetric on board eps? thank you love what you do!

[@scality4309]

Isn't the recording on tape live mixed while tracking?

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

Yes sometimes I will mix while the band are tracking. However in some cases there will be other bands in the studio before a project has completed tracking and the desk will be zero'd between sessions. It can also be beneficial to allow some time to pass and come in with fresh ears.

[@scality4309]

@@guerrillastudiosmanchester So then you just record each mike/channel with flat eq and no processing? You storing the recording neutral on tape?

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

@@scality4309 Yes, as any processing recorded to the multi track tape cannot be undone. So we record the multitrack dry and then process the mix down to the two track.

[@luv-tsa3692]

Wow

[@blasgerez3806]

hello how are you I need the manual of the tascam 3700 I have one repairing and I need the diagrams and others. Could you sell me the manual by pdf. Thank you

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

Unfortunately we don't have one

[@chrisstabile3243]

why not 2 inch tape?

[@guerrillastudiosmanchester]

Great question! Simple answer is.. the reels are twice the price. This would put recording out of reach for a lot of our clients. We mostly work with grass roots artists and try to make analog recording as affordable as possible. We do plan to get a 2 inch machine as an option for high end clients when we have the space.

[@chrisstabile3243]

@@guerrillastudiosmanchester Man, I'm so out of touch! Back in the early-mid 90's every studio I recorded in used 2-inch, and I think each 15 minute reel was like 180 bucks and the 1-inch reels were for mixdowns at around 100. ADAT was around as well but we only used it for final copies of the mixes to put on CD. Now I'm trying my hand at home recording and it's a hell of a learning curve - between DAWs and plugins it's pretty maddening.

[@mrshiney2]

Imagine having to use your ears...priceless

[@kcleach9312]

cant hear what your saying