Oh, sure, drbam. I love running on about my stuff, 'cause, old as it is, it was selected with tender loving care and purchased with 'precious' dollars. I never hesitated to purchase what I considered the best I could afford, yet, unfortunately, could never justify absolute pro-level gear. OTOH, I feel fortunate that time has proven my stuff to be of decent quality. Here goes (and, don't laugh, all you cutting edge types).

I have two analog reel to reel tape machines, both TEAC's, both dual capstan with onboard DBX. DBX in combination with a proper EQ adjustment allows them to achieve s/n ratio of 100 db, plenty good enough to work with cd quality stuff. Wow and flutter on these machines can't approach the un-measurable levels of rotary head gear and digital recorders, but even at their slower speeds (which I rarely use), w&f is imperceptible to most listeners (myself included, and I have a pretty good ear for this stuff).

I also own this old video cam from Sony - a CCDV-220 that has a PCM recording module built in, so it works a like a DAT machine. I know the sampling rate is a bit lacking, but, again, for the sort of work I'm doing, this is not a factor that is fatal to my recordings.

I often find myself recording in less than ideal settings, using mics that are passable, but not great, so, by the time I deal with ambient noise and so forth, the advantage of a better recorder would probably be lost. The analog RtR's and this PCM camcorder are my choices for field recording. I take that raw audio and transfer it either directly to my computer via the sound card, or, as has become a more frequent choice of late, record it onto a CD via a free-standing CD recorder. Frankly, I've found the latter method to be less of a hassle (especially since my computer is in the basement and the rest of my sound system (amps, the two recorders, etc.) are all upstairs (those RtRs are super heavy to move around), and I am free from what I consider to be a very clunky WinXP sound card interface (Steinberg, for example, includes a neat mixer gui, but, it doesn’t work in xp, you have to go to the device manger control panel to adjust input/output levels, etc). I don’t have that problem with the CD recorder, just hook up my recorder, use the recorder’s controls to adjust input, and start recording.

I use audio (music) CD-RW's as my dubbing medium, and, one of the two CD-RW drives in my computer can extract from these audio CD's without a problem (the other drive never extracts properly, go figure).

Anyhow, this gets a digital copy of my 'raw' sound into my computer so that I can edit and process. The CD-RW gets used over and over again, obviously.

None of this stuff is fancy - none of it is worth much in terms of cash value, and, while I respect the more sophisticated among those of you on this board, I will say that I have an ear for what sounds good (in terms of sonic quality, and, more important in terms of top notch performance) so that those who listen to my finished stuff seem impressed enough to pay me for it (and, I suppose equally important, I am pleased with the results of my efforts).

It is, for me, always a little disturbing to save up and purchase a "fine" piece of equipment, only to see its value disappear as its capabilities are surpassed by newer, more capable, or less costly gear, so, it pleases me greatly that I have found some justifiable use for my old stuff.

I have also had a lot of fun restoring LP's. More than one individual has donated entire collections of LP's in exchange for CD's of a few their favorites. I've done the same with reel to reel pre-recorded tapes, having expanded my collection greatly by acquiring old pre-recorded copies of classical and Broadway performances, some dating back to the early 50's. I don't advertise for these old collections, and I don't charge to produce that single copy. Nor do I make copies for other than the original owner . . . don't know if this is legal or not, but, except that I make that copy, the performance would probably be forever lost. Maybe some of you can offer an opinion on this.

I find it simply amazing that I can drill down into the waveform (I use Steinberg's Wavelab for this purpose) to remove those particularly stubborn pops and clicks (the one's the pluggins seem to miss) by simply redrawing the wave at that particular point. The result: almost all defects can be drawn away and the alteration is otherwise undetectable by the human ear. So simple, yet, simply amazing.

Well, good dr, you asked me to expand, or was that expound. I'm certain I've done quite enough of both. I don’t make tons of money at this, but, I’ve made enough to put two kids through The Juilliard School without being thrown into debtors’ prison.

Thanks for asking, and thanks to SF for this forum in which to share. Sorry if I got too long-winded.

Caruso

Oh, and I almost forgot, I hooked up an electronic keyboard to my soundcard, and, by arming a new track to record, was able to listen to one of my works in progress as I played additional stuff onto this armed track. For someone who has struggled trying to achieve sound on sound using analog recorders, this capability within Vegas is truly a dream come true.

I've read about latency problems, but experienced none of my own.

Flub the dub, just it stop, the cursor automatically returns to your starting point, hit record, and dub without flub all over again.

Isn't that an absolutely beautiful thing!!

Caruso

<<Flub the dub, just it stop, the cursor automatically returns to your starting point, hit record, and dub without flub all over again.
Isn't that an absolutely beautiful thing!!
Caruso>>

Got that right!! ;-D And thanks for your previous post about your setup. Its possible to make some wonderful music with what, "by today's standards" would be laughed at by many. I've heard a lot of, and I mean a LOT of crap created on "state of the art" gear in "state of the art" studios. Those kind of stories abound so I won't belabor the point. ;-)

drbam

Thanks for your interest, drbam. Perhaps you'd care to share a bit about your setup.

Caruso

Oh, and I'm sure you understood that 'just it stop' was supposed to be 'just hit stop.' Must have been getting groggy when I typed that, LOL.