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My current home recording set consists of the following;
Tascam 1'' 24 track Analog reel to reel with Dolby S. NR
Mackie 24x8 mixing board with meter bridge
Tascam DA-20 MK2 DAT
Techenics SA R330 Power amp
3x Nano Verbs Alesis
1x Quadroverb Alesis
1x Rolls headphone amp
1x DBX project one 266A Compressor/limiter/noisegate
Revox A77 High speed reel to reel
Fostex 1/4 inch high speed 8 track
SPEAKERS:
JBL Near field controls ones
JBL small cube ref.
Bose mark1 ref.
MICROPHONES:
Neaumann TLMIO3
AKGs Shure Beyer sennheiser 421
I was lucky to have spent a lot of my formative years in and around various recording studios in the U.K., Australia & Los Angeles. Most of the studios in Sydney in the late 60's early 70's were basically 1 inch analog 8 track machines , United Sound being the premier studio in Sydney. Around this time I spent countless hours working and recording in this studio and also various top flight studios in Melbourne before embarking on a career in England in the mid 70's. I recorded much of my early work in the U.K. on Denmark street, aka Tin Pan Alley, where most of the 60's London scene including Rolling Stones, Spencer Davis Group, Small Faces, The Move, recorded in these great little hole in the wall studios with old tube boards and analog machines and tube microphones. The recordings were limited because of the lack of tracks, however the sound was unbeatable, fat, warm, solid. I was fortunate to gain some success in England enabling me to use a 2 inch 16 track studios in C.B.S studios, Sound Techniques in Chelsea and also Wessex Studios in North London. Both Techniques and Wessex studios were built in old church's. using the natural ambience and reverb/echo. Great examples can be found on some early Island record releases like Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, you will hear acoustic guitar sounds that nothing today (digital) can compare with. In the mid 80's I built a studio in Sydney geared mainly towards the new and up and coming acts that were emerging from Australia during this time. The studio "FAT BOY STUDIOS" was carefully constructed with dead and live areas from 12 tested designs with two beautiful rooms with acoustic clouds suspended above the drum booth and vocal areas. This was an all analog studio. The sound that we captured on tape can not be emulated with Digital. By the late 80's and early 90's sound took a giant leap forward and of course into the Digital age, along with the emergence of computers at an alarming rate, and with compact disc replacing 12'' vinyl records. Studios slowly but surely moved into totally Digital studios. Analog was said to be a thing of the past. I left Fat Boy Studios and returned to the U.S. and basically started writing and performing and recording. I have spent 9 years recording in a studio in northwest Indiana owned by a friend of mine John Carpenter. I have watched it evolved from a 16 track 1/2 inch Analog to a 24 track Digital. At the same time I slowly put together a 24 track home studio Analog and Digital purely for my own use. But after using the equipment over a period of time I basically stuck to recording all the beds and bass drums, guitars, etc. onto the Analog multitrack, mastering on digital. Most of my outboard equipment is digital with the exception of various slap echoes which I use an old A77 Revox reel to reel. After working with both Analog and Digital studios I would like to build a studio that is basically a throw back to the old days (no I'm not living in the past) of pure analog . While I really do like a some of the Digital equipment, you just can't get that warmth and width of Analog. I do prefer to use Digital when mastering, I believe that combining the two is the key. I must say that I don't understand the push that people feel about working only with digital, maybe these people just feel the need to keep up with the "Jones". I'm not a purest or traditionalist, my ears tell me what sounds better. Give me an 24 track analog any day.
JT