I haven’t been listening to tapes much. I mostly turned on my Studer when Jonathan Horwich sent me his tapes. Many of his jazz tapes are the best sources I have. Last week he sent email showing some of how he recorded his tapes. I thought this might be interesting to some people so I put it here:
See below picture: I now record most of my multi track sessions in a big high end hifi store here in Chicago = Pro Musica. The owner is a recording engineer for Naim audio. He is quite good and so his assisting me is quite helpful.
Below is what we monitor over which are ProAC Response D30/RS and very neutral and fast and clean and musical. Some of the best speakers I have ever heard. Ever heard most studio speakers? Horrible.
See below picture: This is my custom, hand built, Studer/Revox C278 8-track recorder. I’ve never heard a better sounding multi track machine. it records 8 tracks at once which I later mix down directly two two tracks for direct copies of the master 8-track.
See below picture: This Manley mixer serves two purposes. It has 8 mic preamps that allow one to record into it and then out to my tape deck (above) directly on 8 channels. It is thus for this specific function just 8 mic preamps in the top section. But after recording onto the tape recorder from it, it then can use the bottom portion to mx the 8 tracks together down to left and right stereo for the direct copies I make for my customers right off the 8 track tape, a process almost unheard of in the industry. I know of no one else who is making a direct copy right off the multi track tape, not to mention through such a high quality mixer as this Manley tube unit. The little gold disc you see dampens the vibrations of the chassis of the Manley. the white tape you see is temporary and just notes which channels are which instrument so when recording I know what knob increases or decreases the volume of what instrument.
See below picture: Alto saxophone player Greg Ward. Brilliant young player. The microphone is the legendary Neumann U-67. Don’t even ask what they cost today as no longer made. I think it is the best all around microphone ever made.