[sdiy] Should I repair my Fostex, or should I go HD recording?

[SealsCrofts 1 9 7 5]

the Beatles thing is a misake. No one should aspire
to have that good/unnatainable of a sound in their
studio. Lets see. You know how someone was describing
that extremely lo-fi/amateur sound of the snare on
the Bob dylan album.? I thought the same thing about
Simon and Garfunkel's 1968 album "Bookends". When
hearing the snare drum on songs like "fakin it" or
"mrs robinson" I always thought (damn, if I were in
control of that studio in 1968 I would have made this
album sound light years better). It seems so obvious
right? Hell I'm not even sure if Roy halle put a
microhone in the bass drum. But there is something
more special to these records in which it took me no
real time to learn. You see its not JUST the
character of analog tape that made these old albums
shine. Its the character of *vintage* analog tape
that did it! Trust me I have done many experiments.
So you might think that Bob dylan snare sound is bad,
but let me challenge you to this; record a snare and
make it sound the same. You couldn't do it. unless..

I learned this the hard way. I thought all I would
need are 70's mixers, 70's reel-reel, 70's
instruments, and 70's mics to get that "1975" sound.
Yes I am extremely obsessed with the sounds they got
on tape anywhere from 1972-1979. So here I am sitting
in my "studio" with pretty much 100% 70's gear and
wondering why my recordings don't funk or color like
they did in the 70s? Sure my mixes sound really "old
school" but they weren't 100% authentic to that era.
I was using formulation 456 for half inch tape. I
decided that the reason my mixes weren't sounding
100% vintage was because the tape formula was new. I
don't know how wildly the forumlation for 456 has
changed since the 70s, but I decided I wanted a reel
of 70's 456 to compare with a new reel of 456. I was
able to score a reel of VERY old 456 (I was told
anywhere from 1976-1978). It stunk, it was slimy and
it even was mylar based (just like all old tape). I
baked it in the dehydrator for about 4-5 hours and
then bulk erased it.
I guess that all thats left to be said is, you cannot
underestimate the power of a seemingly slight nuance.
Since all of these experiments, my ears have grown
extraordinarily sensitive to changes in regards to
anything that would affect my signal path. As to my
mixes, well I learned that old tape is infact very
very different sounding than new tape. I also learned
that it sounds much better. Much more "vinaged" if
you will, and this is not some psychological myth I
have iussued to myself. My mixes now sound 100%
authentic to the middle 1970s sound. Its not easy to
find an old reel of high quality vintage tape, but if
you can I suggest you do what I did. Simple things
will just blow your mind  

best, 
John 


		
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