| I was trained as a film sound recordist/sound designer largely on nagras mainly 4.2.mono and 4s. They are perfect for stereo recording on location and would be my first choice for any stereo music recording. They sound very flat i.e. you cant really crank them up for huge amounts of tape compression but they still have alot more 'reel' headroom compared to most digital stuff ive used (even with good convertors-dcs,mytek etc). You get off tape monitoring and a limiter which is pretty transparent as are the mic amps. It just has unbalanced outs(bannana plugs) but if your doing audiophile stuff then its all good. If you get an older model then it may only have T powered mic inputs which would obviously restrict you if youre using the inbuilt mic amps. If you have the budget then try to get one which has been serviced or look at getting it checked over and set up as part of your budget, i would say this with any tape machine. It can be set up for the newer high output tapes GP9 etc but I've always used it with Emtec 468, some of the best foley fx and percussion i've recorded was on a nagra with 468 and km84i's - 'Supernatural'. If you want really thick 1/2 inch sound then get two mono 4.2 and run then at the same time, just a sync clap at the beginning. I cant recommend these machines highly enough |