Using reel-to-reel and space echo to add color to mic -> pre chain?

[zonymash]

I am currently running an Apogee Duet/Macbook setup for convenience, but I am aiming for old Motown-type sounds. I can usually get close to what I'm after through careful mic placement and EQ, but I'm wondering about the possibility of introducing more analog color by running my mic signal though things an old Pioneer QT 6600 reel-to-reel or a Roland RE-201 Space Echo. Would this direction be worth exploring? I've never even used a reel-to-reel before, so if anyone has tried anything like this, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Mark

[davedarling]

Originally Posted by zonymash

I am currently running an Apogee Duet/Macbook setup for convenience, but I am aiming for old Motown-type sounds. I can usually get close to what I'm after through careful mic placement and EQ, but I'm wondering about the possibility of introducing more analog color by running my mic signal though things an old Pioneer QT 6600 reel-to-reel or a Roland RE-201 Space Echo. Would this direction be worth exploring?

Mark

Yes !! EVERYTHING is worth exploring.

let us know how it works out.

best - Dave Darling

[robot gigante]

I do that with a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo with certain instruments. It sounds great. I wouldn't do it on everything, but it definitely adds an element I really like.

[James Guitar]

i run things through my fulltone tape echo all the time, sometimes with only the smallest amount of echo going, to try and add some tape colour as well as a little ambience... in small doses it works wonderfully in providing a little space to a track. of course, the tape echo is great for other things as well.
-J

[bitman]

Doods,

I have had a Studer/Revox PR99 mkII 2 track sitting in a rack all loaded up with 10" reels doing nothing but looking good. It was given to me when a radio station closed up. I have been meaning to strap it across my 2 buss for ages but this thread lit a fire under me and I did just that for the first time. And this baby will allow me to monitor the playback head while recording and switch between the head and the input amp. The difference when listening to the playback head is gratifying with it's warm cozy punch being fed from the DAW though a resistor based summing buss. It's wild to lean on the flange of the tape and hear the music slow down wile the daw is trucking along. Just like da good old days. Now whether or not to Mcgiver a loop tape or just run through the reel of tape........

Me so happy now.
:Ron

[John Suitcase]

That's pretty cool!

I recently took a pair of output transformers from an old 70's mixer (a peavy, I think, nothing special) and put them in a box with 1/4" jacks going in and out. I patch it in between my mic pre, or after a compressor, and it definitely adds something nice to the sound. I'm sure it's just distorting a little in a nice way, but it's something that might be worth exploring with some Cinemags, or some vintage St.Ives, etc. I think the vintage and rather small nature of these transformers is what makes them colorful, I don't know if you'd get the same 'flavor' from something like jensen, which are designed to be more transparent.

Anyway, every piece of gear adds something, especially older pieces that don't have true bypass. There are folks that say the old carbon film resistors add something nice to the tone, too.

[TheRealRoach]

Time based effects of that that era can really transform the character of the recording. Tape Echos, Spring Verb, lots of character-y stuff. But above all, i think one of the best things you can do it purchase some used amps and instruments of that era (or at least of the style of that era) and you'll get real close. It's even nice to reamp vocals through an old amp and mix some of that back into the clean,... or hell just keep the amped signal only.

Having a bunch of weird amps and stomp boxes is invaluable for me.