Post Your REAL Mixing Experience Here (this is leading somewhere)

[dbbubba]

OK, so many people have weighed in on the ITB vs. OTB, working analog vs. digital and the other highly debated topics here on Gearsluts that I start to wonder:

Who has what exprience as far as actually using the gear being debated?

I feel like the ITB camp largely comes from a group of folks who have entered the recording world in the recent days of DAWs. In other words, I feel that quite a few of you made the ADAT/Mackie entrance and jumped to the DAW world without really experiencing good analog on a daily basis.

If people will post their past mixing experience I think we can get some real insight.

It would be best to maybe post years of experience in each format and some other specifics.
Occasional use or recording/mixing once or twice in a given format doesn't count.

This isn't intended to be a pissing contest.
I just want to see why people have drawn the conclusions that they have.

I feel that there will be a pretty big division of experience which will mirror some of the opinions.
Maybe I'll be wrong.

Danny Brown

I'll start:

ANALOG
2 track reel to reel - 1969 to 1972
4 track w/o sel sync - 1972 to 1975
1" 8 track analog - 1975 (TASCAM model 10 and UA custom with 24 1800 modules)
2" 16 track - 1978 to present (Sphere Eclipse C)
2" 24 track - 1981 to present (Sphere Eclipse C, Soundtracks CM4400, Neve 8068 mkII, SSL 5000 E)

DIGITAL
24 track digital (Sony DASH) - 1993 to 1998 analog mix (Neve 8128)
TASCAM DA-88 - 1997 - 2000 (Yamaha 02r and Mackie D8b)
ADAT - 1998 - 2000
WaveFrame 1000 DAW (8 track and ITB) - 1993 to 2000
Opcode Studio Vision Pro - 1996 to 2001 (ITB and Sphere Eclipse C)
Digital Performer - 2001 too present (ITB and Midas Venice 320)

[RainbowStorm]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

OK, so many people have weighed in on the ITB vs. OTB, working analog vs. digital and the other highly debated topics here on Gearsluts that I start to wonder:

Who has what exprience as far as actually using the gear being debated?

I feel like the ITB camp largely comes from a group of folks who have entered the recording world in the recent days of DAWs. In other words, I feel that quite a few of you made the ADAT/Mackie entrance and jumped to the DAW world without really experiencing good analog on a daily basis.

If people will post their past mixing experience I think we can get some real insight.

It would be best to maybe post years of experience in each format and some other specifics.
Occasional use or recording/mixing once or twice in a given format doesn't count.

This isn't intended to be a pissing contest.
I just want to see why people have drawn the conclusions that they have.

I feel that there will be a pretty big division of experience which will mirror some of the opinions.
Maybe I'll be wrong.

Danny Brown

I'll start:

ANALOG
2 track reel to reel - 1969 to 1972
4 track w/o sel sync - 1972 to 1975
1" 8 track analog - 1975 (TASCAM model 10 and UA custom with 24 1800 modules)
2" 16 track - 1978 to present (Sphere Eclipse C)
2" 24 track - 1981 to present (Sphere Eclipse C, Soundtracks CM4400, Neve 8068 mkII, SSL 5000 E)

DIGITAL
24 track digital (Sony DASH) - 1993 to 1998 analog mix (Neve 8128)
TASCAM DA-88 - 1997 - 2000 (Yamaha 02r and Mackie D8b)
ADAT - 1998 - 2000
WaveFrame 1000 DAW (8 track and ITB) - 1993 to 2000
Opcode Studio Vision Pro - 1996 to 2001 (ITB and Sphere Eclipse C)
Digital Performer - 2001 too present (ITB and Midas Venice 320)

Great thread!

Before I started my home studio I recorded my sequences directly onto a good panasonic portable stereo (tape recorder). I got really good responses, like "this sounds really professional" and stuff like that. Back then I really experimented a lot with my keyboards and recorded onto tape, all kinds of things. Soundtracks, techno, rock etc... I recorded everything directly as analog into the tape recorder via the aux input. I always ended up with a smile on my face, it sounded cool in a way... It sounded musical. The big problem was the idle noise, I had a lot of background distortion on everything and I couldn't record vocals or guitar on top of it since my mixer was too noisy. After years of recording, mostly for practising vocals (actually that was how I learned different singing techniques), I had read alot of magazines, mostly keyboard player, and wanted so desperately to have a studio of my own. I had thrown all my money on instruments earlier.

So when I got a job I was finally able to get money for an audio interface and a DAW. I can't forget the first time I played what I had recorded with the RME Fireface 800. It was quiet as idle, extremely quiet as I had expected, but also extremely compact and dead sounding. My reaction was, this can't be true. Have I spent this much money and it sounds like shit?! The size and the shape of the sound just vanished. First I thought I had connected my gear badly or not configured my setup in the right way, but soon I had to face it, this is what I get for 1400 euro and it's not a matter of the converter not being a good unit, it's just that I wanted a better sound. I had not tested any other converter so I didn't know what to expect either... That's when I realised that I had really not spent enough on the converter. Then I did some simple math and it was really not that hard to figure out that there must be a difference between a unit with 2 channels that costs twice as much as a unit with 8 channels, plus I realised I AM an audiophile and would need to SPEND accordingly...

But as I've got more and more used to working ITB I have also learned how to approach ITB recording and I've also realised that's not my biggest recording inefficiency right now, so I don't care so much about that now, plus I think the RME Fireface 800 IS really a very good unit for the money. But I can tell you this, if I would do this for a living it wouldn't be a matter of finding the best sounding recording platform type, it would be a matter of finding the best sounding recording device within that type and I would compare them live.

I hope I'm able to get some insight into your experiences as well...!

[Benmrx]

I like where this could go.



'96 - started playing with 4-track cassettes in my highschool band

'98 - got my first mac, and used "deck2" as a DAW, using the mini 1/8" input coming from the stereo out of a mackie1402

'01 - motu2408 + powerbook + magma box + roland digital mixer (my first venture into a business, focusing on mobile recording)

'03 - sold the roland mixer on ebay for an astounding $2,700, and bought a 2" 24 track Otari MTR90mkII the next week for........$2,700

'06 - mainly rockin the 2", still have the 001/magma/powerbook, and have added an 002/G5 system so I can transfer all 24 tracks from tape to pro tools for mixing......when the project needs the use of automation.

But I could never go without tape. It's such a night and day difference.

I still can't believe that I basically did a straight trade for an absolutely horrible sounding digital mixer for the sweetest medium ever IMO, 2" 24 track. I feel quite fortunate for the fact that I was able to hear what tape did early on, because if I never got that otari, I would most likely still be kicking myself trying to get a good sound out of a guitar cabinet with only an SM57

[theblue1]

I started out in studios in the 80s, working with analog tape. I'll freely admit that as a free-lancer working the punk and post-punk scene, that I spent most of my time toward the bottom of the food chain. (That said, there can be such an ENORMOUS difference between one low end studio and another. When I picked the studio it was a lot different than when the label picked th studio, lemme tell you.)

Anyhow, in '90 or '91 I graduated from a series of TASCAM 1/4" 4 track reel machines at home to a TASCAM 8 track 1/2" deck which ended up in the shop literally most of the time I had it. After not even filling up a single reel, I gave in to contemporary reality and bought my first ADAT, which I soon followed with another and a BRC. I synched it with computer MIDI.

In '96, I set up my first 8 channel DAW (using one ADAT for A/D and the other for D/A... now THOSE were some expensive -- if not necessarily silky -- converters ).

I had a slug of MIDI devices, synths, modules and -- in those days -- I did the submix out the box thing, recording audio tracks to disk and then folding in the 'live' MIDI sources during mixdown via an analog board -- which helped minimize further degradation of things like drum module cymbals, etc.

For a while I serviced my own needs as a songwriter and took in OP's projects to try to justify things to my taxman.

That rig had many good things going for it. The fiber-optic connection to the computer helped prevent ground loops or the frequent problems with noise that early expansion slot based converters had. The BRC provided really steady MIDI clock (as well as digital clock to the ADAT converters)... uh... and other stuff I've apparently forgotten. But it WAS 16 bit. And the ADATs eventually went belly up for no apparent reason, first one, then 5 or 6 months later, the other.

After I got a two channel PCI based interface (I'd closed down the project studio to outside clients because a) you couldn't charge enough and b) I got sick of listening to other people's music, most of it rock, which I'm pretty much over) so I started working in the box.

It required a very different mindset, to be sure.

It's hard to make direct quality comparisons, though, because my OTB rig was based around 16 bit and the new ITB setup was 24 bit...


For the last two years I've been using a MOTU 828mkII which has provided me the ability to do some experimenting with a return to OTB mixing. I should stipulate that I am NOT using a Neve or other high end board. (Current board rhymes with "slackie"... but I'm no basher. For the money, I think it's been just fine. It's a SR24-4 VLZ. Not crazy about the toy faders, but, you know... when I was starting out I paid almost as much for an UTTER POS TASCAM used 12 channel board that was noisy as hell.)


I cannot say that I have really explored contemporary OTB mixing, despite my early history with it. I fooled around... It was kind of a nice nostalgia trip.

But I quickly decided that I preferred the flexibility and convenience of ITB mixing...

Which is NOT to say that I'm convinced there's no benefit in OTB mixing... it's different, it brings out a different mindset (I found myself reflexively reaching for the EQ knobs a lot more than I ever do ITB... probably a holdover from my tape days when everything got rolled this way and that way at different times trying to accomodate all the losses implicit in that media (at, ahem, the low level I was working at -- it MUST be noted).

Anyhow, I look back over this post and realize, once again, I've prattled for many, many paragraphs and come to almost no conclusions and delivered no bons mots.

Ah well... I'm sure most folks have me on their ignore list, anyhow...


__________________________


16 track 1" beginning 1981
16 track 2" beginning 1983
various 8 tracks same general period as well as a few 24 track 2" projects in the mid-late 80s

[the above were in OP's studios - below are mine]

4 track 1/4" beginning 1981
1" 8 track (w/ dbx NR) a few hours spread over 1990-92 (syched to computer for MIDI)
Replaced analog mixdown deck with first DAT, 1989
ADAT blackface 1992 - second ADAT and BRC circa 1994
ADAT-centric DAW using Frontier Design ISA card interface 1996 (CW Pro Audio, Cool, Sound Forge, etc)
PCI based Echo Mia, circa 2001
MOTU 828mkII-centric system (and move away from dedicated synth modules to VIs) 2004


PS... I didn't begin to play an instrument until 1971 [and it was an uphill struggle, lemme tell ya] but I did my first musical overdub in 1964, recording my mom duetting with herself acapella; it wowed the crowd at my grandfolks' 50th anniversery party. And I left out the blaster-in-front-of-the-stereo overdubs I did a bit in the late 70s as part of my super-lo-fi punk ethos... but that was crucial

[Ricey]

these are the dates i first started using these media - presently it's up to the client which medium is used:

1990 - 2" 24 track
1996 - 1/2" 8 track
1998 - DA88(3) 24 track
1999 - Mac G3 Logic/TDM
2002 - 2" 16 track *
2005 - 1" 16 track
2006 - Powerbook G4/Logic Pro

almost always mixed to 1/4" or 1/2" 2 track, but sometimes it has to be otherwise

* preferred

[warhead]

Around 1979: Panasonic hand-held cassette recorder with tiny condensor mic. I was 8 years old, and my 9 year old brother and I each had one. We recorded our own comedy shows, and as we turned into teenage musicians we would record ourselves jammin' as well.

Then multitrack.

Around 1989: Fostex X-26 4 track cassette, mixdown was to my home stereo's cassette deck.

Around 1993: Fostex M80 8 track 1/4" reel to reel running 15ips, mixdown was to a Sony Minidisc. (also began as an intern at a local studio, running multiple ADATS, mixing to DAT)

Around 2000-2001: Fostex VF160, quickly found I didn't like the whole all in one gig and sold it.

Around 2001: Fostex D160 16 track hard disk recorder, mixing down to a Fostex CR300 CD recorder.

Around 2003: RME 9652 / Nuendo PC DAW, mixdown done ITB.

Around 2004 to present: RME Digiface, Creamware A16 Ultra converters via ADAT, Lucid AD9624, Lucid DA9624, to Nuendo 2 PC DAW, mixdown typically done ITB.

War

PS: Fostex was very good to me!

[robmix]

Unless you count the Fostex X-15 4 track cassette machine I had in '86, I started with analog in about 1989, an Otari MX70 1" 16 track, MX5050 1/4" 2 track and a Tascam TSR-8 1/2" 8 track. By 1993 I was using mostly Studer A800's and 827's with Ampex ATR-102's along with Sony 3348's in SSL and Neve rooms. During that time I also picked up the basics on Synclaviers, Sonic Solutions, Studer Dyaxis, Lexicon Opus and my little Studio Vision pro rig with an Audiomedia card. '95 - 2000 saw a lot of MDM usage (PCM-800's, DA-88's and ADAT's). Somewhere around 2001, I went all PT after a brief stint with Paris, Logic and a Mackie D8b. Now it's all PT HD with the custom a Daking console. Might pick up a 24 track soon, the prices are too good.

That's most of it, not including writing code and digital editing on the NeXT in about '92. And the occasional Mitsubishi digital machines, various Ampex and studer multitracks, a few days with a Studer 48 track digital machine, etc., etc.

[Cojo]

I don't know were this is going, but I'm curious to find out so here it goes...


85, Dj mixer to 2tr cassette with DBX.

90, Boss 16ch to 2tr cassette with DBX.

95, Boss 16ch to 2tr DAT.

97, Soundcraft Spirit 24ch analog to 2tr DAT.

2001, Soundcraft Spirit 328 32ch digital to 2tr DAT.

2003, Soundcraft Spirit 328 32ch digital to MOTU 828mkII.

Today, Studer 962 20ch analog to MOTU 828mkII.


/Cojo

[rainsinvelvet]

1989 - tascam porta something or other with crappy p.a. style mixer to get more inputs.

1993 - teac 80-8 8trk 1/2 inch at 15ips with a SHITTY alesis "studio mixer"

1997 (ish)- alesis lx20s(3) and brc and mackie 32x8

1999 - Otari mtr90mk2 8 trk 1" synced to adats

2001- Mac G4 with PT 001 synced to analog machine+ mackie 32x8

2003- present Ampex MM1200 with PT HD3 - Ramsa DA7

ERic

[harvestmark]

Okay, I'll bite.
1979- Tascam 40-4 four track w/dbx
later 1979-Tascam 70 series 8 track machine
1983 Tascam 85-16 sixteen track
1989 Tascam newest 16 track sync'ed to 86-16 with Adam Smith synchronizer for 30 tracks. Do I need to explain why not 32 tracks?
1993 simple Pro-Tools. Sync'ed it to tape machines for a few years until going totally digital.

Have been digital ever since. Although I've never had 2" analog machines, I still marvel at the sound of some of my older recordings. Plus my experience is certainly old school. Used to experiment with drum miking for hours.
Mark Miller

[seaneldon]

mid 90's - cassette 4 track

'98 - 1/2" 8 track with teac mixer, 1/4" two track mixdown

'00 - 2" 24 track and 1" 16 track with ghost, 1/4" two track mixdown at part time studio, 1/2" 8 track at home

'02 - 2" 24 track with manley console, 1/4" two track mixdown, protools mix system

'04 - 2" 24 track with neotek elan, pro tools hd

'05 - Multiple MOTU firewire with Apogee converters, no mixer, dangerous 2bus summing to 1/4" two track. Occaisionally did sessions on Radar with a neotek.

'06 - Currently, entirely digital once again at new studio. I'd love to bring a console, tape deck, and even a Radar into the equation. Still sounding good though.

[cramseur]

1983 - Tascam Porta 05 - 4 track cassette DBX and Casio CZ-101
1986? - Alesis MMT8 hardware 8 track sequencer (retired)
1987 - Cakewalk computer based sequencer
2001 - Akai DPS 16 - 16 track digital DAW (retired)


I have used Cakewalk from when I first got it, until the present. All home based recording

[ArcCirDude]

1972 Sears mono cassette deck
1979 Tascam 144 4 track
1983 Tascam 38 8 track + M50 8 buss
1987 Various Studer, Otari 16 and 24 track in studios. Still Tascam at home + Atari 1040st running Creator.
1993 First run-in with ADAT and DA88. Bought DA88
1995 SSL 4000 to Sony PCM 3324 24 track DASH
1997 Trident 80 series to Studer A820
2001 Own facility based around analog/digital hybrid. Mac G5 running logic, 2x HD192

Uh....why?

[RCM - Ronan]

Good god its all a blur...

Cassette based stuff throughout the 80s, started using fancier stuff at the start of the 90s. Did my first ITB mix in the early 90s when Pro Tools could only do 4 tracks.

early 90s until now I've mixed a couple hundred records working in studios all over the world on about every format imaginable. I Mix analog almost exclusively.

[mattssons]

79: Cassette recorder with built in mic. Recorded my grand father playing fiddle and miced up the telly to get some music.
84 Fostex 4 track
86 Teac reel to reel, before that me and friends played around with an Akai logic controlled 2track and spliced casette tape, talk about difficult..
88 Akai porta with built in mixer
1989 Sony D.A.T
1992 C.D.R burners, session 8, soundtools
98 digi 001, Allen & heath, Tascam hr78 8 track
First 24 track 2" experience, ssl ,dda, soundcraft
2004 - Neotek Elan, G5, logic, fireface

[u b k]

i've been playing with stereos, vinyl, and cassettes since i was 18" tall.

1990 - 1/2" 8 track with 16 channel tascam

1994 - 1/4" 8 track with 12 channel yamaha (oops, wrong direction)

1996 - adat with 12 channel mackie (something is very wrong)

1998 - cubase, no mixer (this is digital, it must be me)

2000 - studer tape soundcraft 6000 (oh, it wasn't me)

2003 - api 2500 (dear god in heaven that's better)

2005 - nicerizer 16 (dear god in heaven that's better)

2006 - 2" 8 track sound workshop 1280b (there's very little i can't do now)


it's all inches from here on out...


gregoire
del ubik

[whosyourdaddy00]

[quote] miced up the telly to get some music[\quote]

haha i still have the Airwolf theme somewhere around here!

'93 junior high , figured out how to bounce tracks 'indefinately' with a two deck cassete home kareoke machine, also leaned spring reverb.

'95 tascam portastudio 4 track plus two stereo so i guess it was almost an 8 track.

'97 roland vs-840

'99 roland vs-1680 + cakewalk professional 8

2002 or 3 sonar 1

2004 made upgrades to sonar 3pe

2006 *pending* new 64 bit computer and upgrade to 5



i've had the pleasure of fiddlin' with 2" here and there, but as for what i own, i've been digital for quite some time, and yes it's a cold place, but there are happy eskimo's in the artic.

[Matt Hepworth]

1992-1994 two cassette decks, a 80's reverb unit, and a BOSS mixer. We'd cut and bounce in one pass. I think the end result was a whole step higher and about 15% faster than the original!

1994 - 1996 a Yamaha 4-track and BOSS mixer AND an ADAT and Yamaha ProMix. Did my most creative stuff here.

1997 - 2001 Fostex DMT-8VL and D-90 with an Alesis Studio 32 Mixer and a fair amount of outboard. A couple decent ($500) mics. Still have the 4 Track.

2002 - 2003 Same Fostex Recorders, but two M-Audio Delta cards that I'd dump into SONAR for mixing on serious projects. Got some pretty good mics. Still have the 4 Track. Did some great recordings then.

2003 - 2005 Replaced the M-Audio with RME and Digidesign, let go of the Fostex, bought an old Yamaha M916 (cool sounding) and more outboard pres, comps, and effects. Using SONAR and Pro Tools LE. Got some really good mics. Still have the 4 Track. Started really getting a TON of clients - had to turn lots away. About half my projects were mixing projects that other studios recorded.

Mid-Late 2005 Built a studio in my home. Sold most my outboard compressors and pres and such and went for quality over quantity. Got rid of mics that weren't the bomb. Got some nice outboard converters and better pres. Got into UAD and Waves. Got a couple really nice mics. Everything I record is technically superior to previous setups. Sold and rebought the 4 Track.

2006 - Still using SONAR and PT, TASCAM DM-3200, RME, and a couple world class preamps. A little slower business wise, but the projects I have are a whole new caliber and budget - makes up the difference. Still have the 4 Track.

[RKrizman]

In 1976 I was multitracking Arp 2600 tracks by pingponging them on a 1/4" Revox half-track. It's been downhill ever since.

-R

Dont know the exact years but it goes something like this

Used
dual cassette machine adding overdubs between machines
4 track cassette
1/2" 8 track
1" 16track
Adat black faces (because I couldnt afford the tape costs of 2" sitting in the same room LORD I had soo much to learn)
2" Studer (because on the last track of a project I recorded some things to 2" and never respected adats after)


Used and owned
cassette decks
4trk cassette
1/2" 8track
adat xt/mackie 8 bus
Roland Vs880
Protools mix

Now Protools HD and considering saving for a tape machine

Hard to recall, but here goes!

86' - Startted going into the studio with local bands as "producer"
88' - bought a Tascam 234 and an M05 (?)
94' - bought a pr. of ADATs and a Topaz (JUNK!)
95' - replaced Topaz with M3700, startted mixing down to Cakewalk and Sonic Foundry
96' - replaced ADATs with DR-16, retired Cakewalk
1999'ish - Studio split and I bought an 001 and a Mac
Still stuck here......






D

[Cornvalley]

This is gonna sound self laudatory but it's not.
In 1970 I used an old (even at that time) Teac 2 track and layed down a stereo drum performance. Bounced from the speaker playback along with bass to one side, then recorded my guitar track to the right side.
That was my entrance audition tape for Berklee in Boston where I lasted all of 6 months.

[xj32]

Ok what the heck I'll bite...

1980 - 1984 various experiments with a modified pair of 2 track cassette decks doing multi tracking guitars, drums and vocals (sound on sound...overdubbing)

1984 - 1988 recording with a few models of early Teac 4 / 8 track open reel 1/4" units with thier own matching mixers

1988 - 1992 recordings all done with a Yamaha MT4x (4 channel simultaneous) cassette 4 track...I know a step backwards, but oh so convinient

1993 - 1996 all recordings done live through an early cr 1604 direct to sony TCDD-7 Dat walkman

1996 - 1998 started recording 2 tracks at a time into a PC running the earliest versions of cakewalk and sound forge as a two track editor

1998 - 2001 ? Mackie 1604 VLZ/ to ADAT XT-20 and back again, eventually adding a Frontier Design WaveCenter and entering the hybrid world of DAW multi tracking in CoolEdit Pro and shortly there after Sony Vegas Also during this time I switched from thye Mackie to a Yamaha 01v, dumbed the ADAT and went full digital DAW.

2001 - 2004 switched Mixer to Tascam DM-24 and switeched my recording program to Nuendo, also started to aquire my 1st outboard mic pre's (ART, Presonus, Peavey and True systems). Also started to work in other studios, with PT as a well.

2004 to present...more mic pres (millenia, Chandler, Blue, etc plus comps)...this year dumping the DM-24 moving to lynx aurora and going completely ITB.

I feel I have been a child of the digital age since the dawn of the PC (non mac / non pro tools) side of recording and am proud of it.

Paul


PS - some dates may be skewed due to old age...

[Gravity8058]

1985-1987: Fostex X15 4 track (recording my songs and my bands)

'87-'89: Yamaha MT4X ( same use)

'90 - '93: MCI, SSL, VR w/ Studer 827, 800, 80, and Mitsubishi X880 as Ast. and then Eng. at CRC in Chicago

'93 - '94: Mackie 8 bus and ADATs (This is what I could afford when I first started Gravity Studios)

'95 - '98: Amek Big, Studer 800 (studio grew)

'98- present: Neve 8058, Studer 827, Protools HD3, Ampex ATR 102, Samplitude

[dbbubba]

I got busy and then went out of town and didn't have time to keep up with the thread that I started... sorry.

I wanted to know everyone's experience because there were/are so many opinions about digital vs. analog and ITB vs. OTB.
I wanted to see who had actually experienced "real" analog (2" analog with a good quality analog console) on a regular basis.
I see a lot of people made the cassette deck to ADAT to DAW progression, too.

I have this impression that a lot of people's opinions are based on the basic premise of "I bought this stuff, paid a fortune and now I'm going to love it and defend the virtue of it's sound... until I can afford something better."

I notice that people who "do" or "did" lots of analog recording either still have it and use it or went digital to get there own private rig going. I also see a lot of people who worked at getting to the analog stage.

Sorry there isn't a bigger payoff than this... I just had to know where everyone stood.
... and why they stand where they do.

Thanks,
Danny Brown

[StefanColson]

1998 - Started out fiddling around composing and recording with cakewalk home studio and a cassette recorder.

2001 - Got a Roland VS-2480

2002 - Started doing paid sessions at home with my little project rig

Late 2002 - Started interning

2003 - Started freelancing a bit. Primary rigs: Radar 24 - Neotek Elite w/ lots of nice outboard, Radar 24 - DMX-R100, PTHD - Neotek Elite, Studer 2" - Neotek Elite. Also doing sessions with my improved home rig consisting of API and Focusrite pres - Sonar PE.

2004 - Handful of sessions with PTHD - SSL 4036G and a 6000E

2004 - Now: The bulk of my sessions are done with Radar 24 - Neotek Elite, but I enjoy working with the DMXR100 when the utmost in balls isn't neccessary. I do some preproduction stuff, editing, scratch tracks, etc at home with my portable rig, and sometimes due to budget we have to get overdubs done there, but nothing beats mixing through a real console with real outboard.

[Syki]

1982- porta studio wth tapco mixer

1995- MCI Jh24 2" / MCI JH632 console/MCI 1/2 inch and quarter inch mix down decks

1995- 2x Fostex (white faced) ADATS, Roland DM 80 and DM800 hrd disk recorders

2002-Otari RADAR 2

2003 to present- Pro tools Digi 002rk MAC G4 in use with RADAR

[Tone Laborer]

Teac 4 track -the 75lbs. model that took the big reels (3600?) 1979-1985
Fostex A8 8track- 1985-1996-mix to VCR or another reel to reel
Worked in studio with Studer A80 and MCI board.
Tascam DAT -1994
Tascam DA-38 96-98 mix to dat
Added a DAW with Cakewalk Pro audio 9 synced with DA38
Worked in studio with 3 adats and mackie 8 buss.
Both Tascam dat and da38 broke and obsolete by 2000

Built another DAW with cubase sx- 2001

[lemix]

Hah..it's all a bit blurry now, but let me try ;
-1966>1978 full time professional drummer, mainly in Europe. Live clubs and some studio work. That got me hooked, so had a Uher ( ??) portable cassette recorder on the road. Then another and kept on bouncing..
-1978> immigrated to Toronto and started up a home studio : all TEAC gear..3340/model5, etc..bought first "outboard" stuff: Tapco EQ & Spring reverb. Mixing down to 1/4" Revox. Added a Biamp board.
-1981> moved into a small partnership..1" 16 track, Studiomaster board. More mics and outboard.
-1983> bigger partnership in full blown downtown studio. 2X Ampex MM 1200's; MCI board, some post gear with Soundmaster sync. More outboard...
Mixing to 1/2", DAT, and that Sony PCM F1/601/701 thingy..
First DAW : Hybrid Arts Adap II. Second DAW: Spectral Prisma/Producer..
-1997>Another studio, Amek Angela, Sony 24 track, and the beginning of PT learning.
>2004 to today ...nice country studio, PT only, D&R Avalon. Narrowed down the signal chain to concentrate on natural acoustics.
Starting to play some drums again..I love it a lot. Maybe I'm just too old to deal with price wars, doctored productions, and rushed gigs...

[not_so_new]

Hummm.. okay I will play.

I don't think recording to 4 track cassette decks counts really, I have been doing that since I was a kid (if you want to count that then I guess I started recording around 83 or so.... )

Anyway for real recording studio experience I started on a MX80 in '92 / '93 or so. From there it is a combination of Fostex 16 and Sound Designer, Sound Tools, Session 8, 3M M79, ADATs, DA88s, Otari 16 track 1 inch (forget the model), Paris, Pro Tools Mix + and 001.

Now I am using a Samplitude rig with Apogee AD-16x and DA-16x and I am very happy. I still like to use outboard gear but digital does not bother me at all.

I have a 3M M79 for sale if anyone is interested, needs some work but I don't plan on going back any time soon.