AMPEX AG-440, AG-440C analog tape recorder

A quick demonstration of my highly configurable Ampex AG-440C. There's only one other video I've seen on this series so I thought I'd post one as well.
Sorry for the poor audio. I threw this together very quickly.

About the music. It's called "Destination" and is a part of a new project on which I'm working with a friend.

Guitar is an SG run through a Vox AC-15.
Drums are recorded with an overhead, large diaphragm condenser and a large diaphragm dynamic in front. It was recorded live with the guitar to a single track.
Bass is a J-bass through a Kustom 250 and Ampeg SVT 15" cab with large diaphragm dynamic mic in front.
There's also a Hammond M3 on a separate track, which can't really be heard here.
Vocals are not yet recorded.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• ampex
• ag-440c
• ag-440
• atr
• tape recorder
• recording
• studio
• audio
• edit
• record
• mix
• analog
• analogue
• home
• tape
• vintage
• splice

[wado1942]

@thrashattack312 Correct.

[wado1942]

@thrashattack312 That's one way to do it. The more common method would be to record onto three tracks, then mix them to the empty track so you can record over the first tracks. To clarify, mixing is taking many channels and mixing them down to a few, like 16 recorded tracks mixed to stereo. Mastering refers to polishing the existing mix.

[thrashattack312]

@wado1942 so if you have 16 channels (4 drums, 4 guitars, 4 vocals, 1 bass, 1 keyboard, 2 misc.) being used, you can divide those by playback and record in to 4 tracks.

[thrashattack312]

@thrashattack312 when i say record the drums as one signal i mean playback and record.

[thrashattack312]

@wado1942 I see, you record the four channels on one recorder and then record the drums as one signal into another recorder. It's like how you master (for example recording on an 8 track and then recording those 8 tracks onto 2 tracks and live mixing in the process)

[wado1942]

@thrashattack312 Correct. I might have even had four mic channels going to one track. Bouncing refers to having multiple tracks already recorded that get played back & recorded to other tracks, which was also once a common practice.

[thrashattack312]

@wado1942 i'm bad with terms, you had three mics in the mixer and those 3 channels went into one channel on the recorder?

[wado1942]

@thrashattack312 I think I used two or three mics submixed on the console to a single track along with the guitar live, no bouncing. That leaves three tracks open for other things without degrading the quality.

[thrashattack312]

When you record the drums, are you just bouncing them to fit on one track even though you used multiple mics?

[dillweed44]

Its like you have 2 turntables and your doing a set