Reel to Reel bounce to Pro Tools

Hola,

I have a chance to cop a Tascam 34B for like 20$ that is fully working.
I know that this is a 4 track reel to reel recorder, and my plan is to do my recording to tape first (through an analog mixer first), then bounce to my multitrack interface.

My question is, is Thes One on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7rLTQfIWtw
^ Mentioned that after he 'stacks' everything on tape, then he bounces the sound. But when I looked at his screen, there are prolly like 30 tracks. Since this is only a 4 track reel to reel, does anyone know the technique he uses when putting together songs?

Thanks.

maybe he has more then one tape machine synced up

Take it with a pinch of salt.

You don't know whether he's bounced vocals to tapes and composite stems. He could also have multiple takes on-screen and / or duplicate tracks.

So yes, he probably gets bussing from the Neve (not sure the I/O on that) and prints the 4 outs to tape. He can then bounce the tape to pro-tools.

Be aware that the Tascam is 1/4" tape. There will be little if no benefit from printing to thsi format (unless you like reduced dynamic range). 4 tracks on a 1/4" tape means less than 1/16th for each track. That's less than a cassette.

ThesOne is prolly using 1/2" if not 1" in that vid.

Shostakovich wrote:4 tracks on a 1/4" tape means less than 1/16th for each track. That's less than a cassette.

haven't watched the vid yet, but isn't cassette 1/8" / 4-track? So as far as i can tell cassette would be half of 1/4" / 4 track, as they are the same number of tracks but different tape sizes.

if i'm missing something, school me.

in stereo 1/16" per track.

in mono, 1/8".

Track 4 channels and you're looking at 1/32".

I think it's always good to experiment with tape but there are so many variables people don't think about - like reduced headroom, noise, wow and flutter. Of course, if that's your bag, then go for it. But that doesn't translate into "warm" - whatever that means. If anything, that warmth is achieved though saturation compression and harmonics and you need to know your tape bias and other characteristics well to get there.

But for $20, that's a great deal. You can't get tape for it at that price though...

ok so my assumption is correct you are just talking about doubling up on tape width while reducing number of tracks. i dont see those machines as often (like mastering machines).

anyway about the video...
there are number of ways he could be doing it.
he might be striping the 4th track with smpte then using that to sync everything up later
he could be using all 4 tracks as audio then just aligning them manually once they are bounced to digital.
maybe not all of those are tape tracks.

but yea if that big tape machine is only 4 tracks he is getting much better dynamic range than you will with a $20 1/4" machine.

SMPTE very doubtful for 2 reasons.

1) There would be no need to overdub on tape so no need to have MPC synced to machine.

2) SMPTE can create mad crosstalk so not only would one whole track (remember, a whole 1/4") wasted on SMPTE but the obvious bleed would also affect the next track rendering half the tape nigh on useless.

Nah, I think he's running his MPC bussed out of the Neve into 4 groups (channels). If I were to do it, I'd go drums, samples, vocals, vocal overdubs. You don't need to sync for the vocals.

he could be using all 4 tracks as audio then just aligning them manually once they are bounced to digital.

most likely

thanks for the input fellas