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Author Topic: Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine  (Read 3329 times)

leftofthedial

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Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine
« on: October 29, 2019, 06:41:58 PM »

Let me start by saying back in the early 90's I had a 2 head Fostex E-16 and then ADATs until I went DAW in the early 2000s.

So bouncing/comping tracks in all those domains is pretty much self explanatory.  However, on my 3 head Studer A800, the only way I see to do time aligned bounces/comping is through the sync head which only has HF response up to 16K.  I suppose that is good enough, but I guess it bothers me a bit.

Since I never "Officially" have done work on a 3 head machine, my question is simply this, do bounces/comps have to happen off the sync head. 
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mbrebes

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Re: Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2019, 01:40:14 PM »

The approach used by George Martin and the Beatles, back in the day, was to use two machines.  The comped tracks were recorded on one track and the remaining track, if there was one, was transferred to a track on the other tape machine.

If you are comping two tracks onto a third of the same 3 track, then you really don't need to worry about the sync head unless you need to keep the original two recorded tracks.
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leftofthedial

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Re: Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2019, 02:14:30 PM »

Thx, Yeah, I don't think I can afford, or have room in my studio for another "commercial washing machine" sized 24 track.  It's not like I don't have a DAW to do such things. I just remember workflow from the past and never even thought about it since I only had 2-head analog machine and then ADATs which could bounce without noticeable delays.  And even then, I mostly only had 16 tracks, so 24 should be plenty.
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RadarDoug2

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Re: Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2019, 05:10:19 PM »

Yes you have to bounce off the sync head, which is actually the record head. Also, dont try and bounce to an adjacent track. bias will cause sync bleed, on some machines impossible, probably still works on the Studer.
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Carillos

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Re: Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2020, 08:11:43 AM »

How severe is the sync bleed when you do that? Is it overwhelming?
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RadarDoug2

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Re: Bouncing/Comping tracks on a 3 head machine
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2020, 06:49:54 PM »

It depends on which machine. Pro machines will work better than the semidomestic types.
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