Recording: Past, Present & Future Of Music Technology 

I took this journey with you guys and was a subscriber to 'SOS' and 'Home And Studio Recording' during the 80s and 90s. My first setup was bouncing two cassette decks through a mixer. Someone convinced me this was a better solution than squeezing 4 tracks on a tiny cassette tape with a Tascam 244 Portastudio. The worst advice I ever took which I discovered when I eventually purchased the 244! That was early 80s, then I moved to a Fostex reel to reel 1/4 inch 8 track, with a Fostex midi mixer. I would stripe the tape with SMTPE then control everything via a SMTPE - midi sync unit. I used the very popular Quadraverb amongst other rack mountable effects. It was quite an elaborate set up with many impressive flashing lights and automation on the mixer, with faders moving by themselves and mute button lights flashing on and off. Those were the days! I used C-Lab Creator on an Acorn Electron, which was amazing at the time. then moved on to Logic Audio which was a fantastic package, but Emagic canned the PC version in the 90s so I eventually dropped out of recording completely in the mid naughties for a few years after having held on to my Windows XP DAW for so long. Then, in 2015 I discovered the wonderful world of Presonus and Studio One. Its design and operation being very similar to Logic Audio, so I took to it like a duck to water. I now have the amazing Quantum. What a powerful system!

10 million for a hard drive....love his deadpan delivery

Fascinating and professionally produced video - thanks Paul & Hugh! As someone employed during the 80s to sell both Tascam and Fostex products, I was disappointed that there was no mention of the importance of the 'portastudio' and Multitrack tape machines marketed by these two companies. How many bands must have bought these affordable small format studios in order to start their recording careers! The Tascam 244 & Porta-One, the Fostex X-15, B16, R8 and then the magnificent DMT8 (12 minutes of 8-track recording time to hard disk for only £1499). Many musicians shied away from computers in favour of proper buttons to push and faders to slide

Long live the good old days

Thanks for putting this together!

I met Max Mathews just 3 months before he died and also talked about the power of the Laptop/Tablet in music. Well done, a great overview and thanks for the important timeline markers. Love the magazine as well - cheers

Happy Anniversary and keep up the great efforts and educational processes presented to us eager learners out in the world. Cheers and all the very best - Bruce

Great video! Please give us more retrospectives like this.

Hmmmm.... What a great interview! Very interesting and so right!!! I've been in the biz forever as a muso, arranger, producer, studio owner... A former true master of the razor-blade! Oh... not forgetting Fairlight / AMS / Synclavier specialist in Scandinavia (I even wrote a bit of code for the Fairlight IIx / 3 which was re-written professionally and included in the actual product! Now in my late 50's back in the UK, I use Cubase, some nice mics and use all of my 'ancient' analogue knowledge - the only time I grab any valves these days is in a guitar amp.... Every plug-in and instrument (incl. Roland kit) is soft-based. I have no hardware outboard any longer. I can do precisely what I could do a any major digital studio in the 80's (and a whole lot more) in my tiny studio. Anyone who says otherwise is dreaming! More like this please. Doktor Phil Barrett...

I'm 41 and looking at this and thinking back to the early 90's through today it reminds me how scary this stuff was. For many years it was too expensive and never seemed like the market would settle down. Only recently have I finally made the digital jump in home recording and I'm glad I did. It seems like the market has stabilized and it's getting cheaper all the time.

Really interesting video, thanks for posting!

Great retrospective - really enjoyable viewing. I remember as far back as ADAT - trying to keep two of those in sync was a nightmare at times!

Thanks guys. Great video

Great video SOS, thank you.

Great overview! I've learned much from Paul.

Many thanks for the years of info and tips that has helped me get to where I am today.

Great video. I have watched it at least three times. I'd love to see more videos with the editors opinions on audio stuff.

Great retrospective... thanks!

Great interview thanks

Very informative video, thanks a lot!!

great overview, great magazine, SOS helps me out

Great video... Greetings from the Caribbean...!

Thank you so much SOS .. respect from Indonesia.

In 1990, the AKG DSE7000 DAW ($47k USD) was specifically targeted for radio production in the USA. It later became the Orban Audicy, before it left the earth. I got mine (early) in October 1990 and did quite well with it. The AMS AudioFile was the killer machine for working audio with video.

I don't remember the name of the (young) presenter who puts these videos together but well done to him (great production but also v v good interviewing) and well done to whoever appointed him. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the old videos with Paul White but moving from an analogue to a digital presenter has been a v g progression... :-) Thank you. Andy (ps that was a joke, of sorts)

Indeed.

Which model Eve audio monitors are those?

From Hit Trax MIDI Files and Backing Tracks: (www.HitTraxMIDI.com) . This is a 'must watch video' for anyone using backing tracks. It's like going back in time for us when the Hit Trax team were pioneers in the MIDI revolution.

15:12 Take notes aspiring artists

2:50, Now I know they had had "24 track 2 inch analogue tape" in the early 80s! 8 track tape machines weren't all that was available!

it was just in the begning of 20th century When I was a kid the only electronic device for music i knew is a Radio which I used to record.🤣🤖

I don't care what anybody says, digital is a step forward in convenience! But a step backwards in quality! Yes, there were little or no distortion in digital audio, but it sounds "artificial" ! And the range of sound goes well beyond anything digital, and always will! Remember, music is born analogue! And it ends up in your ears the same way! That being said, I'm certainly not anti digital! I have loads of digital formats and enjoy the sound very much, but it just doesn't have the "depth" analogue can provide! Although double DSD comes damn close to sounding like the Master! It's OK if you disagree, it's just my opinion on the subject, and I'm not alone! Some engineers feel the same way! We can just agree to disagree, just my two cents!

Two and a half grand for a 600mb HD? Bargain... Amazing to compare that with what we have now. Re. analogue and rose tinted specs, I think the best of analogue is wonderful, but is and always was enormously expensive. Everyday analogue kit - the stuff we ordinary mortals can aspire to - has long been overtaken in quality terms.

The price, quality and performance of recording gear and instruments is now open to just about anyone. However this coincides with the huge decline and fall in quality etc of music itself. Maybe the inclusion of non-musicians in music has not been a good thing?

" Digits- It's better quality..." - lol.

Convenience is overrated. Most of the time computer stuff has too many options. The brilliant thing about analog (old stuff, if you will) is that it limits your options. You don't waste your time thinking about whether this track should be +0.1 db higher automated from bar 7 to 8. Rather, you spend more of your mental capacity making music. And more happy accidents occur with old stuff. With digital you just got too much control. Very often the results sound boring. And with the digital "revolution" everyone is able to turn out crap. The supply is enormous, making it almost impossible to navigate. Within the synth industry we see a real surge in one-knop-per-function analog synths. People crave simplicity and that great analog sound, that is not easily replicated by digital.