Terry Cole, the long-time owner/operator of Colemine Records in Loveland, OH and co-owner of the Plaid Room Records store, employs a selection of both analog and digital TASCAM gear at the heart of his music production enterprise.
Describing his arrangement, Cole says, “I oversee all projects at Colemine Records, which can involve anything from simply developing a marketing plan to seeing a project from the ground up, including production, art development, and release.” To help accomplish this, he employs a TASCAM 388 Studio 8, an integrated analog recorder/mixer that uses a quarter-inch open reel tape format, as well as TASCAM digital interfaces that include a US-2×2 2-in/2-out audio/MIDI interface with HDDA mic preamps and a US-16×08 USB audio/MIDI Interface, which is a 16-input audio device. A Model 32 2-track open reel recorder and a 424mkiii Portastudio complete the picture.
On the analog side of the production equation, Cole says of the 388 Studio 8, “I’ve been using it for around eix years. This mixer/recorder serves as the first line of defense against sterile sounding digital-only recordings. We track as much to the 388 as possible and, without fail, it’s always used for the initial rhythm track sections. For me, drums and bass must hit either the 388 or 424mkiii Portastudio.
“With the 424mkiii Portastudio,” he continues, “I also use it as a summing mixer to get more tracks out of the 388. As an example, I’ll funnel four mics into the 424, pan two hard right and two hard left, and trim things down from four inputs to two.” The Model 32 completes the analog side, serving as a finished mix recorder.
Shifting over to the digital side, Cole describes the deployement of the US-2×2 and US-16×08 digital interfaces: “I use the US-2×2 on my office computer to rip LPs when I’m approving tests or for use on Zoom calls as a microphone interface. It’s also my interface of choice anytime I need to get a mic line into my office computer. I also have two US-16×08 interfaces: one is in a portable rig that I built as a mobile recording setup, while the other is my primary audio interface to our computer in the studio. The US-16×08 enables me to manage a lot of signals easily and the mic preamps are clean and quiet while delivering a lot of headroom.
“The 424 was my first piece of recording gear and it truly made a huge impact on me. As an analog recorder, It put limitations on me in terms of signal management, which was an invaluable lesson. I learned a lot in the process, and I loved it.”
