Spencer Lere, a Los Angeles-based performing musician, recording engineer and technician and more, utilizes a TASCAM Model 12 integrated production suite and DR-40X 4-track portable recorder as touchstones in his varied musical endeavors.
As a professional musician, Lere works with several artists as a drummer for studio, live, and touring projects, including pop rock artists Bleached featuring sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin, as well as Low Hum, Dengue Fever, Pablo Dylan, Haunted Summer, and others. Lere is also the drum tech for the punk rock act The Linda Lindas. When he is not performing or working as a drum tech, he engineers music for many of these same artists. Regardless of the musical endeavor, his TASCAM Model 12 and DR-40X are consistently part of the musical equation.
“The Model 12 is currently set up in my lockout studio (shared rehearsal space) and is ready for just about anything, including production, writing, and rehearsing,” Lere explains. “Utilizing all the Model 12’s inputs, its high-quality mic preamps, and EQs, I find it immensely helpful for capturing quality sounding drum takes, percussion, synths, or whatever else my clients and I want to record during a writing and pre-production session. When I rehearse with bands there, we use the Model 12 for everything, including playback of the songs we’re working on in addition to a wide range of other audio material.
“The Model 12’s input/output architecture is extremely versatile and makes it a great choice for everything from multitrack recording to interfacing with all sorts of other equipment, including DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations),” he adds. “The mixer’s selectable PFL/AFL modes and solo in place (SIP) allow for flexible monitoring of individual channels—eliminating the need to mute each single channel when dialing in the mix. Further, having compression available on each channel is terrific, as it can serve as the glue that helps keep everything together. To sum it all up, the Model 12 has excellent build quality, packs a lot of punch, and is remarkably portable for all that it offers.”
As noted, Lere has also come to rely on a DR-40X 4-track portable recorder: “The DR-40X is my musical sidekick and is rad,” he enthused. “I use it during rehearsals with new bands outside of my studio to keep myself sharp and to learn new material. I also take it to singer/artist meetings to capture song ideas for their projects that I’m producing. I use it when I teach lessons and to capture the student’s progress. While traveling—particularly to places I’ve never been—I also use my DR-40X to record nature, ambient sounds, and more to incorporate into my music production and future artistic endeavors. I pretty much take it wherever I go and use it to help keep me organized.”
