The Analog Way: a recent letter to friends
Greetings Musical Chums!
Hope the Spring is unfolding in a wonderful way for you all. I'm writing to let you know that I've done something that was either very smart or totally ridiculous. Probably somewhere in the middle—but you be the judge...
The other day I went to Build It Green in Queens to buy a bathroom sink. I found one. But then something else caught my eye—there, staring me in the face, were three beautiful Otari Analog multitrack recorders wrapped in plastic. They had just been brought in and seemed to be in great condition. I was initially just going to get one, but upon further reflection, I just couldn't walk out and leave those great machines behind. Surely some of my friends would love to have one of these too! So, I struck a deal with the Build It Green folks since they don't normally deal in high-end audio equipment. I walked out with all three as a package deal with the understanding that I have until this Thursday to return the extra two if I didn't find a home for them. (Don't worry, I got the sink too.)
So, I'm hanging on to the Otari MX-70 to cut the record I'm working on right now . The Otari MTR-10 and the Otari MTR-12 I'm offering at cost ($750/each) to friends and family. I'm not interested in putting them on ebay. No worries if nobody wants them, I'll just return them on Thursday no problemo. But, if you are interested in checking them out, or have a pal who would, definitely give me a shout! I'd love to see these beautiful machines find a happy home.
The MTR-10 and MTR-12 are both 4-Track machines that record onto 1/2" Tape. I believe they were used for mastering purposes primarily and I think they'd be perfect for using in tandem with a protools rig if you're interested in mixing analog and digital flavors together. I haven't recorded anything on them yet but all the machines turn on fine and I've sent 1KHZ test oscillations into each channel with success on every track. The heads appear to be in great condition.
The backstory on the machines is that there was a recording studio here in NYC that went all digital a few years ago. The analog machines were wrapped up and put in storage. This year the owner closed down the studio and retired to Florida. Apparantly she didn't want to deal with moving everything so she called Build It Green to come take everything. That's when I came round' looking for the sink.
It's kind of like that movie The Brave Little Toaster.
I've posted a bunch of pix on my facebook page if you'd like to take a thorough look at what we're dealing with here. These machines are beasts.
Give me a ring if you'd like to discuss and/or come by and take a look in person. It'll be fun to fire these thing up and take them for a spin. The clock is ticking! Apologies for the short lead time here but when opportunity knocks sometimes you just have to load up the truck with some heavy fucking analog multitrack recorders and see what happens.
Magnetically,
Alexis
