https://www.bradbenskomusic.com/bearded-cat

Bearded Cat Production, Mystic, CT (2025)

10/15/2025

Just did the finishing touches on this 1” 8 track MCI JH-110B and it’s now working perfectly. I got it for next to nothing in very sorry shape and took on the project just to see if I could bring it back to life. I’m happy to say I was successful, but a lot of time, careful work, and expletives went into it!
One Inch 8 track is my absolute favorite format to record on, for the sonic quality but even more than that, the workflow. You have to make decisions and commitments to track layout, but to me, the payoff is well worth it. Most of my favorite records were recorded this way or with even fewer tracks, after all!
Here is an old unreleased recording of mine done on the studio’s original Otari MX70 1” 8 track about five years ago, and a breakdown of the track layout and performances I put on each track. It’s always nice to revisit old recordings and hear what I was doing, and I may still release this one after laying a vocal on it. It features the talented on violin, which is actually three different performances subsequently summed or “bounced” to one track, something that is done often on 8 track recordings.

Yours Truly: Bass, Drums, Guitars, Piano, Organ

Kathleen Parks: Strings

As far as I can remember, here are the nerdy engineering details:

Drums: D12 on Kick, Two Stager Ribbons for the rest

Bass: P Bass into an Ampeg B15, D12 mic (why reinvent the wheel?)

Guitar: Telecaster into Ampeg Reverberocket, Shure 545 mic (I say again, why reinvent the wheel?)

Acoustic: AKG D19

B3: Sennheiser 409

Piano: Stager Ribbons

Strings: AKG D19

02/02/2025

FOR SALE:

Soundcraft Ghost 32 Channel/8 Bus Console

This was my main console until I recently replaced it with a Neotek Elite. Fully functional, includes a patchbay with cabling to the ins and outs of the board. A few years ago I went through it and replaced the problematic insert jacks with gold plated Neutrik jacks for all channels and mix outputs and headphone outs, per the Creation Audio Labs recommendations. Includes custom made desk (pictured), power supply, and patchbay/associated cabling.

DM for info

02/02/2025

FOR SALE: Otari MX-70 1” 16 track in good working condition.

I’ve used this machine at Bearded Cat for many years and have recorded some fun records on it. Rock solid transport and hardly ever goes out of calibration, I hardly ever had to put an MRL on it after initially dialing it in.
Comes with a remote and a spare audio card for troubleshooting purposes.

DM for info

02/02/2025

FOR SALE: Otari MX-70 1” 8 track

I’ve had this machine for a little over ten years and it has never failed me, made many records on it and it is hard to let go of, but since getting my 8 track MCI, I need to clear the space. Heads have been relapped by JRF, 70% life, so many, many more years of life left on this machine. Comes with remote, and if needed I can make a calibration tape to go with it. I will include a spare audio card for troubleshooting purposes.

DM for info

01/29/2025

We’ve got a new (and most likely final) tape machine addition here at Bearded Cat, please welcome the almighty Ampex 440! This is a C revision transport (in a nutshell, better tape handling), modified for use with B revision electronics.
This thing rocks and sounds fantastic. I’ve restored it from the ground up over the past year or so as I’ve had the time. I have a few different head formats for it (1/4” full track, 1/4” half track, and 1/2” 4 track) and will be doing a lot of cool projects with this!
One such project is a series I plan to start up in the near future is called “Full Track Fridays” where an artist or group will come in and record live to mono, just like in the very old days of recording. If something like this interests you, please feel free to reach out and inquire!
For now, here is a snippet of the first recording I made on this machine, a four track 1/2” recording with my friends Lucas and Olivia in

01/29/2025

We’ve got a new (and most likely final) tape machine addition here at Bearded Cat, please welcome the almighty Ampex 440! This is a C revision transport (in a nutshell, better tape handling), modified for use with B revision electronics.
This thing rocks and sounds fantastic. I’ve restored it from the ground up over the past year or so as I’ve had the time. I have a few different head formats for it (1/4” full track, 1/4” half track, and 1/2” 4 track) and will be doing a lot of cool projects with this!
One such project is a series I plan to start up in the near future is called “Full Track Fridays” where an artist or group will come in and record live to mono, just like in the very old days of recording. If something like this interests you, please feel free to reach out and inquire!
For now, here is a snippet of the first recording I made on this machine, a four track 1/2” recording with my friends Lucas and Olivia in

01/19/2025

Busy day today tying up some loose ends! Pulling out the “obsolete audio rack” to do a cassette transfer from the 90s. This Tascam 122MKIII is one of the best for this purpose and I’m happy to have it in the rack.

01/19/2025

Started off this Sunday fixing up a Sony TC-WE475 dual cassette deck for a client. It wouldn’t play, rewind, or fast forward. The issue was traced to old belts, which I replaced, then cleaned the transport, heads, rollers, and demagnetized the heads. It works great now!

1. The Deck
2. Old crusty belts
3. Fresh belts
4. The mechanism with belts off
5. The mechanism with newly replaced belts
6. Video explaining the repair

01/11/2025

Just finished the mammoth undertaking of restoring this MCI JH-110C 1” 8 track reel to reel recorder. This has been the most difficult restoration I have done to date. This machine fought me almost every step of the way, which made rolling it into its new spot in the studio even sweeter.
When I got this machine a few months back, it wouldn’t even power up, the head cables were cut, and when I did get it to power up, the machine had intermittent audio issues and major tape tension problems. I’m happy to say it is all completed, rolling tape, playing, and recording perfectly now.
Big thanks to my good friend for spending some late nights troubleshooting with me and keeping me from going insane while fixing this up!

Here’s a little snippet of one of my favorite productions I’ve done in the studio, and a reel that I often use to test out my 1” 8 track restorations. A little tune called “One Last Dance” written by Jean Kelly and featuring:

: Vocals and Fiddle
: Bass
: Drums and Percussiom
: Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, recording and production

For those interested, here are all the nerdy restoration details:

-Replaced all electrolytic and tantalum caps throughout the machine
-Replaced the notoriously bad red IC sockets that are on this machine
-Rebuilt power supply and tracked down bad solder joints and broken traces on the motor drive card
-Prepped head cables and crimped on molex connectors with gold plated contacts for connecting into audio electronics
-Dialed in brake tensions, pinch roller pressure, dancer arm pressure, offset nulls, idle and playback tensions
-restored (recapped and reflowed solder joints, rechipped if necessary) each audio card and motherboard for all 8 channels
-replaced one DC Tachometer that was out of spec
-exercised and cleaned all connections
-Rebuilt the auto locator/remote
-all VU meter lamps replaced
-Complete audio alignment (VU meter, input, repro, bias, record)

I’m going to take a big ol’ nap, and then I’m going to start using this thing!

11/19/2024

Wrapped up an incredibly fun week of mixing the upcoming album here at Bearded Cat, and here are some highlights from the experience:

1: A little snippet of me doing some mixing from and to tape!

2: “Scrubbing” and marking the tape with a grease pencil before making an edit.

3: Listening back to a mix edit.

4: Me talking about compression over pancakes and coffee 😂

5: The engineer and the producer/artist in front of the big ol’ MCI we recorded this record to.

6: Patsy, the official Bearded Cat mascot.

10/19/2024

Switching gears tonight and doing some live recording for my good friends Paul Rishell & Annie Raines at the tonight in Shirley, MA.

For all you audio nerds like me, here’s the rig rundown:

Otari MX5050-8 Mark III Recorder
Whirlwind Medusa splitter box from the stage going into my preamp rack and directly into the tape machine at (gasp) 7.5 IPS. Going to be a fun night!

07/30/2024

Back in the studio this week with finishing off what is going to be a fantastic record! Stay tuned for its release!

Bearded Cat Production

10/15/2025

02/02/2025

02/02/2025

02/02/2025

01/29/2025

01/29/2025

01/19/2025

01/19/2025

01/11/2025

11/19/2024

10/19/2024

07/30/2024

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