Tape vs Digital

[jodyjfk]

Yo! Here's something I posted on another thread a couple months ago:
"One note: I was very sceptical about the digital versus analog mixing controversy when I bought my 001 system. After all, I had been mixing down my analog masters to DAT and CD and they sounded fine. And I thought my mixes on the PTLE system sounded good, too. Then I played back a mix I had done months ago in the analog domain (16 track analog machine, analog mixer, etc.), and I couldn't believe how clean and how much depth there was to it (yes...."air"). My digital mixes sound nice and full, but a little "flat"!
I admit, it's probably got a lot to do with me getting used to the differences! I'm sure it will improve with practice."

[Lowfreq]

Qoute by 8mmOverdose:
hey lowfreq, i have a 1" - 16 track machine i'll sell ya. drop me an email.

Now THAT'S tempting! But my wife would kill me!! I am rebuilding my studio soon and adding a tape machine right now would mean my gear would be on the lawn tomorrow morning. Like you, if the funds and space and if my wife was drunk or out of town would rather buy a solid 2" (Studer A800 series)tape machine. Just curious, what manufacturer & model is your 1"/16?

[8mmOverdose]

Just curious, what manufacturer & model is your 1"/16? [/QB]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">its a tascam ms16, (VU) meter bridge included. recently serviced and good to go.

[Roy Howell]

Originally posted by Jopry:
I saw an 8 track 1/2 inch tascam in a pawn shop the other day that I was thinking of getting just to track some things directly into it and transfer to ProTools.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Just last month, I noticed a fellow DUCer(fredsparky) here mention that he had a 1/2" 8-Track machine, and PT. Well, I had an old session tape on a 1/2" reel in my closet that I figured was ruined. This thing had a killer song that's still an excellent country-ish demo on it. All my mixes of it were on cassette and the quality had faded poorly. (I had waited too late to do anything about them).
Well, I sent him this 2" reel of the session, which he bounced twice into PT, both at 44.1 and 48, and every track came out perfectly... Now I can remix the song better than it ever was. So, I'm pretty ecstatic about that... [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]


Also, on the subject...my producer friend John Hampton(Gin Blossoms,The Replacements,...on and on) told me once that he was recording drums digitally, running that through analog, and then back into digital. Interesting concept... His stuff is always excellent so I didn't give it a second thought.
~Roy

[Supercrank]

didn't digidesign once have an ad campaign with a picture of a skull annoucing that "tape is dead"? or something.

[70bit]

Originally posted and track everything to it before I even got to pro-tools.
Anyone else feel like I do? [/QB]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">you should try a high end cassette deck like a tascam u might be suprised

[Barhab]

As someone mentioned earlier .. will the "analogue" sound of the tape-recorder be audible, when the sound has been transfered to Pro Tools? I guess it will ..

What's the difference soundwise between the 1/4" tape and 2" tape?

[8mmOverdose]

hey lowfreq, i have a 1" - 16 track machine i'll sell ya. drop me an email.

i think if i had the space and the dough, i would consider tracking to 2" tape and then dumping it to pro tools. but you need to remember, just 'cause its recorded onto tape doesnt mean it is going to sound good. a bad engineer will still make a bad recording, even with a good tape machine.

my buddies band refuses to record onto any medium other that 2" tape. i have yet to hear a good sounding recording from those guys.

Barhab asked "As someone mentioned earlier .. will the "analogue" sound of the tape-recorder be audible"

well yeah, its like tracking with an effect inline. i actually have a "tape saturation" mode on my pre-amp that is supposed to simulate tape compression.

for me, my choice to switch from 1" - 16 tk to ptle was simply ease of use.

[silence_of_stone]

Originally posted by Barhab:
As someone mentioned earlier .. will the "analogue" sound of the tape-recorder be audible, when the sound has been transfered to Pro Tools? I guess it will ..

What's the difference soundwise between the 1/4" tape and 2" tape?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Oh darn. I have aggravated Froyo once again!!! I think from the context of my post pretty well shows I wasnt trying to settle an either/or bloodmatch.
fact is I love both mediums. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Maybe I should have entitled the thread "Tape holding hands with digital" [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
And Barhab... you absolutly can tell the difference - and the subtleties of the tape does transfer nicely to pro-tools. thats what got me started on this thread in the first place. I think its neat. Its cool to see a lot of other folks who know where I am coming from. I really had never thought of it since my tape machine has been down since I first got PT, so I have never had an a/b comparison.

[Jopry]

Originally posted by Roy Howell:
Also, on the subject...my producer friend John Hampton(Gin Blossoms,The Replacements,...on and on) told me once that he was recording drums digitally, running that through analog, and then back into digital. Interesting concept... His stuff is always excellent so I didn't give it a second thought.
~Roy

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">"Re-amping" the drums [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I was actually wondering how that would sound. Seems like it would be much easier to deal with timing-wise this way (I know I could sync them with smpte, but just seems a little easier if you don't have to deal with that).