thinking about tape

[eggdog]

I have been thinking about adding tape to my workflow. I've never usede reel to reel but have been wondering about a lot lately. Does anyone here go from tape to Protools than back or have tape in the chain at all. If so could you shed some light on the pro and cons for me.

[Pepo]

Tape has many different flavors, so from 1/4 inch to 2 inches there is a wide range. If I was to use tape in my setup, I would probably pick a 1/4 inch half track stereo machine, send the outs of my interface to an analog mixer and send its stereo output to the tape machine, and from the tape back to pro tools. This would be a way to add an effect to some rock music.
You could also use it as an instert on a vocal track for some compression/tape saturation. If you buy a 3 head machine that can monitor from the tape while it is being recorded, it will not only save time rewinding, but it will produce better sounding results if you are mixing it with other tracks, because it will play back at the exact same speed it was recorded, you will only have to align the track once back in pro tools.
Hope this helps as a basic reference... tape can be used in many different ways, so you would have to be more specific about what you are looking for and the kind of music you are thinking using it.
Pepo

[lemix]

Hey eggdog,
Yeah, sure. I'm using tape regularly.
Please ask specific questions as to what your requirements, setup, budget, etc..are.

best of luck

andrew

[eggdog]

HI thanks for the replies
I have a small budget but I am in no rush to get what I need. I have a rock band that would be doing most of the recording. The rest of the time I would be recording songs with my wife, myself and a guitar, maybe some drum samples. My guess is I need a board and a reel to reel machine (right now I have a 002 rack and some mics and pres) I did all my recording on the roland vs 1880 from 1998 to a few months ago, then got the le set up, and am now thinking I would like to add tape. I don't know if that helps clarify things, if not I can try and add more.

[lemix]

"I don't know if that helps clarify things, if not I can try and add more. "
Yes...somewhat
One thing you should keep in mind though; "tape" has become a hip catchphrase recently among project/home users. Having a tape recorder doesn't necessarily mean one will have a better/smoother audio quality though.
In case of a cheap, semi-pro, misaligned recorder..it would even degrade sonics !
And another thing..once you going back and forth via tape..a better quality AD/DA conversion must be used, to truly benefit.
And...the availability of tape stock (and their current prices) must also be considered.
I know..sounds a tad scary, but having a pro deck in good maintenance and aligned properly could really add to your bag of tricks !! Nothing like it..really.

wish you the best in your quest,
a

[eggdog]

Thanks
I do feel comfortable with the risks of tape and the "hip" idea of tape. I am not that hip so I really only want tape because my favorite records were done on tape. How do I upgrade my AD/DA converters? I feel a wee bit trapped with digidesign, in that I am not sure where and how I can use other companies products. Maybe with AD/DA converters it does not matter, i don't know. So now I'm looking at a board a reel to reel and better AD/DA. thanks for the input

[lemix]

You're most welcome..
Just keep reading on forums about tape recorders..and consoles. A never ending beautiful and deep topic.
And I'd just like to mention..many great newer albums were done entirely in the digital domain. Heck..most of them actually are !
Proper recording and mixing techniques go a really long way as well

happy tooling,
a