OT: the death of analog recording?

[ggunn]

I got this clip the other day from a friend of mine:

Quantegy, the last manufacturer of professional reel-to-reel analog audio tape in the world has closed their plant in Opelika, AL leaving a reported 250 workers without jobs, according to the Opelika-Auburn News. Emtec (the former BASF, which used to be AGFA) was the last European manufacturer and ceased manufacuring in 2002.

Does this sound the death knell for analog recording?

[froyo]

Hello. I think that was heard many, many years ago. Once upon a time all audio recording was done on tape. Nowadays the majority of audio recording is done on computers. Tape has been 'dead' in that sense for many, many years now.

[ggunn]

Hello. I think that was heard many, many years ago. Once upon a time all audio recording was done on tape. Nowadays the majority of audio recording is done on computers. Tape has been 'dead' in that sense for many, many years now.

The news of that plant closing is recent, and BASF was still cranking out tape until 2002.

Of course I realize most recording these days is digital (and I am old enough to have worked in analog studios when digital was just a pipe dream), but there are still those who live and breathe tape saturation and don't want any part of digital recording. This may shut them down.

[Amo Audio]

I don't think tape will be dead as long as there are R2R's floating around that can be fixed (I'm pretty sure 99% of people buy used ones anyway). The true death of analog will be when the tape stops being produced...

[ggunn]

I don't think tape will be dead as long as there are R2R's floating around that can be fixed (I'm pretty sure 99% of people buy used ones anyway). The true death of analog will be when the tape stops being produced...

If you'll look at my original post, you'll find that it concerns exactly that - the shutdown of the last production facility in the world of pro audio tape.

[valvebrother]

I've got 5 all analog sessions I'm booking in the next couple of months. Luckily, I've got a cache of tape stock. So, it's not dead yet in my world.

D

[superpenguin79]

well, its sort of like records, 8 tracks, reel to reel, cassettes, cd's...etc.. all of it rolls with the punches. As long as all physical tape does not wither and melt into the face of the earth, you are going to still have your analog studios out there doing there thing which helped pioneer where we are today. In the next 10 years, I imagine we're going to have some new media's out to replace cd's and we're all going to be discarding our cd players for something new also. Mp3's..etc.. have already helped start the process in a way to a new media revolution. *shrugs*

Even though we do live in a digital world today with computers, ya have to still respect those who record and engineer in all shapes and form that helped bring what we have today. with that said.. I am sure there are some small shops here and there that will still produce tape yet. Its never impossible to find things out there if you want them bad enough. Mind you though that we are into a new revolution and re-shaping of the industry as we know it and I am sure we are not done yet by far.

[Amo Audio]

If you'll look at my original post, you'll find that it concerns exactly that - the shutdown of the last production facility in the world of pro audio tape.

My bad...
Well then, that is a bit disconcerting... I was under the impression that there was a couple of companies still going strong... guess i was wrong...

[daustin777]

I wonder how this will affect Digital tape such as ADAT, DAT, DLT, Exabyte, AIT. This stuff is still in use in the recording and many other industries.

[skyking]

dont count it out yet i remember once not so long ago the same was said about tubes......i cant see why tape would make a comeback on any large scale because of the editing and overall convenience of not having to realien heads etc.......some ppl still use tape along with their daw according to articles ive read.......i had a nice reel to reel until about a yr ago when i sold it on ebay.....this is the first time ive thought of it since dumping it........dont be surprised if 20 yrs from now ppl suddenly rediscover the warmth that tape can give.......chas