Adding tape hiss?

[humpback]

I am attempting to actually add tape hiss to a track for a particular project, and was wondering if anyone knew of a plug akin to Isotope's Vinyl that might do the trick. I've tried Vinyl for this, but I am not really looking for the sound of a record... I don't really want to go the route of recording hiss from a tape deck then blending it in, but if I have to... The idea is to dirty the sound quality to mimic an old cassette mix tape without Dolby, along with the EQ changes this would bring about, but with a lot more control than just mixing the two tracks (a clip of recorded hiss and the main track) together.

I've looked a bit at Speakerphone but I don't want a speaker emulation. Anyone done this and willing to recommend a plug or method?

Nathan

[flommer]

Record it out to a cassette at a low level so the noise level will be higher, then record it back into PT

[Shifted Music]

Massey TD5 the tape delay has a setting that is like vintage and it has a nice amount of hiss built in. . but it is a good sounding hiss??? if that makes sense...

Also its a really great tape delay plug in and when not in vintage mode is clean.. Using vintage mode now in a project and I have to automate the mute of the track to keep it clean for the breakdown. . but sounds like you might like it...

They offer a demo as well to test it out.

[-3db]

You can also use McDSP AC2, or Digi's Reel Tape.

[humpback]

Thanks to both of you for the replies! Very good thought, Flommer - I have considered it, and was hoping not to have to that route, but I may have to give it a whirl. Getting a tape deck out of the box and wiring it in... Ugh!

Shifted - thanks for the tip! I like Massey's stuff a lot. I'll check it out to see if this will give me what I'm looking for.

Nathan

[humpback]

Originally Posted by -3db

You can also use McDSP AC2, or Digi's Reel Tape.

Thanks for the reply!

Reel tape seems interesting too... 300 bones, though, is a lot! -3, have you heard the saturation emulation of this? Is it actually good? If so, it might be a little more justifiable to get than just to induce tape hiss!

Looked at the McDSP... didn't seem like it actually induced hiss - just the saturation effects. Whats your experience with it? Does it add the hiss? If so, does it sound good/convincing?

Nathan

[promixr]

You could always record the blank signal coming from a blank tape into ProTools and simply play it along with the 'clean' material on a seperate track. You could use a gate or a compressor and sidechain the 'hiss' track for a bit more control and authenticity. Kind of a cheap and dirty way to do this, and your results may not be satisfactory, but it might be worth a try...

[docbop]

Originally Posted by promixr

You could always record the blank signal coming from a blank tape into ProTools and simply play it along with the 'clean' material on a seperate track. You could use a gate or a compressor and sidechain the 'hiss' track for a bit more control and authenticity. Kind of a cheap and dirty way to do this, and your results may not be satisfactory, but it might be worth a try...

That is what we would do back in the day when assembling the master reel. We would just record some blank tape to get the bias signal onto to it. Then cut out the paper leader and replace with the recorded tape.

[-3db]

Originally Posted by humpback

Thanks for the reply!

Reel tape seems interesting too... 300 bones, though, is a lot! -3, have you heard the saturation emulation of this? Is it actually good? If so, it might be a little more justifiable to get than just to induce tape hiss!

Looked at the McDSP... didn't seem like it actually induced hiss - just the saturation effects. Whats your experience with it? Does it add the hiss? If so, does it sound good/convincing?

Nathan

Ya Reel Tape does that but is a few bucks. The other (cheaper way) is to add white noise noise through the signal generator.

[Alan Brownstein]

I've accomplished this by setting up an Aux Input track with the Signal Generator plug-in set to pink or white noise at a low level. I'll add an EQ after that just to tailor it a bit to my liking. Sounds just like tape hiss. Then I simply mix it in with the rest of the audio. Give it a try.