Thoughts & Opinions about this Mixing technique

[ncorea]

Hi, I've been using pro tools for a while now and I've recorded numerous projects which I guess i've been satisfied with. Recentley though I've been recording my final mixes through a cassette deck, and I believe I'm getting a fuller punchier sound. Basically I've been sending my master buss out to my mackie 1202 mixer, from mixer to cassette deck, from deck back into pro tools. Sometimes I put a multi-band comp and an L1 Limiter on the master buss before sending it out to the deck. I get my signal as hot as I can back into pro tools without going in the red and making sure I leave enough headroom for mastering. Yesterday I was in an SSL studio and refrenced my mixes on some NS-10's and some big Dyaudio Accoustics. I Compared some mixes that I had done where I just bounced to disk, went through the tape deck and some I mixed off 2" tape. With no question my 2" mix sounded the fullest providing the most low end information and punchy drums. But between my tape deck mixes and the bounced mixes I could hear the tape mixes where more tighter as far as drums and the bass sound really good. The bouced mix definately sounded good but didn'tt give off that punch or tightness, especially on the drums. Now I understand about the added noise I'm introducing going through the mixer and then the cassette machine and I'm careful not to overload my signal.

I'm just curious about what others think of this process, do some of you do this already? Are there really any benifits of me doing this at all? Would me getting 1/2" or 1/4" machine do any better? What are the negatives of me doing this?

I record mostly hip hop just to let you guys know, and I'm open to any and all thoughts and opinions. Thanks!


G4 466
864 ram
60 gigs internal
150 gig firewire
(2) 60 gig firewire
Digi 001
mackie vlz 1202
event pj 6 monitors

[nerd513]

i did the same thing and was pleased with the results,but there were minor things that ultimately threw me off. i didnt like the tape hiss[which as minimal]. if i had a nice reel to reel of some sort i would no doubt bounce all my digital to tape and then back to digital. the best method is analog to digital but how we did it can work to.

[katoramone]

DUDE!!! dont let everyone know....jeesh, analog tape compression (a natural compression resulting from magnetic tape recording) is the best sound ever for drums and bass. Try this..record digitally for clarity then when happy bounce to tape and back..then track the rest over that...keep in mind analog machines arent consistent for timing ie. belts get worn...and tape produces generation loss and noise, so compensate for those. You dont need a 2" 24 track studor to do it either, fostex have very decent 4,8 and 12 tracks that arent that pricey.

[mcconnellsteve]

i think you've described the advantages well. i'd be worried about the disadvantage of high frequency loss. most commercial tape decks that i've ever purchased don't approach 20khz. some can't go above 14, some can hit 17 and i suppose that 17 might be pretty good -- i doubt i could actually hear 20, but i've got to imagine there's some high end loss happening there. still -- if it's negligible, sounds like a good idea.

steve

[JFreak]

have you tried running the bounced track (the one that hasn't gone analog) through MasterQ and VintageWarmer by pspaudioware.com for the same results? those are a mastering eq which also has several tape saturation algorithms, and a three-band limiter which also has tube emulation. you might be amazed.

(currently masterq is available only as a vst plug, so the track would have to be processed in peak for example, but the vintagewarmer is also available as an rtas version. all psp plugs have a demo available, so try it out.)

[Carl Z]

I tried to reply but I got thrown out so I apologize if 2 replies from me come up.

Tape slammin is your friend. I've often thought of buying a 2-trk again.

If you like the sound go for it.

C

[captain54]

unless you have a good quality tape deck, forget it....

I've tried this with a regular consumer type tape deck and the noise was unbearable...it sounded better when I put the track thru a PsP vintage warmer....

[MagicCamera]

I'm sitting here with a Tascam 38 1/2" RtoR 8 track in a 10 space SKB case that I use as a table top. I have been meaning to hook it up to my digi box but have been too lazy. I think that the mixing technique described in this thread is a great idea, kind of getting a vintage sound quality with digital clarity. I often pondered the idea of recording 8 tracks out to tape and back in again.

Gee, if I had the money to buy a decent SMPTE device... think what one could do then.

Only problem I have now is where to plug everything in without starting a freekin fire

Anyway great idea.

[dkrz]

Analog Channel by McDSP

That's all I have to say...

dk

[mersisblue]

antares tube works for me



EQ

tube

and I've been using this with out eq because that's one thing people do with it

just leave it there and let it do its THANG

I cant tell if any change i hear is really there