recording to tape

what would be the difference between recording an entire digital track to tape or

recording each channel seperately to different tapes and then layering them back together in a multitracker

would the latter be werth it?

i don't care much for the analog digital debate but i was swishing this idea around in my head and thought it better to ask.

sounds like a lot of werk

is this foolish?

  Quote

well the tape doesn't always play back the same speed so things tend to drift off if you record seperate tracks from tape to digital and then put them back together... so you probably want to just tape the whole thing at once.

apparently i tend to do things differently than most people here though, so take my advice with a shaker of salt.

  YEKKER said:

what would be the difference between recording an entire digital track to tape or

recording each channel seperately to different tapes and then layering them back together in a multitracker

would the latter be werth it?

i don't care much for the analog digital debate but i was swishing this idea around in my head and thought it better to ask.

sounds like a lot of werk

is this foolish?

  Quote

erm. you'll get different sounds each way, bnut if the latter it still digitally mixed it'll probably make sod all difference.

if you went to separate tracks on an analogue multitrack and then back to digital through an analogue mixer, you'd hear a difference.

if you are going to try the different tapes thing, then for god's sake put a few metronome clicks in the same place on each track so you can line them up again when they're back in the pc :laughing:

oh, and there's no point to any variation of this exercise if you arent going to hit the tape with very hot levels, otherwise you've just got a very complicated and time-comsuming hiss generator :laughing:

well...the sound you get from running a single instrument and a whole track as a hot signal will differ because certain frequencies of various instruments will be accentuated or not (this is due to masking - when multiple signals frequencies overlap and certain ones dominate over other ones) or just be affected by the tapes natural eq curve and dynamics (for those parts that do not hit the tape as hard)...

  YEKKER said:

what would be the difference between recording an entire digital track to tape or

recording each channel seperately to different tapes and then layering them back together in a multitracker

would the latter be werth it?

i don't care much for the analog digital debate but i was swishing this idea around in my head and thought it better to ask.

sounds like a lot of werk

is this foolish?

  Quote

Both ways are bad.

So are you or are you not using a multitrack tape machine?

I've actually heard recordings that were done on VHS at high speed that sounded excellent. A good way to warm things up without getting too much tape noise. Plus you can carry your master recordings around in your pocket. If you wear MC Hammer pants.

What.

tape compresses. and clips softly.

  LJG said:

So are you or are you not using a multitrack tape machine?

 

 

What.

\nope

thanks for the replies though, sounds like i can't really werk around the digital side with my current setup cause it all consists of using a pc

  LJG said:

I've actually heard recordings that were done on VHS at high speed that sounded excellent. A good way to warm things up without getting too much tape noise. Plus you can carry your master recordings around in your pocket. If you wear MC Hammer pants.

I can believe that you heard excellent music from a VHS but not that it was an excellent recording. Using VST's and computers then recording it to tape to warm it up is not really a cool way of makin' choons, even if you wear MC Hammer pyjamas while doing it.

  死んでく said:

  LJG said:

I've actually heard recordings that were done on VHS at high speed that sounded excellent. A good way to warm things up without getting too much tape noise. Plus you can carry your master recordings around in your pocket. If you wear MC Hammer pants.

 

I can believe that you heard excellent music from a VHS but not that it was an excellent recording. Using VST's and computers then recording it to tape to warm it up is not really a cool way of makin' choons, even if you wear MC Hammer pyjamas while doing it.

Hey you know what? I USE PSP VINTAGE WARMER AND FAST TRACKER 2!

  pselodux. said:

  死んでく said:

  LJG said:

I've actually heard recordings that were done on VHS at high speed that sounded excellent. A good way to warm things up without getting too much tape noise. Plus you can carry your master recordings around in your pocket. If you wear MC Hammer pants.

 

I can believe that you heard excellent music from a VHS but not that it was an excellent recording. Using VST's and computers then recording it to tape to warm it up is not really a cool way of makin' choons, even if you wear MC Hammer pyjamas while doing it.

 

Hey you know what? I USE PSP VINTAGE WARMER AND FAST TRACKER 2!

That's great. I hope you enjoy making music. Have fun.

  taxman said:

well the tape doesn't always play back the same speed so things tend to drift off if you record seperate tracks from tape to digital and then put them back together... so you probably want to just tape the whole thing at once.

 

apparently i tend to do things differently than most people here though, so take my advice with a shaker of salt.

haha with the same info i got exactly the opposite conclusion. man if you don't do it i'm gonna try, wanna hear that!

  死んでく said:

I can believe that you heard excellent music from a VHS but not that it was an excellent recording. Using VST's and computers then recording it to tape to warm it up is not really a cool way of makin' choons, even if you wear MC Hammer pyjamas while doing it.

bah, you know nothing about music!

  yan_g said:

  taxman said:

well the tape doesn't always play back the same speed so things tend to drift off if you record seperate tracks from tape to digital and then put them back together... so you probably want to just tape the whole thing at once.

 

apparently i tend to do things differently than most people here though, so take my advice with a shaker of salt.

haha with the same info i got exactly the opposite conclusion. man if you don't do it i'm gonna try, wanna hear that!

well i'm doing sort of rock oriented music most of the time so i like everything to sync up. i suppose it could be cool for more experimental music. i just kept getting pissed off after i had a song down on a 4 track and wanted to edit on the computer. i recorded each of the 4 tracks seperately and at first it sounded good but then things started drifting a little and thats not how the song was suposed to sound.

  LJG said:

I've actually heard recordings that were done on VHS at high speed that sounded excellent. A good way to warm things up without getting too much tape noise. Plus you can carry your master recordings around in your pocket.

VHS uses an amplitude modulation analog and is not good for warming up (subj def to follow, hold tight) anything.. Dedicated audio tape machines use frequency modulation analog. AM recording does not saturate in the same way as FM. FM recording uses the input signal as a carrier for the record oscillator circuit...pushing the tape with the oscillator past +1v (figurative to scale) will cause saturation resulting in clipping which limits the signal and produces odd order harmonics. Subjectively speaking this distortion is wonderful on transients and b-lines and is sometimes referred to as "warmth". AM recording adds a bias signal that keeps the the audio signal from passing the edges of the +- magnetic curve. Thus the head driver cannot attempt to print a hot signal and any distortion is resultant from the transistor circuit saturating, not the tape.

Additionally, almost all VHS machines in the consumer market have a built-in limiter circuit which would compromise attempts at hitting the tape hard anyway. Any "distortion" (subtle or not) you are hearing is clipping of a transistor or an asymmetrical or unbalanced bias signal. This produces even order harmonics and is harsh.

Not to mention that a good part of what makes recording to tape sound good is the components of a good tape machine which carry hot signals and print to tape accordingly. read up on the Ampex ATR-100 series.