Tape Saturation

I finally looked up what tape saturation is tonight because I have wanted to know for a while now. I understand that it is distortion that actually sounds good/smooth.

....but that doesn't explain what it sounds like. I have been trying to find a website that has an audio example of something untouched and then with tape saturation applied but I cant find anything.

Do any of you know of a site that has an example.. or... could somebody whip up an example.

I'm also curious as to what genres it is used in the most.

thank you :shade:

it just sounds warm, the more you reprocess it the more distorted it gets

it just sounds warm, the more you reprocess it the more distorted it gets

Originally posted by Fanu

Wanted to see - or hear, rather - what some cassette tape action would do to ye olde Amen. The reason why I picked Amen out of all the breaks in the world is that we're all used to hearing how it sounds so it'll be easier to recognize the sound changes.

Recorded the original version as well as the 45 one on tape, increasing input gain every time I played it again, till we were running as hot as possible.

Check the results yourself - it sounds rather durrrty, I'd say!

I have a standard Technics cassette deck, I think it's from the eighties.

I used a very regular cassette tape I got from a convenience store.

The original one was played outta my Mac and the 45 one from my PC - shouldn't be that much a difference, tho I think my Mac (using the internal soundcard) produces a wee bit treblier sound.

1amen45_cassette.wavFetching info...

good tape saturation sound like this

  chris moss acid said:

good tape saturation sound like this

 

http://www.dhpmixes.com/mixes/armandowbmx1980s.mp3

that set is fucking incredible... definitely what got me into acid house

Tape saturation sounds like the reason zillions of people love the Beatles

cool. what genre is it used in the most? what is your fave tape-satch software plugin?

I think pretty much everything aphex has ever released was recorded to tape.

I highly doubt that.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the point of tape saturation is to introduce a slight bit of harmonic distortion, particularly some that's pleasing to the ear. I'm not sure you can reliably get that type of quality just recording to any old tape. In fact, you're probably better off just running your mix through some type of outboard or VST saturator/warmifier/distortion box. God I hate the fucking term warm, since nobody really knows what it means, they just spit it out to mean "a sound I like".

  ten fingers ten toes said:

I hate the fucking term warm, since nobody really knows what it means, they just spit it out to mean "a sound I like".

I know..... I'd really like to know what it sounds like. Anyways. I have downloaded two of the best Tape Saturation VSTs. I'll see how they go.

guitars sound really good hitting tape hard.

  meneedit said:

cool. what genre is it used in the most? what is your fave tape-satch software plugin?

It's not an effect. ALL genres used it up till 1990 or so because they had NO CHOICE.

Plugins fail pretty miserably at recreating it from what I've heard.

Tape saturation is like having all these really cool compression and eq plugins set up to sound just perfect. Only, you don't set them up - you just turn up the input gain until the red lights come on and THAT'S IT.

If you want to hear tape saturation, forget the VSTs, just listen to some old records ffs.

of course they had a choice...don't hit the tape so hard.

Liek I said, crunchy guitars sound great pinning the meters...

Stuff like snare drums and cymbals..not so much....

and I can't imagine a VST that could come close to recreating it, as it was an attribute of the medium.

same how a plug-in has difficulties emulating a good plate or spring verb...

  ten fingers ten toes said:

I highly doubt that.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the point of tape saturation is to introduce a slight bit of harmonic distortion, particularly some that's pleasing to the ear. I'm not sure you can reliably get that type of quality just recording to any old tape.

No, you're very right. You can't get any decent kind of tape saturation using a cassette deck - all you'll get on a cassette deck is the sound of the head electronics overloading. Proper tape saturation can only be done on a studio reel machine, that has head electronics designed with plenty of headroom, capable of pushing a high level signal onto the tape. Maybe if you had a really good cassette deck, a Nakamichi or Revox, you might get good results, but I've never come across a cassette deck that could do it.

all true, but it's not only the quality of the record-head that affects the amount of overdrive you'll get, it's also important to use high quality tape, something like basf studiomaster 9II or similar, which uses oxide that will give very large dynamic range

in other words, fuck yr vsts.

  iep said:

all true, but it's not only the quality of the record-head that affects the amount of overdrive you'll get, it's also important to use high quality tape, something like basf studiomaster 9II or similar, which uses oxide that will give very large dynamic range

Disagree. The more "high quality" the tape, the less "tapey" it sounds. Plain old Quantegy 456 all the way.

ok i get the point you guys hate tap satch VSTs but regarless......

here is a screenshot of the one i got my hands on:

Now all I want to know (because it looks so fucking complicated), is which knobs you would play with to get the supposed "tape saturation". It has a preset called "Mix Heavy Driven Tape" but I have no idea what that is supposed to be.

I would really appreciate some help!

thank you

  Quote

Disagree. The more "high quality" the tape, the less "tapey" it sounds. Plain old Quantegy 456 all the way.

dunno, i find hi-end oxide tape to go louder AND give generally more pleasant overdrive when saturated. quantegys arent half bad either. if you want saturation, PLUS all the other tape warble hiss squeek krrr artifacts, just buy the cheapest tape you can find though

quantegy 499 1/4 in stereo.

superb saturation.

edit: currently using an old teac 1020 for this particular job... to very high degrees of satisfaction.

1/4 in, stereo... that's 1/8 per channel. sounds superb.

( i have access to 1/2 in tape, but prefer the teac for saturation)

can someone please help me in regards to the pic i posted?