Reel to Reel

[namelesswon]

Any one fuck with these? Picked up some 1/2" two tracks want to use them for analogue recording. Do you just straight master to them for tunes or are you 2/4 tracking them in mixes record to tape etc.. What do I need to look out for with them? Are you using foot triggers? Anyone taken a tape master to a vinyl cutter?

 

Thanking you in advance for your experience and knowledge.

 

Peace

[djdiggla]

I never have but always been interested in reel and DAT recording.

[Jimmy]

im the same as diggla

 

from what i've been told its not worth the effort.

people round here know i tried, but its just so hard now that it doesnt warrant the effort involved.

[djdiggla]

If your looking for that kind of sound maybe record onto it and then sample off? Seems like it would be difficult and limiting to multi-track... or maybe good for live takes.

[Wax On]

I read something the other day which mentioned recording synth lines to tape then recording them to computer to give them an analog warmth. It does depend what sound you're after though. I imagine mastering to tape would add certain characteristics ie the natural tape compression

[Paul_Caruso]

Any one fuck with these? Picked up some 1/2" two tracks want to use them for analogue recording. Do you just straight master to them for tunes or are you 2/4 tracking them in mixes record to tape etc.. What do I need to look out for with them? Are you using foot triggers? Anyone taken a tape master to a vinyl cutter?

 

Thanking you in advance for your experience and knowledge.

 

Peace

 

1/2" 2-track? What machine? Are you sure they are 1/2" (rather than 1/4" or 1/2" but not 2 track)? 1/2" stereo machines are generally quite posh/expensive and also large so you wouldn't really stumble across "some".

 

You can either bounce different instruments or samples to the tape and back into the computer or you can record the mix to tape and back into the computer, or as you say print the mix to the tape and take the tape to mastering. If you want to use the tape as an effect I'd suggest that you record what's coming off the repro head as you're recording to the tape, if the machine doesn't have a repro head it will really be a pain in the arse.

[2tall]

Tape basically will give you a more accurate reflection of the pure input at high frequencies, provided it works ok.

 

essentially digital mediums despite having oversampling and all that suffer from aliasing (basically strange harmonics) at the higher end. (this is at 44.1khz)

 

this explains why vst synths generally sound nasty as hell at the very top.. unless you use fabfilter plugins that have aliasing control and sound a lot 'purer'

 

tape does loose out down the bottom though, sub bass tends to roll off and go fuzzy.

 

essentially compressing the signal before taping gives a lovely rounded sound, i'd say get a decent matched 2 channel compressor like a neve strip and give it a go..

 

really it depends on what you are putting to tape. if you are using a session from say logic or cubase, that is working at 44khz it will just add some tape roundness. but if you're running a high def audio session it will make more of a diffrence..

 

especially if you're cutting to vinyl.

 

there are still cutting houses that will accept a 1/2" tape format..

 

but really 'that tape sound' comes from compressing to tape from a decent source (i.e. mixed at high def. through an analogue desk and run through a high quality compressor)

 

 

so basically you'll need to spend more money to make it worth it in a mastering sense.

 

one cool thing to do though definaetly is run things like synth parts to tape, as the saturation can add some great harmonics to the mids and highs.

 

hope that helps!

[namelesswon]

cheers Jim. Long time no speak since...Asis days?

Edited May 7, 2010 by namelesswon