Sometimes I think it would be nice to have an MCI 24 track or something similar. But then, out of curiosity, I looked up the cost of a reel of 2" tape these days.http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/238...ign=googleps&gclid=CI-Bu_aL8skCFQ2QaQod97YL9Q Ampex isn't even in the biz anymore. Then there would be costs to maintain the machinery, too.

 

Its value is higher than what it will contain.

 

but worth every penny

 

30,000 inches at 30ips = 1,000 seconds or 16.66 minutes

 

ok it might be nice..... but what exactly is nice about it?

 

Analog recording is not better or worse, I think. It's just different. And analog recording studios are where I learned much of my craft. (most VST is modeled on real studio gear, and a large percentage of it is to make things sound more analog or more like tape) I understand how to route a signal with wires and hardware better than I do with zeros and ones. T-Bone Burnett only works with magnetic tape, and he's a very busy producer. And a lot of artists I respect still think it is a better medium and record their art with it. So to sum up: I like the sound. I understand the tech better, and there may be a bit of nostalgia involved, too. (your "save button" is the record lock out safety switch)

 

Yep. about three songs per reel, usually. Still have 2 reels in my closet. But I usually kept two takes of most songs.

 

this is an interesting question for me also.. as all these "techy" guys rail on about how analog is not better than digital...
I, however, prefer analog and feel it does sound better too, but they explain that away by saying well you just like the
subtle distortion that analog introduces, and digital is pure sound bla bla...
are recording to tape, and the analog/digital argument separate issues in your mind ?

 

I love vhs tape but I haven't done a recording to that for a while. The machine is in my loft.

 

They sort of go together don't they? Once you start down the old analog road, isn't that sound that comes from tape part of what you want to hear and your end goal? And I say that all microphones sound better with a good hardware pre-amp before they go into any device, analog or digital.

 

I sort walk the line in between. I use digital stuff to record real instruments. Decent selection of mics. But the plug ins or on board DAW effects I use tend to be modeled on analog and tube devices. But man, an MCI 2" or Studer 1/2" mastering machine whirring at full speed used to give me a hard-on.

 

Last edited: Dec 23, 2015

The feeling of standing in front of a monstrous 2" tape machine is really something special - more special that its sound maybe. And it just looks and sounds sexy when the tape runs and makes this sweet soft noise when the tape passes the guides and the heads...
Although a Sony PCM3324 feels even more sexy IMHO

 

i only ever had a cassette 4 track... but you can still get the idea haha


it seems the tape has always been expensive, I read somewhere even Abbey Road used to
recycle master tape because of the cost, so some classic albums no longer have
the existing masters ( Piper at the Gates of Dawn for example )

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 23, 2015

Although tape/vinyl/analog in general is not for amateurs, this looks kinda exaggerated for me... First, you've got to consider that ATR's products are not cheap. Second, we're not talking about cameras' film, which is a ''one shot'' process, you can actually RECORD many takes on the same reel (even though only the last will be STORED, which is OK since unless your name is Paul McCartney and you live in the Sixties, there are far better/cheaper ways to store a master).

 

Consider that if u r goin to use tape,u better be damn sure of what u do,no more than 5 or 6 overdubs before the recording becomes too noisde or the tape starts to wear

 

It is exactly the same with photo films.
Prices go wako. ppl sell expansive outdated films on Bay.
Last roll of Kodachrome was 2009.
You see some film cameras price going up and up...whereas no one will shoot with them.

But the real fun start when those fukin Holga hipsters (buying new plastic cameras for the same price than a good second hand pentaprism one) want to reveal and print those shots
It remembers me vinyl...and when ppl said color photography was a crime
We all know history now.

On my side, a good Nebula tape emu is enough.
May be i will try the "playback" trick one day. You record AND playback in real time. You use a latency delay plug (like Voxengo one).
And your DAW will compensate for recording time. When you are at the end of tape...you simply reverse your roll
No more time lost.

 

A DAW simply doesn't smell the same.

From the non-existent movie Analogue Now:
"Methylated spirits, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of methylated spirits in the morning."

 

expensive... and all end up into a mp3 earbuds that kids love it lol.... we create something beautifull to destroy it later...


+ 1 on using nebula

 

Last edited: Dec 23, 2015

It misses the last super mega compressor mastering stage before mp3.

Joking, at least if it was only for yourself, it feel good to find the right mix.

 

The cost of high-end analog recording equipment was "prohibitive" becore digital took over - but that's why people vied for recording contracts with record labels, which would defray (or "advance") the cost of recording in a studio. Tape is more expensive now for its scarcity (due to diminishment of demand). I remember how things had been "back in the day," and I feel that I'd been born a couple decades too soon. Thank God (or Whomever) for what I'm able to do with a Macbook now.

Now that digital photogaphy and video are reaching near-analog resolution, I regret/resent having spent so much money on film. I miss the look of Fuji Astia, but its loss is a fair sacrifice for what's to be done in Photoshop and Lightroom.

The operant word "prohibitive" refers to a hurdle, but now the only hurdles left to surmount are laziness and lack of imagination or talent.