Twiggy Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Hey guys Something that has been nagging in the back of my head recently is how would you integrate tape into a digital workstation, i imagine there are multiple answers but are there any standard procedures? i am very interested in picking up some old tape machines before theyre all gone ( ive only ever seen one in denmark street, london, that was apparently used in abbey road , they would NOT sell it to me). Are there any brands or classics ot look out for/? thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandasarus Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hey, We had recorded using pro tools HD and the producer then dumped the drums to 2". I think the drums sounded really great after he was done with them; they had a nice extra bit of 'oomph' or 'urgency' or 'magic' like david blaine.... . Umm, yea, anyway, yes it worked in that situation as he said it makes it sound warmer when mixing and tweaking drums on tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiggy Posted August 14, 2008 Author Share Posted August 14, 2008 yeh that sounds familiar as norma jean recorded their new album with drums on tape and then the rest digitally. My question is what kind of hardware do you need to combine these processes? is their like a converter or like a line out or something? i really have no idea. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivermetimbers Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hey guys Something that has been nagging in the back of my head recently is how would you integrate tape into a digital workstation, i imagine there are multiple answers but are there any standard procedures? i am very interested in picking up some old tape machines before theyre all gone ( ive only ever seen one in denmark street, london, that was apparently used in abbey road , they would NOT sell it to me). Are there any brands or classics ot look out for/? thanks in advance You will need an audio interface with enough outputs to match the tape machine. For example, if you have a stereo tape deck, you onlt need a stereo A/I device. If you have an 8 channel deck, you will need an 8 channel A/I device. For 16 trk, the same thing. Some people try to get creative and start syncing Logic to the tape deck due to limited output channels of the A/I device. In other words, and 8 channel A/I device can output only 8 channels at a time and the 16 track tape deck will need a stripe code to sync to Logic in order to record/transfer the other 7 channels. There are now software programs to emulate the analog tape sound. The DAWs and software have mad most of the 'old' analog toys obsolete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiggy Posted August 14, 2008 Author Share Posted August 14, 2008 oh right so i could play existing tape and then record it onto logic using the output of the tape deck through my interface (i have a motu 8pre). Is that the right idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivermetimbers Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 oh right so i could play existing tape and then record it onto logic using the output of the tape deck through my interface (i have a motu 8pre). Is that the right idea? Yes, and the reverse is also true. Send tracks OUT of Logic to your multi track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcel72 Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Or you could buy better converters and get that sound from your DAW. Tape machines are difficult (and getting more so as less techs work on them) to maintain, expensive to repair, and cumbersome to operate if you're used to a DAW. Tape is astronomically expensive and difficult to find these days. The reality is, you need to spend a lot of money on a multitrack tape deck to get the benefits that people attribute to tape, without huge tradeoffs in bandwidth and dynamic range. Spend that $5k (minimum, seriously) on A/D/A and you won't regret it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiggy Posted August 14, 2008 Author Share Posted August 14, 2008 that is sound advice i must say and thankyou for your responses, i am satisfied my question has been answered that i could simply use the outs and ins of the tape machine through my interface/converter. peace and love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandasarus Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Or you could buy better converters and get that sound from your DAW. Tape machines are difficult (and getting more so as less techs work on them) to maintain, expensive to repair, and cumbersome to operate if you're used to a DAW. Tape is astronomically expensive and difficult to find these days. The reality is, you need to spend a lot of money on a multitrack tape deck to get the benefits that people attribute to tape, without huge tradeoffs in bandwidth and dynamic range. Spend that $5k (minimum, seriously) on A/D/A and you won't regret it. What he said . We actually ended up getting a bunch of Quantagy GP 9 around '99 and sold them off for a pretty decent price over the years (yes, they were vaulted at an audio house so they were fresh as a summer breeze. we did end up getting some old Neve in a wooden box sexy time to use and couldn't agree more with what Marcel is preaching. I think some folks think its a 'Tape=Op' moment where they get to say they dumped and mixed on 2 inchy. we did it because we had tape and a Studer at our disposal. Ohh, and someone people that actually knew the equipment and the room and what they were doing. So, that was one of our Tape Op moments. . So, umm you guys read tape op? kidding..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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