Analog recording?

[jamon]

I heard that during the brown album, primus used a tascam 388 analog recorder. Any good sounds? If so, reccomend me a cheap one that sounds good and is easy to use.

[Mr_You]

Interesting idea and I don't mean to thread jack, but I'm very curious...

I ask you this... what is your over all goal? Is this for a hobby or business? If for business, what will your business model be?

It seems majority of future music sells are/will be online digital downloads. So with that in mind, does analog recording equipment bring any benefits?

[jamon]

I seem to like the sound of analog better. If I could record with an 8 track, and then convert it to an mp3 form, than I feel that would be best. I guess what I am asking, is are there any good recorders out, that I could just add a couple mic's to and play with my band in a room.

[asintoras]

Interesting topic.

I read that electric guitars (distortion/overdrive) sounds a lot better on tape than digital, but the rest (drums, vocals, bass) are good to be recorded in digital, in terms of quality.

I love tape recorders, but it's a PITA to work with. The lack of personality and warmness attributed to digital can be worked out someway, and also considering the way music is distributed and listened today, it would be rare for the regular Joe to really perceive the difference (itunes, mp3's, etc.)

[azimuth]

Suck on this, I believe, was the 388 album. The engineer is/was a poster on the tape op forum. It was not a cheap unit when new, and is about as high quality as the portastudio type units ever got. The main advantages of that particular unit are the self contained nature, and tape cost (7" reels of 1/4" tape). They're easy to use and sound fat. Black keys and iron and wine both used em, I believe.

Main disadvantages are maintenence will be required, period. I've seen around 4-5 busted ones hanging around peoples' studios, with one working one- which has had the heads relapped (not cheap).

I've finished one album completely on 2", I wouldn't make a rock n roll record any other way. 2" tape is expensive though, currently around $300 each. That's 15/30 minutes of recording time.

[azimuth]

That's 300 bux for just the tape, if that isn't clear.

[yabasta]

i just recorded on 2"

one word: FAT

[art_z]

if you know what you are doing, the recording medium shouldn't matter.

[kludge]

Analog recording on anything but cassette is VERY expensive. Beyond the hardware (which requires expensive maintenance), the tape itself is really expensive - like hundreds of dollars to record an album expensive. And you're going to be making all sorts of other sacrifices as well.

Did Primus record on analog? Yes, because in the early 1990s when they started, digital was rare and exotic and far more expensive than tape. Their last proper studio album was over 10 years ago. Technology has come a LONG way since then. If you want the "sound of tape", get a high-quality digital recording and run the tracks through a good tape saturation plugin, and most of the golden-eared cork-sniffers wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The reason modern digital recordings (especially home recordings) sound "cold" isn't digital versus analog - it's competent versus incompetent. If you use a bunch of mid-fi gear and don't learn proper technique and allow digital distortions through, it's gonna sound bad. But I'm able to make nice, warm recordings at home, with not-too-expensive digital gear.

If you're really after that "tape warmth" sound, ditch home recording altogether and pay for a real pro studio that has well-maintained tape gear and people who really know how to use it. That's going to get you far better results than trying to operate some beat-up old tape deck yourself.

[azimuth]

I think a well maintained 2" deck should have very little character on it's own. But damn, does it sound good without being MADE to sound good, which is what digital is. The subtle non linearities of tape and the compression is what you hear on most any album you like from say before 1998 or so.

I can't agree more with going to a studio vs doing it yourself if you want the sound of tape.

[jmoose]

Originally Posted by azimuth

I think a well maintained 2" deck should have very little character on it's own. But damn, does it sound good without being MADE to sound good, which is what digital is.

???

There's a fairly quantifiable difference pro level analog tape machines. The Studer A800 does not sound like an A80 or an Otari MTR90, which doesn't sound like an Ampex MM1200, which does not sound like a MCI JH24...

Electronics aside, even changing the heads will change the sound of the machine to say nothing of tape formulations & how the deck is calibrated.

I love working on analog, its not so much for the sound as it is for the creativity. Yes, for a "rock" record it sounds better. But it also forces you to work & think differently then a DAW would.

You've got 16 or 24 tracks, and when they're filled they're filled. There's no ability to micro edit & shift things. If the take sucked you go play it again! The whole Pandoras Box of over-thinking & editing remains closed.

In my experience, for my clients... its not so much the cost of tape that's prohibitive to using tape, but rather the fact that a lot of bands these days simply aren't good enough to record to tape.

If you're making a "real" record and dropping several thousand bucks, the cost of a few reels of 2" is fairly minimal in the grand scheme of things. The cost of owning & maintaining a deck though is far greater...

Cheap digital sounds just as bad as cheap analog. Good digital costs money, as does good analog. And good or bad recordings can be made with any of the above!

[Marcocet]

Yup. Nothing sound "better" analog, just different. At this point high-end digital recording is on par with great analog recording in my personal opinion, and you have to imagine it's also the opinion of most of the worlds great engineers and musicians since almost everyone works that way. But recording to tape and the specific limitations it imposes can have a very interesting effect on your working process, and hence the final work. It's a worthy enterprise, just expect a lot of work and to spend much more money than you originally thought.

[azimuth]

Moose,

I agree completely, I was just implying that the real deal is much less of an effect as people who are only used to 'warming plugins' think. Even slamming the tape...