January 14, 2005

• Evidently he does The page you requested cannot be found
• OK, so, a question: is it actually true that audio tape has a quality that cannot (currently) be replicated with digital recording, or is that just in the imaginations of wilfully retro bands and producers? Or might it be an artefact of the fact that people recording onto tape are also likely to be doing so in older studios, with different equipment, and so on - and that the different sound (warmer, richer, whatever) actually comes from that instead of the tape itself? Just interested, if any sound engineer monkeys want to chime in. On preview: strange, I can access the article some times, but not others...
• Read this Steve Albini online chat. It's hysterical. BENNETT Steve, you should take the mix from the Letterman episode where Neil Diamond sings 'America' in a hard rock version and remix it and distribute it. You'd make a million bucks.
• I only listen to recordings done on wax cylinders or on the teeth of extinct sea mammals, so I cannot comment on the optimal recording medium.
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration uses Quantegy tape on its space shuttles ... NASA has been trying this week to buy 20 reels from Quantegy. I can just see it now. "Sir, we can't get any more re-entry tiles... the company went out of business!" "Dag nab it, fine, get Metro Brick & Cement on the horn, on the double!"
• Tape for analog audio machines and analog audio data is specially formulated, as is tape for digital or video. But analog machines will record on any tape formulation, just not as well - poorer signal/noise and frequency response. Of course, the heads may wear excessively if not hardened for that type of tape coating. The analog "quality" is a large number of factors, sometimes including tape saturation - the pushing the magnetic density of the tape up to and over the maximum.
• Yes, now I can access the page.
• Retank -- yeah, they just got the webpage back online (suntimes.com webcam).
• Hey, a great song is a great song. Who cares if Dylan recorded "Like A Rolling Stone" on tape or on a digital disc? Not me. It's the notes that count and they will be written down on paper if you're worried about it. Great music doesn't require high - or low - fidelity. Great music requires human imagination.
• OK, so, a question: is it actually true that audio tape has a quality that cannot (currently) be replicated with digital recording, or is that just in the imaginations of wilfully retro bands and producers? there are differencies, yes. a correctly adjusted analog tape machine can reproduce frequencies up to +30-35 khz. i don't personally consider this so important as we can only hear up to 20-21khz. more important is how analog vs. digital handle dynamics. then recording on "red" (too much level going on tape) digital signal hits a brick wall (the bits, 16 or 24 or whatever, are full). this "squares" the signal and gives it a nasty sound. basically, apart from styles like noise and gabber, this sound has little use in traditional recording. analog tape, on the other hand, "loads" up gradually so the sound is smoother. my impression is that if you're going for a traditional rock sound, using analog recording gives you instant results. then you play back a tape, it already sounds more .. ehm "rock-y", ie. puchier, smoother. digital recording is more "accurate", what is useful for other things. it's like difference between polaroid photo and a digital photo, if that helps? nowdays there's tons of equipment and software what try to emulate the sound of tape (and tubes and whatnot). i have found these very useful, as i do a lot of recording in different places (locations too) so analog machines (big and heavy) are not an option. and yes, i'm the first to admit that they don't really sound the same as real tape... but good enough for me.
• Do you suppose music might just survive this horror? Do you think the nature of magnetic tapes can really make a difference? Is it just possible that music exists in souls rather than magnetism?
• Whaaaaaaaaaat?? What what what?? We're running out of fucking analog???? Man, I NEED my tape compression. I only like to master in digital. What the fuck? Why did I not hear anything about this? "Is it just possible that music exists in souls rather than magnetism?" /boggle. You, sir, Do. Not. Understand.
• funny as i like record on digital and master to analog. i couldn't find trace of emtec (formerly basf) producing analog either.
• I have done both, just what my equipment made become habit I guess. Haven't recorded on analog for a while, sold my MSR 24 a couple years back. God I was gutted at the time, but I was so broke. Hmmm, this is interesting. Someone could start business manufacturing analog tape for that hole in the market. I wonder how much it would cost to buy up the necessary equipment. A smart person with capital would get on that, I suppose. Pity I'm lazy and poor.
• quite similar situation to the one in tube manufacturing, i suppose. they still make them, i mean, but similar problems. of course lots of people need tubes for their hifi-equipment too, so it's a bigger market.
• Yes, Jerry, we get what you're trying to say. Yes, music will survive. But just as a properly adjusted hi-fi set and a vinyl album has sound modelling that just doesn't seem to be mixed into CDs anymore, audio tape has a frequency response curve that's different from digital. Think about your argument this way: we still have acoustic guitars, despite the widespread adoption of electric guitars. Why bother with acoustic? A song's a song, right? Well, no. Sometimes a distinctive sound is part of why a song is so captivating. A Rickenbacher sounds different from a Telecaster. A delay pedal sounds different from a wahwah. And analogue tape sounds different than digital recording. So maybe you should listen to more music until you can tell chedder from colby.
• Is it just possible that music exists in souls rather than magnetism? So the answer is no, and if you listen to the music rather than the tape hiss or the shape of the sound waves, you are obviously a philistine who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Get your priorities straight, moron! Glad that's cleared up! (Disclaimer: I am a philistine.)
• Ok, all philistines out of the thread. This is not a thread for philistines. This is a thread for people with Golden Ears. Now run along and listen to Trompten Festival plays the Beatles or Martin Segundo & his Scintilla Strings.
• No no, you should have accused us all of listening to Britney Spears or the like. That's the message, right? If you don't consider the medium more important than the message, you're a moron? Come on, do we need remedial elitism lessons here? You're the master, dude. I'm disappointed. (Disclaimer II: not entirely serious. Also, stopping now.)
• You too can have golden ears
• stash? dude's got a beard.