Any thoughts on tracking to tape verses mixdown to tape?

[Nick Sevilla]

am i the only person who thinks digital summing sounds just fine?

No. I do it most of the time.
Now, as far as using tape VS digital, personally I cannot do without Pro Tools.
That being said, it did take me about 5 years of hard work to get that to sound proper, and comparable to an all analogue signal path.

In the end, though, it always comes down to one thing:

IS THE SONG ANY GOOD?

If it is, no one cares how it got to their hands, other than to thank the artist who wrote and performed it.

Technically, there is no right or wrong.

PLZ, let's just move on.org... let's try to find some god songs to record and get out to the world.

[Gregg Juke]

>>>>In the end, though, it always comes down to one thing:

IS THE SONG ANY GOOD?<<<<

Ultimately, absolutely, YES.

Of course, there's more, but ultimately, yes.

>>>>Technically, there is no right or wrong.
PLZ, let's just move on.org... let's try to find some go(o)d songs to record and get out to the world.<<<<

Well, the problem with reductionism on that level (see above), is that it basically says that this board is moot, TapeOp Magazine is moot, and that a "good song" (whatever that means--there's a can of worms for ya, even if we only stick with our unilateral cultural bias) is all you need; forget about a good arrangement, performance, recording, etc. Just get a "good song," have a monkey play it and sing it into an old Pansonic cassette recorder, and the world is your oyster.

The truth is a little more complex, in a world where good songs and great artists are still ignored every day, and just getting to the point where you can make a good sounding recording of a good song, even in today's technologically ubiquitous era, takes years of practice and learning, on a great number of levels.

Nick, you're aware of a lot of that, but lots of folks here aren't, which is the point of TapeOp (at least one of the points), and the point of forums such as the one we are in right now. So reducing legitimate questions about the process to "It doesn't matter; just move on!" may be counter-productive for a lot of people. Common knowledge to some of us, is revelation to others. Pass the torch, my friend...

GJ

[Nick Sevilla]

Hi Gregg,
I know I reduced a little too much.
This comes from my limited experience on recording.
I used to record anything, for anyone, for any $$$.
Fortunately, not any more.

I am speaking to the Producers here, who get to decide whether a particular piece of music or a song gets to be heard by the public at large.

This might seem a little self serving, but since the "industry" does not know where it is or where it is going, I have consciously only involved myself with things that I believe in, for the last 5 years or so.

And yes, my beliefs are not the same to any other persons', however, I believe that if we as a community can help gather better songs (material) in the long run it will only be better for everyone in the long run.

Anyways, in the old days, that is what a producer would do... now I see the artist as producer, and sometimes, I cringe.

The method of recording can and should support what the producers' vision of the song is to be, in other words what it should sound like.

A producer of music which has no idea how to go about this labor of love, should think twice about making an record, let alone an album. Even if the producer is technically challenged, he / she can pick a team to support the endeavor.

Hopefully there will be more and more collaboration in the years ahead.

As to the lone musician "in the bedroom" who gets distraught with opinions on here, well, if you do not like other people to tell you what you already suspect, then don't ask...

Cheers

[joel hamilton]

double post.

[joel hamilton]

Your biggest discussion here should be about signal to noise ratio and dynamic range.

I agree. 24-bit digital feels loose, open and uncontained to me. I think digital sounds like ass, but try telling the industry this. Cheap and affordable wins hands down against sound quality. Ask Joel Hamilton how much he actually rents reels of tape to clients. Uh, can you say "Never" on an annual basis?

I have no idea what this means. Just wanted to point this out. Thanks.
I actually print every single thing I mix to two track. analog. Even if I just bring it back in off the repro heads into my Burl B2, it still gets printed to tape.
Ironic that the new Pretty Lights record i did was tracked all live to two track analog, with nothing digital running besides the safety...
We used like 3 cases of tape, with 7.5 IPS being used a bunch of the time so that would be about an HOUR of recording time on those reels.