an AB of tape versus no tape in mixdown

[digital eagle audio]

Hi all,
I just finished an experiment and figured I'd share. I recorded and mixed a song on a DAW. The "control" was then rendered, while the "tape" one was sent to my old TASCAM and then back into the DAW for rendering. so that's the only difference.
here's the link:
http://urethrafranklin0.bandcamp.com/
I've been in situations where someone "AB'd" tape and digital for me, but in those situations there's pressure and I was never sure what I was hearing vs. what I was expecting to hear. so this was a way for me to really study it on my own time.
my impressions: on tape, the sibilants of the cymbals and guitars weren't as harsh, the bass and guitar blended better (sorry for the subjectivity . . . ), the arrangement felt more dense, and the transients didn't stand out.
without tape, it sounds harsher, and some of the transients caused clipping. more than anything, when i went to digital, i just craved the other version. i'll definitely use this again in the future.
anyway, i know this is elementary to some people, but hopefully, this can be of service to some folks.

[Mane1234]

Love the band name.....What kind of Tascam did you dump your mix to? I'd agree the digital one sounds much brighter and maybe not as glued together as the tape.

[digital eagle audio]

oops, it was actually a fostex x-77 four track. not a tascam.
thanks for commenting and whatnot!

[jgimbel]

Thanks for posting this! Interesting to hear. The difference is far from subtle. When I listened to the digital version, I did like the crispness it had at first, but really once the drums were in it lost it for me. The tape version is a great example of what tape does to drums, and it just adds so much girth and heft to the track.

[themagicmanmdt]

Thanks for posting this! Interesting to hear. The difference is far from subtle. When I listened to the digital version, I did like the crispness it had at first, but really once the drums were in it lost it for me. The tape version is a great example of what tape does to drums, and it just adds so much girth and heft to the track.

.02

this is a great example of what an 'ok' tape machine does to drums and the track.

personally, i feel that all definition in guitars was lost, the drums all of a sudden had tea towels over them, and lower mids got big and cloudy.

in short, it made it sound like a cassette, to me. but, on the flipside - *it works for the track!* - that's the whole point.

but, wanted to put a word out there that I would *not* say this is a good example of tape - but rather more of a big, big tape 'effect', akin to cassette.

legendary analog is astoundingly hi-fi.

[digital eagle audio]

that's a good point - for a lot of projects, that sound wouldn't be appropriate.
i wish i had also done a version where it hit the tape a bit more lightly, which i guess would be a little less smooshed.
i'm now wondering if it would be cool to send some tracks out (like a drum buss) but not the entire mix.

[jgimbel]

Thanks for posting this! Interesting to hear. The difference is far from subtle. When I listened to the digital version, I did like the crispness it had at first, but really once the drums were in it lost it for me. The tape version is a great example of what tape does to drums, and it just adds so much girth and heft to the track.

.02

this is a great example of what an 'ok' tape machine does to drums and the track.

personally, i feel that all definition in guitars was lost, the drums all of a sudden had tea towels over them, and lower mids got big and cloudy.

in short, it made it sound like a cassette, to me. but, on the flipside - *it works for the track!* - that's the whole point.

but, wanted to put a word out there that I would *not* say this is a good example of tape - but rather more of a big, big tape 'effect', akin to cassette.

legendary analog is astoundingly hi-fi.

Yep, no contradiction here.

[1grex]

Of course the tape sounds better its only natural what'd you expect! :p Seriously though, the biggest difference I noticed was that, on my small speakers, the ones I use for simulating crappy computer speakers, that I was unaware that there was a bass guitar until I listened to the taped version.

[vvv]

Quite a difference there!

i'm now wondering if it would be cool to send some tracks out (like a drum buss) but not the entire mix.

In that I agree with the various comments above, I think this would be a cool approach, especially if you can figure out how to do it in parallel. Without a monitor head, it might not be possible if you are actually hitting the tape; I do recall reading of guys just using the electronics, tho', to avoid timing and pitch issues. Seems to me I read there's some high-end tape-emulator works that way ...