mixing down to multitrack tape

general questions, comments and ideas about recording, audio, music, etc.
brian beattie
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Re: mixing down to multitrack tape

Post by brian beattie » Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:40 am

no offense, joel, but to a serial contrarian such as myself, nothing would make me try something quicker than a pro telling me not to try it. Now you've thrown down the gauntlet, and a real world experiment is required.
I've got a mixdown deck, so it's not an issue for me, but "analogizing" does do an abbreviated version of mastering (compression, eq, harmonic distortion), albeit with less controls. Many, many pros dump digital mixes into analog decks to experiment with the color. if the machine sounds good, there's no reason it wouldn't sound interesting, at least. (and interesting is worth alot.)
sounds like fun to me.
brian

citizenkeith
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Re: mixing down to multitrack tape

Post by citizenkeith » Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:48 am

Let's hear from the pros and the DIYers on this one....

When dumping to analog and then back to digital, is it better to record it at 24bit/96kHz instead of 24bit/44.1kHz? Specifically when the original material was recorded at 24bit/44.1kHz.

Randall
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Re: mixing down to multitrack tape

Post by Randall » Wed Aug 13, 2003 1:42 pm

if you mix your 24/96 recording down to a 1/4 inch tape and then go back into wavelab at 24/192K and burn a DVD(assuming you have the means) to send to mastering,you will rock,if you mix down to tape and go back in at 24/96 and dither to 16/44 you will still rock,of course this is taking into account that you have decent converters,comp's and limiters,mixing down to analog tape is very cool,I do it all the time, it will for lack of a better word "bind" your mixes better than letting a computer crunch numbers to give you a final mix.if you have a mastering engineer close enought o take your machine with you,,why not? most M.E. are way on top of this stuff and enjoy getting a project on tape moreso than a CD,,,look through the mastering webboards,ask one(never be afraid to ask lots of questions)most important is to remember to have fun and there are no rules,this is art
Last edited by Randall on Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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chris harris
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Re: mixing down to multitrack tape

Post by chris harris » Fri Aug 22, 2003 5:12 am

so.... I experimented with this a bit.

here are the results:

http://www.subatomicpieces.com/daw.mp3

http://www.subatomicpieces.com/tape.mp3

both the exact same mixes (not the best) recorded simultaniously.

I'm not trying to test or fool anyone.
I prefer the tape mix, because of the softer edge to the drum sounds.

there is certainly more experimentation in my future.

I still haven't really compared it to a "rendered" mix.

this was mixed on an outboard mixer and multed between 2 tracks on the 8 track and 2 tracks going back in to the daw.

I also used Cubase's "True Tape" simulation on the way in to the daw.

thanks for all the tips.
chris

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wayne kerr
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Re: mixing down to multitrack tape

Post by wayne kerr » Fri Aug 22, 2003 7:45 am

no one wants to listen to what you have to say because of the whiny, elitist way you write, not because you are a "pro." moron
Nice first post there buddy....

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