Analog fostering better song structure

[bloomboy]

I'm about to buy a tascam 38 from bigsnake, and though I don't yet have the recorder over the last week I've been plotting out the tracks I want to record on it (in what order I'll record the tracks, when I will bounce, etc- some of the songs have a lot of tracks), and just becuase I'm now having to put so much thought into the structure of my songs before recording anything I've ended up making a lot of changes and improvements that I don't think I ever would have working the old way (recording a bunch of stuff to a metronome to my hard drive and then just chopping together the good bits). Has anyone else noticed this happening?

[themaddog]

Yes, this is all true. In addition, each take has to be pretty good, since you generally can't cut and paste your best results from multiple tracks. But, punching in can help.

-MD

[EDAN]

Recording old school you'll find you really do have to be able to pull things off that you wouldn't have to using today's digital editing functions. I'm all for playing the part live, I have no choice and wouldn't have it any other way. It forces you to work on your musicianship and that's a good thing. Nothing wrong with editing in the digital domain, I can see it coming in handy say if you recorded a great take and just flubbed up one or two parts, so go in edit mode and fix it, no big deal, but taking 15 takes and combining them to get one "good" take is not my idea of making music. All the best with your new Tascam 38! I have a TSR-8 and love it!

[cjacek]

Regarding "old school" vs more "current" recording, I recall Sir George Martin (Beatles producer) say once that Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have sounded as good as it did if it were not done on 4 track, obviously a couple 1" machines to be precise. One had to be a great musician to pull it off 'cause there was no magic of digital editing .... and thank God for that 'cause you'd most likely get a sterile sounding album with questionable talent. The Beatles proved they were one of the very best rehearsed groups ever and true musical geniuses (kudos to the 5th beatle - Sir George!).

[bloomboy]

Yeah, that's actually one of the main reasons I've decided to go all analog. I mean, I'm sure the warmth and depth of tape will be great and all that, but I am really sick of the whole copy and paste philosophy that seems so prevalent in digital. IMO that's what's to blame for the horrible quality of most modern pop. I remember when I started recording in digital a couple of years ago I'd play all the way through and just use editing to fix small flubs or things like that on the best take, but that soon became editing two good takes together to form a better one, which became editing a lot of takes together, which became never really learning any of the parts I was recording very well and just piecing them together. Awful way to work.

[pbergo]

Since I got the analog 8 track my vs-2480 hasn't been turned on at all. Not saying that I won't use it any more, but I feel like working with the 8 track forces me to be more 'musical' in my approach, and I like the sound too.

It just feels better to me.