Well, sorry if I seem to be shooting arrows at Wilma Cozart Fine, such was not the case. Those that used the technology of their day to its full potential are to be appreciated, if not emulated.
What the pioneers of today need to realize is, just because it's vintage or analog, doesn't mean it's musical nirvana. Quite the contrary. Each improvement brought new problems, but progress did move forward.
Pioneers typically learned from the past then forged ahead. They didn't go back and repeat the past. Things like 35mm dubbers were a huge improvement over what preceded them, but all of their flaws have now been put behind. What we learn from those that used them is possibly that what we are looking for might be found in unexpected places. 35mm dubbers were made to simplify film editing by getting audio on stock that was easily cut in sync with picture. The stock they used matched 35mm film physically, so the stock could be cut on an editor using a common shaft synchronizer (a stack of sprockets), and get editors a couple of extra tracks. It just happened they had wider tracks and moved a bit faster than tape, and that became what audio-only recordists exploited.
We might mention 1/2" 30ips 2 track tape here too, though it was really an albatross. Again, faster and wider solved a lot of issues, and created a few new ones. It was all heading to lower noise, better frequency response (30ips was great at the top, not as good at the bottom), less mechanically induced issues. It was a step forward, if not really adopted, and quickly overtaken by PCM.
Each step forward has introduced new problems to solve. Perhaps those are the arrows. But I guess I'm saying, looking back through rose colored glasses is interesting, and educational, but the old days weren't always great either.