A/d/a/d

guitarfreak12

guitarfreak12

New member
Ok, I work in a studio part time, this is something my boss wants to do. We have a pro-tools digi 002, and a 2" reel to reel. Assuming the chain will be clean, would we benifit from coming out of the digi, into tape, back onto the digi, into the mac to "warm" it up?
 
I personally wouldn't do the extra D/A/D changeover....

Why not just track to 2" to start with then bounce it over to the 002 when you're done tracking?
 
bennychico11 said:
Why not just track to 2" to start with then bounce it over to the 002 when you're done tracking?
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Because you might wear out the tape with all the punch-ins.

Yes, you will get tape saturation if you do that. Many people do. I wouldn't worry about generation loss, because that is the point of what you are doing. You are purposely adding distortion to the tracks.
 
If you want to "analog warm" the general mix and not just specific tracks, a third option would be to do the tracking and mix in PT and then mixdown out to tape to give the final mix that warmth.

G.
 
Farview said:
Because you might wear out the tape with all the punch-ins.
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but it's been done that way for years, yes?

and how much degradation are we talking about? 2, 10, 50 punch-ins on one spot of the tape until it's noticeable or the tape is ruined?
 
bennychico11 said:
but it's been done that way for years, yes?

and how much degradation are we talking about? 2, 10, 50 punch-ins on one spot of the tape until it's noticeable or the tape is ruined?
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My point was that playing the tape over and over and over does a lot more damage than running a signal out of a DA and back into an AD.
 
is the tape machine already calibrated? that will be a big factor in whether you should do this or not.

yes, if the tape is clean, unmagnetized, it shouldn't pose for a huge problem for adad loss, and should add a bit of warmth.

using this method...

SouthSIDE Glen said:
If you want to "analog warm" the general mix and not just specific tracks, a third option would be to do the tracking and mix in PT and then mixdown out to tape to give the final mix that warmth.

G.
Click to expand...
 
I would think you would have to track at 88.2 or 96 khz to benefit from this. a nice comprimise might be to track the rhythm parts on the tape machine and then do the leads and vocals and other "difficult" parts in the simulator. :D
 
guitarfreak12 said:
Assuming the chain will be clean, would we benifit from coming out of the digi, into tape, back onto the digi, into the mac to "warm" it up?
Click to expand...
You'd only benefit if the song called for it, whatever it is. The process is non destructive so why not try it? Wouldn't your own ears tell you the answer?
 
well, we have a chance to invest in a 2", but we'd want to get the best cables, anyway, lots of money to invest until we at least think it'll work. Thanks guys
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
If you want to "analog warm" the general mix and not just specific tracks, a third option would be to do the tracking and mix in PT and then mixdown out to tape to give the final mix that warmth.

G.
Click to expand...

Methinks this idea is best.
 
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