When to use tape

Elmo89m

Elmo89m

New member
If your running a recording studio with a really nice protools rig but you also have a really nice tape machine like a Studer A800, when do you know when to track to tape and then go into pro tools or when to just go straight to pro tools. Or with that nice of a tape would you mostly always just go through it.
 
Depends - who's paying for the tape?



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Elmo89m said:
If your running a recording studio with a really nice protools rig but you also have a really nice tape machine like a Studer A800, when do you know when to track to tape and then go into pro tools or when to just go straight to pro tools. Or with that nice of a tape would you mostly always just go through it.
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As far as whether to use or not to use analog tracking instead of digital, it come down to two main points.

The first creative, and is no different than making the decision to use any other device in the signal chain, whether i's a particular model of microphone or a partiular type of compression: will it give you the sound you're looking for or otherwise couple well with oter gear to let you perform some trick or technique that'll let you get the sound your looking for?

The second is practical, and Light hit upon part if it: does the client have the budget for the the use of the tape machine and for the tape itself? Tape is not cheap and the machines - many of which are aging and all of which are mechanical devices - require increasing maintenance, which is no cheaper.

If the answer to both of those points is positive, then it's probably a go to use the tape machine. If it's negative to eather one, then it's digital.

As always with these questions, these are general principles to which one can always find exceptions.

G.
 
Elmo89m said:
thanks you guys. So would you say the 4,000ish investment in a studer would be warranted?
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That's a business or discretionary spending decision.

Do you have a plan on how to make that four grand back (and then some) with the tape? (i.e. do you have clients to line up that you wouldn't have without the Studer?)

Or if you're just doing this as an expensive hobby and not as a studio business, is there anything you are more sure of than the four grand that you feel would be a worthwhile investment? If not, and you have four grand to blow, then do it.

Add to both of those scenarios the extra time/cost it'll take you to have the machine checked out and (possibly) refurb'd by an experienced and qualified technician if you're buying the machine used. Heads, capstans, pinch rollers, drive belts, spindles, etc. should all be checked for wear, alignment and cleaning anytime you drop that much coin on a used tape machine. And then there's tape to buy.

Your call as to whether it's worth it. Some would say absolutely, there is no substitute. Others would think the difference would not be worth the four grand. It's all relative.

G.
 
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