Analog Tape specs

[FALKEN]

Magnetic tape does something to the signal, apparently something more than just frequency response and SNR. Does anybody know what this is?

Yes. It RECORDS it.

and it sounds GOOD. The sound of heads hitting tape is a good sound.

its just THAT sound. like an 1176 or a SM 57, Like a strat or coated heads or doubled vocals or a room mic, the rain hitting concrete, a gymnasium, an under snare mic, a fretless bass, a fender twin, it just has THAT sound.

its like asking, "what does a skunk smell like?" well.........skunky!

vinyl is going to depend on thickness, speed, how long the side is, plus probably a million other things.

 

[lonewhitefly]

It feels different because it is doing something to the sound. There's nothing magic about it.

I rarely post here, but I must respond to this statement ...

in my opinion, analog tape IS magic, that is the reason i use it. it captures ghosts and energy that we cannot fully see or hear but we can feel it when recording. you can call it "mojo" or inspiration but it is there and i don't believe these energies and entities can be transmitted via digital replication. this is not a joke but an honest opinion which cannot yet be proven. this is why no one can really put their finger on the reason they prefer analog. Please try it before you make any assumptions.

I understand you keep writing that you do not wish to bring digital recording into this discussion. the fact is we are discussing recording audio and prior to digital, analog was simply the only way to record. everything is analog, the real world is analog, even recording and listening to music via digital devices is analog at the beginning and end stages. so when you talk about "analog" and what makes it what it is ... well, the reason it is not the ONLY option is due to the existence of digital. so you simply cannot have this discussion without bringing up digital.

I am a taurus, an earth sign. people like myself are more comfortable with a physical electrical process, so are the energies around us.

analog: voice (ghosts) > microphone (ghosts) > cable (ghosts) > preamp/mixer (ghosts) > tape recorder (ghosts) > mixer (ghosts) > headphones (ghosts)


digital: voice (ghosts) > microphone (ghosts) > cable (ghosts) > preamp/mixer (ghosts) > NUMBERS (ghosts gone) > mixer > headphones


there is no energy and electricity that can be physically transferred in digital, that is all.

 

[famous beagle]

I rarely post here, but I must respond to this statement ...

in my opinion, analog tape IS magic, that is the reason i use it. it captures ghosts and energy that we cannot fully see or hear but we can feel it when recording. you can call it "mojo" or inspiration but it is there and i don't believe these energies and entities can be transmitted via digital replication. this is not a joke but an honest opinion which cannot yet be proven. this is why no one can really put their finger on the reason they prefer analog. Please try it before you make any assumptions.

I understand you keep writing that you do not wish to bring digital recording into this discussion. the fact is we are discussing recording audio and prior to digital, analog was simply the only way to record. everything is analog, the real world is analog, even recording and listening to music via digital devices is analog at the beginning and end stages. so when you talk about "analog" and what makes it what it is ... well, the reason it is not the ONLY option is due to the existence of digital. so you simply cannot have this discussion without bringing up digital.

I am a taurus, an earth sign. people like myself are more comfortable with a physical electrical process, so are the energies around us.

analog: voice (ghosts) > microphone (ghosts) > cable (ghosts) > preamp/mixer (ghosts) > tape recorder (ghosts) > mixer (ghosts) > headphones (ghosts)


digital: voice (ghosts) > microphone (ghosts) > cable (ghosts) > preamp/mixer (ghosts) > NUMBERS (ghosts gone) > mixer > headphones


there is no energy and electricity that can be physically transferred in digital, that is all.

Don't mean to rock your world or anything, but you're probably not really a Taurus.

The fact is the earth not only revolves around the sun and rotates on its axis. It also wobbles on its axis, the way a top slowly wobbles around while spinning on the floor. This is called precession. The short story is this:

The stars that were in the sky during the month of your birth over 2,000 years ago, when the zodiac signs were named, are not there now. There are different stars in the sky because the earth has wobbled slightly.

This means that you're most likely the previous sign to what you thought was your sign. In other words, you're most likely really an Aries!

It's not off by a full month yet (though it will get there eventually and get further and further off track), but it's close. In your case, if you were born before May 13, you're really an Aries.

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/your-astronomical-sign.html

 

[evm1024]

Jetology

I use jetology to predict the course of my life. What, you never heard of Jetology? Sad, truly sad....



By knowing the position of every Jumbo Jet at the moment of your birth you can know your future!



But getting back to our currently scheduled analog/digital (oops no digital) Discussion. I really like lonewhitefly's "Ghosts". Very nice.

-Ethan

 

[lonewhitefly]

i was born on may 14 1979

 

[cjacek]

Ghosts....

Good post lonewhitefly.

--

 

[ofajen]

I started this thread in a different section, the realized it probably belongs here.

I've read about a million threads on analog vs digital, but they seem to generally be religious arguments rather than factual. I do not want to start another one. What I do want are some cold hard specs on reel to reel sound quality. SNR, Dynamic range, frequency response, THD and the likes.

We all know the how this works in digital audio, but as far as analog tape goes, I've never seen a spec written. Can somebody please provide this?

Also, the same for vinyl.

(I don't want this to turn into an analog vs digital argument. I just want some real information. The words warm, brittle, sterile and so forth are useless terms. Please don't use them.)

With thick, high output tape on a wide-track machine capable of using it, you might be up around 80 dB of S/N without NR. Bear in mind that the machine will record signal at and well below the noise floor and you can hear detail below the noise floor, provided the noise floor is something you can stand to listen through.

Typically, the MOL at 3% distortion is about 14-18 dB above the reference level.

The frequency response can be within say +/- 0.5 db across the audio band of 20-20K on the best performers, although you get better high end extension above 20K at 30 ips, perhaps down only a dB or two at 30K, but then you typically lose much of the bottom octave (not good on a tune in the key of E).

You didn't mention it, but flutter and audio band scrape flutter in particular can be quite audible and annoying. 3M's Isoloop transport was the first one to really knock scrape flutter down to the point that you could argue it was not noticeable, but the later Ampexes (ATRs) and Studers also handled scrape flutter and did so with less stress on the tape.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[famous beagle]

i was born on may 14 1979

Oh wow. ... you just slipped in under the gun!

Anyway, just wanted to point out that astrology should be viewed as entertainment only, because it's really a bunch of hooey. People can think for years that this one set of "personality traits" defines them, but they're most likely not even that "sign."