Dumb Analog Question

[Osbick Bird]

If someone were to take, say, a 1/2" 4-track recorder and record the left channel twice on tracks 1 and 2 and the right channel twice on tracks 3 and 4, would the results sonically be the same as recording on a stereo 1/2" recorder?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

No... because the design limitations of the narrower track width have already been 'built-in", so to speak....

 

[Vurt]

has to be the most expensive 1/4 inches in the world!

interesting question, btw...

 

[eeldip]

i have seen this before

strange how this comes up every so often.

i think what it comes down to is a noise issue. you dont increase fidelity because you are proportionally increasing the noise. or something like that...

 

[regebro]

Hmmm... But if you take two signals with say, -100db noise in them, and you add these signals, shouldn't some of the noise cancel the other, noise, while the signals of course just get stronger?

I guess you wouldn't get half the noise, but maybe 3db less, or so?

Not that it would be worth it, but theoretically...