"(1) Analog is practically "idiot proof" - anyone can operate
and the outcome is predictable, provided that you have a well maintained machine, console etc ..."
NO its digital thats " idiot proof "...quick example, ask just about anyone with protools on their PC about drive / saturation / headroom. Odds are they will have no idea what your talking about, but will have a few tracks for you to listen to
Regaurdless if these elements are directly connected to the medium they use or not...its basic building block stuff that ANYONE doing ANY multitracking should know.
What is the big thing about digital that gets tossed in everyones face...that line about " now everyone can record!!!" lol...WTF stopped them before.
"(2) Tape captures real, living and breathing frequencies with all the crap in between - no "snapshots" of sound here "
Exactly your working with a real medium...where you have a transference of natural energy. Digital...you just cut the universe out the mix real quick and pump dead tracks with cold effects to give them life.
Thing thats funny...if you tell one of these " protool " heads out there...analog has something like twice the frequency range as Digital's theoretical limits, they look at you like you lost your mind.
"(3) The interactivity between you and analog is unsurpassed and brings much joy "
EXACTLY...there is interactivity there. Change your tape grade change your sound...dont think anything happens when you change your harddrive :/
"The above 5 reasons, not neccessarily in order, are the main selling points of analog for me. Sound of tape is but the icing on the cake."
I agree with your reasons ( all but the first )...YET I do feel its a good idea to hybrid analog and digital. Only I also feel anyone with a real world background of analog recording will be better able to pull some reality out of digital then those that just jumped on digital cause " with just thousands of gear hooked to a consumer grade PC I can make pro recordings for cheep!!!"
LOL I mean we now live in a world where something like the line6pod USED to be nothing more then a portable toy you tossed in your gig bag to play at your grandmas house...now its
the direct guitar recording tool of choice. Cause you know when you sit in front of your computer mounter you get interference with your amp and pick ups...much smarter to throw the mic and amp out the window then to learn what the hell your doing.
As for anything else analog Vs digital...well we have over 100 years of analog recording history with 100 year old recordings that can be played back now, lets see how grand a run digital has. Its not the merits of analog we have to worry about...as every bit of music that makes up the landscape of what we all reference as classic examples is firmly rooted in analog. Just cause we have people that are not aware the world was here before them doesn't taint that reality at all. If a digital head acts like they know everything...just a few select records can put a bullet in their head and leave them falling in denial.
To finish I feel I can share this...part of my background was second engineer at Sun...lol want to know how sick it makes me when some fool online wants to capture that Sun sound...hahaha then when I give them ways to do exactly that, I end up getting slandered cause " its just easier to use blah blah plug in "
Silly crap I see like " what did the old blues players use for a click track. "
Just human nature in general gets me mad
Ill record something four track, people think it was digital...then when they figure out what the medium is all of a sudden the recording sucks. Kinda the same crap with my drum work...get folks going " its looped " " its sequenced " " its step recorded " " its a drum machine "...then when they find out its real time I get the " the beats off time " " you should just loop it " " it needs to be quantized." Just on and on and on :/
Perhaps we interpret sounds differently or the 388 was used inappropriately (ie: meters driven to extreme red continually with dbx on
; wrong tape used etc ...) or it was ill maintained or its heads in poor condition plus a zillion other variables gone horriby astray, I don't know .. but the 388 to me was always an amazing sounding machine, despite its rather narrow track width. As an example, listen to ARP Dave's cuts done on the 388 ... and that's just mp3's! I'd surely wouldn't describe the sound as being less than magnificent!
