Analog vs. Digital ... Microphones

[TerraMortim]

I think Terra's been hitting the BC Bud again

G.

THat's besides the point. My mind is weird, regardless. I actually tested out the old adage...take a really weird person, do some drugs...see what happens... yup...it turns me a lot more normal.

 

[Farview]

Are you saying that you deliberately fed to the recorder a kick drum sound that was unnaturally trebly so that when played back it sounded about right for the mix? If so, you were saturating the tape in the highs, a pointless exercise unless you wanted that effect, or you couldnt afford a better analog recorder setup.

Cheers Tim

I did this at Zenithdb, one of the biggest studios in Chicago at the time. (they did a lot of movie stuff, like Close Encounters, home alon, etc...) The main problem was I was trying to get that heavy metal Ddrum sound out of a real kick drum. Even now, adding 10db of high shelf at 8k is pretty standard when I'm going for that sound. Of course, with tape, adding that much high end in the mix would do nothing but bring the tape hiss up.

I wasn't trying to outsmart the tape deck, I was just commiting to the sound on the way in so I didn't have to deal with the hiss during the mixdown. I didn't have to do this for softer, more natural souding kicks...

 

[Tim Gillett]

Sure, but whether you had to deal with tape hiss related to the particular gear and especially whether it had NR, and what type. The difference between typically 60db s/n (no NR), and 80 to 100db s/n (with NR) was huge. Analog tape could be noisy but also very quiet.

I agree analog tape was a pain in so many ways and it's no surprise digital has now all but edged it right out. I guess I spent much of my life servicing and aligning the stuff because I've always enjoyed the exacting challenge of getting it right, and a challenge it often was.

Cheers Tim