Okay I have defected!! I want a reel to reel!!

Its ok to mix to tape or CD for listening to mixes on different stereos before sending the master away, but I would prefer to mix to a 1/2 inch 2 track reel to reel and take the reel to the mastering suite. More headroom, no downsizing.

But others may want to mix to digital if the material is classical or chamber music, because it has less noise.
 
My philosophy is to use as little digital stuff as possible. If I could or had the resources I would use only analog gear in all aspects of recording. Right now we usualy track to the daw at 48khz 24bit
do all the editing then send each track out to our analog mixer and mix down to our Otari MX5050 1/2inch stereo ATR. Seems to work pretty well for the meantime, until I find a 2 inch 16 or 24 track machine.

Here is something to try if you don't believe analog sounds better. Track to tape and daw at the same time. Then dump the analog into the daw and compare to the digitaly recorded track. I guarantee the analog recorded track will sound better. You can also record digitaly and then dump that to analog but I think the first way sounds better.


Here is our website if you want to check out our humble selection of vintage gear and tape machines... www.2020audio.ca
 
I agree Aloha and I outlined a test just like that one here a few months back.
My issue I am trying to get to is which sounds better once the project has been tracked to analog: an analog mix on 1/4" (most of us won't be able to afford 1/2") or a mix straight to HD for mastering purposes. I would like to hear what everyone does but myself I will probably never go to a pro mastering house.

Personally I love to track in analog but I feel like if it's gonna go to CD anyhow why not mix it straight to HD?
 
That sounds right to me too. If its gonna go to CD anyhow then why not mix to HD.


So if you already have a hard drive then do that.

But if you are asking which sounds better HD or 1/4 inch then I don't know.

1/2 inch 2 track at 30 ips will definitely sound better than HD. Because none of us home studios have the gear that is in the traditional master suite.
 
It has been my experiance that the best way to get great digital recordings is to make sure you have great analog signals when tracking. This usually means good mics, preamps, compressors etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top