recording to my vcr?!?

[Blue Bear Sound]

look man why are you being so sarcastic, really no need for that? and if you track to protools and mix with analog outbear gear you not mixing digitally. you effecting the signal with analog gear please explain hows thats digital? when most of the pro's track they usually patch the mic throw outboard gear such as la2a's neve preamps etc then go in to protools. when you record at home and mix with plugins thats digital.

You are one seriously confused individual.............

Recording/tracking to ProTools is recording digitally.... period. The signal comes from the mic preamps/console and goes thru analog-to-digital converters into a DAW (or idigtal multitrack unit such as RADAR). At that point ALL the tracks are DIGITAL. From there, it can be mixed DIGITALLY via a digital console such as a Sony DMXR100 or in-the-box (as in ProTools) right in the DAW.... OR... it can be run back out of the DAW thru digital-to-analog converters and mixed on an analog console such as a Neve or SSL....

Ged'dit now?

 

[JHOOKS]

You are one seriously confused individual.............

Recording/tracking to ProTools is recording digitally.... period. The signal comes from the mic preamps/console and goes thru analog-to-digital converters into a DAW (or idigtal multitrack unit such as RADAR). At that point ALL the tracks are DIGITAL. From there, it can be mixed DIGITALLY via a digital console such as a Sony DMXR100 or in-the-box (as in ProTools) right in the DAW.... OR... it can be run back out of the DAW thru digital-to-analog converters and mixed on an analog console such as a Neve or SSL....

Ged'dit now?

ok once your record to protools its digital i know that but when you convert the signal back over to analog its analog. and thats how they mix, but my original post was wanting to warm my sound up. anyway im not really feeling your lack of respect man dont come at me like that, treat others like you would want to be treated. peace!

 

[Farview]

and if digital is so great why do most of the big studios still layoff to tape.

Two reasons
1. Because people have been told that digital is harsh and that there is some sort of magic about analog tape.

2. Because they can. Studios and engineers that have been around forever are more comfortable with tape.

No one disputes the fact that the two mediums sound different. Which one sounds 'better' has more to do with how you use it than it does what it is.

 

[JHOOKS]

Two reasons
1. Because people have been told that digital is harsh and that there is some sort of magic about analog tape.

2. Because they can. Studios and engineers that have been around forever are more comfortable with tape.

No one disputes the fact that the two mediums sound different. Which one sounds 'better' has more to do with how you use it than it does what it is.

you totally right farview!right on man thats true. i think its more what your ears are use to. eventhough you can simulate analog distortion with plugins( also known as warmth) theres somthing to me that just sounds right with real analog machines.

 

[Farview]

It's cool that you like the sound of analog, but just because it's analog doesn't mean it sounds like that. The VCR thing is just going to suck if you are expecting it to sound like a 1/2 track.

I have plenty of vinyl that is sceechy and harsh sounding from back before the days of digital. It still boils down to what you do with it.

 

[fldrummer]

Tube circuits are sometimes elevated into mythological status, primarily because they were all we had before solid state came along. The truth is, a good solid-state preamp sounds much better than a poorly designed tube preamp. A good tube preamp sounds better than a poorly designed solid-state preamp. It's a pretty simple quality issue.

link

You get what you pay for... I wouldn't expect my vcr to sound like a studer.

Anything cheap will sound bad compared to real gear. A cheap analogue system will suck ompared to a good digital system.

 

[JHOOKS]

link

You get what you pay for... I wouldn't expect my vcr to sound like a studer.

Anything cheap will sound bad compared to real gear. A cheap analogue system will suck ompared to a good digital system.

agree 100 % at the time i posted this idea it was just that. i just wanted feedback, you never know unless you ask.

 

[noisewreck]

If I see another "oh, that great analog" thread I'm gonna hang myself. Just because something is analog doesn't mean its great. Just because something is digital doesn't mean its great either.

If you think your sounds lack depth, its possible that's because you've got some mediocre soundcard with subpar AD/DAs. Upgrade that and hear the vail being taken off your audio...

Then put in the time to actually learn those synths. By learn, I mean know every nook and cranny, know what they do best, learn their "sound". Sure, some analog synths make it easy to program sounds that sound "good", but most of the time its because they're simple to program, don't give you much options, so there is less time spent knob twiddling. You say, you can't get "Moog" sound out of your softsynth? Fine, you can't get a "Moog" sound from an ARP 2600 either. It's not because your softsynth is digital, it's because it's an entirely different instrument. So treat it as such.

Digital (both hardware and software) synths are used in a lot of todays chart topping tunes and movie soundtracks. A lot of The Matrix soundtrack uses soft synths. Don't tell me they don't have "depth" or "width" or "height".

Blah.

Rant over.

 

[BabyGrand06]

lately i've been thinking about using my vcr to try to warm up my sounds. I was using outboard gear a few years ago but some how I got focus on the digital plugins, but they lack the depth to my ears. So has any body tried recording to a vhs? does it sound warmer? does it destroy the sound? no idea how would i sync the vcr but hey just an idea.

peace

soundclick.com/jhooks

Do whatever makes ya happy bro.

 

[smtcharlie]

Well, before I had any other options, I would record live to a HiFi Beta VCR. It sounded surprisingly good, but hardly like an analog tape machine. I've also tried to record to a cheap VHS VCR, and it sounded awful...like the mic on a cheap lecture recorder. So in my experience, an expensive VCR could sound better than cassette, but a cheap VCR will sound like noisy crap.

Someone said above that VCR's compress quite a bit, and I've found that to be true as well. And not compress in a good "warm" way, but compress in a crackly way if you hit them hard (sort of a digital distortion type of feel...).

As someone who has tried to record junk and then clean it up by doing wierd stuff, I have to agree with trying to change the source. I've tried to take very "digital" sounding acoustic guitar, and re-amp with a guitar tube amp to try to fuzz it up. In the end, I got harsh sounding, fuzzy crap.

Now I'm not a big fan of digital summing or plug-in's either. Maybe you should consider getting some modest effects to put right at the front of the chain to see if that is better for you. More outboard, less software? If you are recording synths, you can probably get away with doing that on the way in rather than worrying about conversion while mixing..?

good luck.

 

[JHOOKS]

It's cool that you like the sound of analog, but just because it's analog doesn't mean it sounds like that. The VCR thing is just going to suck if you are expecting it to sound like a 1/2 track.

I have plenty of vinyl that is sceechy and harsh sounding from back before the days of digital. It still boils down to what you do with it.

I dont think im expecting it to sound like 1/2inch but i think im just curious, thats all.

 

[JHOOKS]

just to clear things up. I will be a dumb ass to think i can make a vhs sound like a 1/2 inch not possible . it was just an idea of mine brewing in my over active skull that i wanted to run pass people. I think i am going to lean toward the outboard side of things, when i use to use outboard gear I use to come very close to the result i wanted. any suggestions on multi efx processors with multi in/outs?

 

[noisewreck]

any suggestions on multi efx processors with multi in/outs?

Kurzweil KSP 8. With the mLAN option you can effectively use it as an audio interface with great AD/DA converters.

 

[boomtap]

What a complete load of total bullshit................

Clearly you've never heard high-quality digital audio......

Good digital systems are light years ahead of everything but only the finest analog tape with only the very best outboard gear, and a stud engineer (which there are only a few of) who can get you good tape sound. I really don't think unless you have a major label budget you should even consider anything else. And even then, digital is probably the way to go. My friend recorded "Vienna" by The Fray, on an ADAT, and it is warm and nice as anything I have heard. That is old school digitial...todays 96k machines are smokin.