Tape emulation in a digital DAW

[SouthSIDE Glen]

"Im cursed by my digital DAW and my lack of knowledge ....cause it sounds too clean and i want to thicken it up by emulating a analog tape sound."

Laying it on as a last step will simply sound like a "too clean" digital master with a layer of distortion added to it. Yet another example where people think that everything is done in mastering. Most of the horses have left the barn by then. "Warmers" and "tape emulators" are the digital audio equivalent of spraying a moldy room with Glade potpourri air freshener to try and get it to smell better.

Your best bet is get that sound AT THE SOURCE. Most of the "too clean" sound you hear has nothing to do with digital recording, but rather has to do with how you do your tracking. As far as the gear giving you that sound, that's far more a function of your mics, your preamps and the room in which they're used than it is of your converters or the recording medium.

For your next recording, throw away all of your plugs and work on getting the recordings to sound right, and you'll be MUCH happier with the results. But for this one, if you really want to spray some room freshener, the Vintage Warmer has a very potpourri smell to it. For something more along the lines of a sandalwood scented candle or incense, try using the saturation knob only on the Blowfish compressor from Digital Fishphones.

G.

 

[MessianicDreams]

Voxengo analogflux suite - has a tape emulation plug in in this suite
PSP Mix pack2 - has a tape emulation plug in in this suite
Nomad Factory - essential studio suite (E-TubeTape Warmer)

Add to that:

Digidesign Reel Suite
McDSP Analogue Channel 1 & 2
URS Saturation

 

[bkkornaker]

Laying it on as a last step will simply sound like a "too clean" digital master with a layer of distortion added to it. Yet another example where people think that everything is done in mastering. Most of the horses have left the barn by then. "Warmers" and "tape emulators" are the digital audio equivalent of spraying a moldy room with Glade potpourri air freshener to try and get it to smell better.

Your best bet is get that sound AT THE SOURCE. Most of the "too clean" sound you hear has nothing to do with digital recording, but rather has to do with how you do your tracking. As far as the gear giving you that sound, that's far more a function of your mics, your preamps and the room in which they're used than it is of your converters or the recording medium.

For your next recording, throw away all of your plugs and work on getting the recordings to sound right, and you'll be MUCH happier with the results. But for this one, if you really want to spray some room freshener, the Vintage Warmer has a very potpourri smell to it. For something more along the lines of a sandalwood scented candle or incense, try using the saturation knob only on the Blowfish compressor from Digital Fishphones.

G.

I have the Vintage Warmer, it came with My Sonar 8 program. Its decent....but i find its more of a glorifed compressor, rather than trying to emulate tape sounds. I like using it on my drum buss.

BUt im more trying to find a simple plugin that i can slap on individual tracks, and not buss it.

 

[bkkornaker]

ok, so i demo'd 2 plugins so far. The "Nomad factory tube/tape emulator", and the "Voxengo tapebus"

I tried both on a single track instrument, and also on the master buss/whole mix.....just to see how they reacted in the scenarios.

on a single track/instrument....both plugs were pretty comparible. I really liked the Nomad factory better only because it had fewer controls, and was way easier to just 'set it and forget it'. The Voxengo just had so many different options and controls, it was way too easy to over-do it and just mangle your track to hell. i leaned torwards Nomad factory cause it just was subtle.....yet had mojo.

Across the whole mix, the nomad factory won again. It didnt kill everything, it just added that subtle warm excited mojo. The Voxengo (i tried some of thier mastering presets and other mix presets) just mangled the mix and it crap'd out like a distorted mess.

The nomad factory is just the way i like it. "turn tape sound on,.....or turn tape sound off". 2 trims (input and output) and a ips (15 or 30) setting. Simple as that.

i think im gonna get the nomad factory plug/suite.

 

[Waltz Mastering]

Here are the frequency responses for some of the more popular analog machines. 15 and 30 ips.

http://www.endino.com/graphs/

I ran 2 inch analog for years on a sony apr 24 and switched easily between 15 and 30 ips depending on what the individual project called for.

If your getting harshness in digital, I would look at your converters first.

 

[bkkornaker]

Here are the frequency responses for some of the more popular analog machines. 15 and 30 ips.

http://www.endino.com/graphs/

I ran 2 inch analog for years on a sony apr 24 and switched easily between 15 and 30 ips depending on what the individual project called for.

If your getting harshness in digital, I would look at your converters first.

its not harshness.....its so darn clean and crisp. I dont think i have a problem with my preamps or converters (Soundtracs TOPAZ analog mix console for preamps, ran into a Presounus firebox for conversion).

I guess im just trying to warm it up a bit so it doesnt sound so digital. I thought a tape emulator would have done the trick. So far the one i demoed seem to have worked nicely.

 

[MessianicDreams]

its not harshness.....its so darn clean and crisp.

I be tempted to look at investing into some flavourful preamps...if you use real clean pres, you're going to get real clean recordings!

 

[bkkornaker]

i guess what started this whole crazy search for a tape emulator plugin was because of a video i saw online....

i cant for the life of me find it again though. This recording engieneer showed how he was mic'ing up a marshall cab and a fender amp, and then checking phase on the main console. once in phase, this guy in the control room was playing some electric distorted riffs....and he was recording it. Then at playback he was demoing what it sounds like normal....and then by turning on the Crane Song Pheonix tape emulator. He would toggle back and forth so you could hear the difference....and it was like magic! the distorted guitar just came alive! The funny thing was....he was turning it on and off from an outboard piece of gear.....so i dont know if it really was the Pheonix (cause i believe that is only in plugin format)

anyway....i saw that video....and i was gas'ing for a tape emulator...but in a plugin format.

but ive been searching the net for hours now....and i cant find that darn video again!

 

[bkkornaker]

found the video!!!

https://en.audiofanzine.com/royer-l...ith-Michael-Wagener-Pt-3-Electric-Guitar.html

 

[NL5]

i ..and then by turning on the Crane Song Pheonix tape emulator. He would toggle back and forth so you could hear the difference....and it was like magic! the distorted guitar just came alive! The funny thing was....he was turning it on and off from an outboard piece of gear.....so i dont know if it really was the Pheonix (cause i believe that is only in plugin format)

It was a Cranesong HEDD.

It sounds like it's mostly just doing a lite compression. If you can't afford a HEDD, look into an 1176 style comp or plug - it will do something very similar.

BTW - MW is friggen amazing, and a really cool guy. He hangs out at GS all the time.

edit - just wanted to add, I have worked with a HEDD before, and the tape emulator does add just a touch of mojo to a mix as well. Pretty spendy, but pretty cool.

 

[bkkornaker]

perfect! after readin up on the HEDD, seems like the Nomad Factory plug i was looking into pretty much is similar. Both units have a tape emulator, as well as 2 tube sounds to blend in as well.

 

[Beck]

were all cursed with the ever so 'too clean' sound when we record into our digital DAWs. Ive been doing some research on some tape emulation plugins (for Windows VST) that can help create the sound like you recorded on 2" analog tape........that nice warn, spanked, harmonicly rich sound.

so far I came across .....

Voxengo analogflux suite - has a tape emulation plug in in this suite
PSP Mix pack2 - has a tape emulation plug in in this suite
Nomad Factory - essential studio suite (E-TubeTape Warmer)

anyone have any experience with these? which is better than the other?

Don't waste your time. They don't sound like tape. I haven't heard a plug yet that has the qualities of tape. Oh they sell all right in the Sweetwater catalog, but it’s more snake oil than anything else. They do change the sound and they do sound like “something,” but it’s not tape.

 

[nzausrec]

I have a metal tape that I recorded onto with a four track about 25 years ago. It still sounds sweet.
You know when we record digitally we have to really get the eq right and we have to seperate everything in the stereo field and it's hard work.
That tape recording was real quick. I got the faders set and that's about all had to do. It has wonderful seperation and clarity of voice, synth, gat, even though, I recall from memory, not panned at all. At the same time it has some sweet high band tineal things, and the mid range has absolutely no tinniness. No artifacts jumping out. Rather, real full sounding.
I think tape and analog does really well for the mid ranges.

 

[MCI2424]

While a number of contributors here lament the loss of the warmth of analog tape saturation, and decry the sterility of digital sound, I don't include myself in their ranks.

I have a view that, for many home recording practitioners, most of the problems associated with overcleanliness and other problems with sound stem from recording and mixing techniques rather than from the equipment used. Consequently, I am not convinced that those seeking cures from tape emulators are likely to be satisfied with the results.

There are ways of capturing the characteristics of a taped sound . . . but they involve the use of tape . . . and specifically, high quality tape systems. Their price, however, puts them out of reach of all except the most affluent of home recordists.

Why is there always one party pooper in every crowd?

Yeah, true. Nothing to add here.

 

[SonicAlbert]

I haven't heard a tape emulation plugin that sounds anything like tape. They often have something to offer in the way of color, but it's not a true "tape" sound.

If you want to get the closest to the old "tape" sound you are better off finding a vintage single-ended noise reduction system like a Dolby or DBX. The sound of noise reduction is as much a sound of that era as tape. And I think many people confuse the sound of tape with the sound of Dolby.

 

[ofajen]

I haven't heard a tape emulation plugin that sounds anything like tape. They often have something to offer in the way of color, but it's not a true "tape" sound.

If you want to get the closest to the old "tape" sound you are better off finding a vintage single-ended noise reduction system like a Dolby or DBX. The sound of noise reduction is as much a sound of that era as tape. And I think many people confuse the sound of tape with the sound of Dolby.

Not a big deal, but I'm not so sure I'd agree with this. I mean, for a couple of decades there basically was no noise reduction. 3M's Dynatrack came out around 1960 and was totally amazing, but didn't really catch on because their tape division came out with 203 tape around the same time and people just switched tape and got a few more dB of S/N, which was good enough, rather than doubling their tape width to get the same number of audio tracks and 15 dB of S/N (up around 80 dB, pretty good in 1960!).

The goal of those NR systems was always to try to change the overall sound as little as possible. Moreover, proper tracking is essential with any NR system to have any kind of decent sound. This requires conservative recording level practices (keeping levels down, avoiding distortion and staying as linear as possible.) If you want to get the sound of pushing hotter levels on the tape, you are better off without NR.

Besides with wide track machines, noise reduction is usually not needed. You really get into needing NR when you cut your track width below 0.080" ( the width of two NAB tracks on 1/4", 8 tracks on 1" or 16 tracks on 2"). Beyond that you get the reduced S/N of narrower tracks combined with the accumulated noise of more tracks, so 24 tracks on 2" tape, for instance, or 16 tracks on 1" tape or 8 tracks on 1/2" tape generally requires NR.

Just my two cents.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[ofajen]

I haven't heard a tape emulation plugin that sounds anything like tape. They often have something to offer in the way of color, but it's not a true "tape" sound.

If you want to get the closest to the old "tape" sound you are better off finding a vintage single-ended noise reduction system like a Dolby or DBX. The sound of noise reduction is as much a sound of that era as tape. And I think many people confuse the sound of tape with the sound of Dolby.

Of course, I should have added that dBx and the older professional Dolby systems (Dolby A) are double-ended (both encode and decode) not single-ended. 3M's DynaTrack was also double-ended and required two tape tracks per audio channel with extra electronics cards in the channel electronics.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[jmorris]

i mean, people always rave about how great tape sounds. The nice warmth....the "excitement" it adds when pushed....etc.

Ive always was cursed with "ultra crisp/clean" recordings cause i record straight into my DAW (using an analog mix console for preamps and a presonus firebox for the ADA conversion connection to the computer)

im looking for a simple solution to get that tape sound in a single plugin, without having to use a compresor plugin, an EQ plugin, an exciter plugin....and mess with the settings to get a so called "tape sound", cause to be honest.....i never used tape before so i really dont know what im trying to emulate......but i do know people swear by the tape sound.

As an FYI, i demo'ed the Nomad Factory tape/tube emulator last night (from the essential studio bundle). Its not bad when used lightly. It did exactly what i described above......without messing with any settings. Simply turned it on, and selected 15 or 30 ips settings.....sit back and listen. Not bad at all.

I mean this in a very nice way but I think any issues you are having with a lack of warmth is going to be due to your technique/lack of experience.People always seem to embrase the future then long for the past.

 

[noisewreck]

People always seem to embrase the future then long for the past.

I don't. I embrace the present
Fuck the past, it has a way of filtering the bad stuff and people only remember what made them feel good. But in reality a lot of shitty stuff has gone on in the past.

The future doesn't exist.

And the present... good or bad, that's what you've got. Might as well embrace it.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

The future doesn't exist.

Finally, an explanation for what happened to all the flying cars we were promised by now.

Actually the present is the past's future, so we are living in the future now. In which case, I WANT MY FLYING CAR, damnit!!!

G.