was cassette tape easier?

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jmorris

jmorris

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this is kind of related to another thread I have about bad environment in the MP3 clinic. It seems years ago when I mixed, even on my old 1/2" 8 track analog recorder, the mixes seemed pretty much the same in the "studio" as in my car.Today, I have a hell of a time getting cd's to match from car to studio. My issue my very well be a gain issue. In my truck I cannot get the same sound as in my studio. Listening at low levels in my truck it does sound the same, crank it up and it is distorted and very muddy. Anyone else have the same?
 
jmorris said:
Listening at low levels in my truck it does sound the same, crank it up and it is distorted and very muddy.
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What do you crank up, the mix or the amplifier?
If it's the mix: Then just don't. (See my signature.)
If it's the amplifier, then there's probably something wrong with the preamp. Try your CD on several systems to be sure.
 
Not really sure what you're talking about. In a way shitty analog was easier because it put such a veil over everything it made things seem more cohesive but on the other hand you had that goddamn veil over everything, lol.
 
what I mean is it seems I used to be able to dump down a mix to cassette and play it anywhere and it would sound good. With cd's I seem to be always fighting to get a decent level and a quality that matches what I'm hearing in my studio. It just seems to me to be more difficult to make stuuf sound the same today in all listening mediums. Now maybe I had no ears way back thewn and it sounded just as shitty in the car stereo as it did in my little studio I dont know. I have been the last 2 days mixing a project to where I think it sounds good in the studio and focusing more on comp/limiting the entire mix. It has made a large difference in the transfer from my studio to my truck stereo. It getting very close to matching even cranked up.
 
I could see one major difference being that with cassette you could slam the levels with a little more impunity. Digital is much less forgiving. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it. I'm pretty proud of my tracking and mixing abilities but I can't seem to master a track to any decent volume level to save my life. I just get somebody who's better at it to do it for me.
 
LogicDeLuxe said:
What do you crank up, the mix or the amplifier?
If it's the mix: Then just don't. (See my signature.)
If it's the amplifier, then there's probably something wrong with the preamp. Try your CD on several systems to be sure.
Click to expand...

MORE SQUARE WAVES!!! NOOOOW!
 
cassette easier, as in mixing/mastering and consistent sound from unit to unit?

I definately think the digi stuff wins in the clarity arena. Its more mirror-like to the source. imo. Its Not the Digital technology's fault your mixes do this as many don't have this issue.


Are you burning with Wave, or MP3.. most car decks play Wave I think...mine do. I hear a difference between Wave and MP3.

Your truck deck maybe a 14watt system and your studio possibly higher quality DA's and such... playback units have a big effect for us putting the music "under the microscope".

But I know then you'll think...but my consumer recordings don't do it? So it must be the HR recording.

I'll tell you the secret to getting pro sounding everything from your HR setup ...oh hell, sorry... gotta go...uh...someone else can tell you... :p
 
jmorris said:
what I mean is it seems I used to be able to dump down a mix to cassette and play it anywhere and it would sound good. With cd's I seem to be always fighting to get a decent level and a quality that matches what I'm hearing in my studio. It just seems to me to be more difficult to make stuuf sound the same today in all listening mediums. Now maybe I had no ears way back thewn and it sounded just as shitty in the car stereo as it did in my little studio I dont know. I have been the last 2 days mixing a project to where I think it sounds good in the studio and focusing more on comp/limiting the entire mix. It has made a large difference in the transfer from my studio to my truck stereo. It getting very close to matching even cranked up.
Click to expand...

There's something about digital and analog that seperated them from day one. There's a term in analog called "Wow and Flutter", basically pitch shifting and modulating your sound enough to the point to where you get that certain tape sound that almost seems to fix your tracks just by passing it on to tape.

This is usually a better thing on a critically accurate professional tape machine, which is more accurate than any consumer tape player out on the market.

It's the wow and flutter that gives you that consistent sheen and controlled volume that digital dosn't seem to. In other words, you where in the habit of getting that tape compression that you will never get (yet) on a digital medium. Not even analog emulators have it down yet.

It could of been that the tape harmonics, along with wow and flutter worked to beauty out your mixes anywhere you went, whereas CD (by nature, sterile and cold) mixes are at the mercy of different A/D/A converters of any given CD player. So you may be getting displeasing results by passing your mix through different A/D/A converters (revealing some stuff that wasn't there before, or conversly making it worse) somewhere else than what you have at the studio.

Make sense? Of course, I'm just a young sponge, so I may not have said anything of value just now.


Was cassette tape easier? Ehhh...just made things sound cool in my opinion.
 
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It’s difficult if you are comparing CD to your ancient memory of cassette. I still listen to cassette, reel-to-reel and LP as well as CD and mp3. On the same system I generally prefer reel-to-reel and even cassette.

But from one system to another it’s hard to say, especially in a car or truck. Do you still have the same truck you did when you listened to cassette? How ‘bout the exhaust system… how is it tuned compared to other vehicles you’ve owned? Lots of things could be different in your listening environment that will have more impact than what playback format you’re using.

As was already mentioned, inconsistency between DACs among CD systems can wreak havoc as well.

:)
 
It was easier in the fact that you had less dynamic range, a different frequency response, and inherent distortion to work with so you were kind of boxed in, sometimes in a good way.

Learning to make digital mixes that translate well takes a lot of learning and practice, but it will certainly sound better than cassette if you get the hang of it.

Now if you're talking about recording on 2" vs. digital, that's a different ballgame. I'd love to have a 2" machine, and a gremlin to maintain it, and a giant stack of free tape.

Bottom line is if your mixes sound different in the car and the studio, you need a combination of a better studio listening environment and/or equipment and maybe more practice.

All IMO.
 
Yeah, what they all say. My experience with 4 track cassette recording & mixing to a stereo cassette was that I could crank it due to the ability to stray into the red a little bit fairly frequqntly.
Also playback of a NR prep'd tape on a non NR playback machine - like the average car cassette player - meant that there was a whole pile of extra boost in a certain freq range that was used to avoid hiss & this wasn't being addressed at playback so tapes often sounded BIG in those circumstances (that often suited cars also - due to the ambient noise of motor & travel etc).
Mix your digital stuff to tape slamming at the same levels in the tape recorder as you used to & see how it sounds in the car.
Otherwise save up for mastering services.
 
Tape. Easier? The thought of having to rewind stuff anymore makes me shudder. :p That said I can see how tape has benefits.
 
Tape naturally has a soft limiter effect, if you overload it. That helps in a noisy car or truck.
Mixing for a quiet environment and, and mixing for a noisy vehicle (or any noisy situation) are two different things.
You should expect your studio mix to sound different in a noisy truck, no matter how you mixed it, or what gear you used. The difference is the noise masking operating in the noisy place. You lose the quite subtleties in the mix.
No single mix sounds right in all listening situations.

Tim
 
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