what are ADATs and DAT machines

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Ken Breezy

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I would like to know what the diffrence is in ADAT and DAT machines? Which one is used to be sent to mastering and which one is more used in a major recording facility.

Thanks in advance
 
ADAT is a digital 8 track tape machine made by Alesis. It is typically used during recording.

A DAT recorder is a two track tape machine that utilizes digital audio tape much like a cassette deck. It is often used as a mixdown deck and would probably be more applicable in a mastering environment than an ADAT.
 
Sidenote - Although DAT tape was typically used as a mixdown medium, I *might* get get 10% of projects in here on DAT tape. Everyone's using CD-R now (which is fine, as a PCM file at 24 bits makes me a happy dude :D )

If my deck ever bit the dust, I'd probably think twice about replacing it. I haven't replaced (actually, "repaired") my 1/4-track either. haven't had the need for a few years at least.

On the "Major recording facility" note - Most "major" recording facilities use ADAT very sparingly - Usually as a backup medium. Almost all of them still use DAT, but now also as a backup medium for 2-track mixes.
 
Yep.. DAT, while still quite useful if you have one, is pretty much obsolete. Pawn shops won't take them off your hands. But I can't really say that I wasted money on my 8 year old unit. I use it all the time now that I am mixing my home brew projects out of the pc on a mixing console.
 
I appreciate all the info. This was the first post I had and I didn't think I would get a response. Thanks again.
 
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