why do alot of pro studios do this?

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wjgypsy

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have any of you bought Paul McCartney's driving rain album? if you did, inside the booklit, it tells how they recorded all the songs.
it was something like this:

"the drums, bass, guitar and piano was recorded onto 16-track analog tape. then it was loded into logic for the overdubs."

ok, so i know that when you record to analog tape, you get a warm and puncy sound. so why don't they just record all the tracks on tape and then lode it into logic for editing and stuff?

just a tought.........

zeke
 
They may have tracked at more than one studio which might have had a different variety of equipment
 
i don't think so. it said that it was recorded in some studio in L.A.
but you did make a good point.

zeke
 
Prob. just a production choice..Between all the inst. and stripein' the tape to lock 16 tracks gos pretty fast!Maybe they had a souped up 16track machine they dug the sound of ect and planed to use all its real estate for those inst. only..McCarteny can use what ever the hell he wants so....Just a guess


Don
 
ZEKE SAYER said:
have any of you bought Paul McCartney's driving rain album? if you did, inside the booklit, it tells how they recorded all the songs.
it was something like this:

"the drums, bass, guitar and piano was recorded onto 16-track analog tape. then it was loded into logic for the overdubs."

ok, so i know that when you record to analog tape, you get a warm and puncy sound. so why don't they just record all the tracks on tape and then lode it into logic for editing and stuff?

just a tought.........

zeke
Click to expand...

Maybe the vocals sound better recorded digitally? Or the studio time was an issue. They only had enough time to get some of the instruments down on analog. They would most likely be trying to keep within buget.
 
ZEKE SAYER said:
ok, so i know that when you record to analog tape, you get a warm and puncy sound.
Click to expand...
Yup.... just haul out your cassette multi-tracker and there it is - all warm and punchy-like!!! ;)

(sorry - couldn't resist - from another thread of mine........!)
 
'specially those eight track cassettes huh? Really saturate that stuff hard.
 
I think its crazy that they got all 16 tracks onto a cassette tape. Now THATS technology. :)
 
A 16-track cassette?? My God, there must not be any head room on that at all.

Where did you see one of those 'Dude?
 
I think tube was just being sarcastic.

A lot of what tape does to a sound happens on the transients. That's where the tape compression is most noticeable. It makes sense then to use it on high transient sources like percussion, guitar and piano. Vocals are a little more smooth so they wouldn't be affected as much.

You also usually do a lot more vocal takes so it's easier to do that on a DAW than having a tape machine log all those extra hours.
 
"I think its crazy that they got all 16 tracks onto a cassette tape. Now THATS technology. " -

Hell, that ain't nuttin' - I once put 16 separate tracks PER TRACK on a 8-track CARTRIDGE, all separate mics on a 128 piece orchestra, dc to daylight freq response, sounded better than bein' there -

The secret, my friends, is MULTIPLEXING -

(Sounds of fiendish laughter, echoing from somewhere offstage...)
 
Not to forget that the editing is much easier and faster... No more cutting tape if you decide to change the order of some parts... You can easily comp vocal tracks from different takes...

Once you've captured the tape saturation, you have the 'most important' part of the analog sound...

So it seems a quite natural way to me... But remember, I'm a hobbyist (planning to buy a porta-05 soon :D)

aXel
 
Re: Re: why do alot of pro studios do this?

Gavin said:
Maybe the vocals sound better recorded digitally? Or the studio time was an issue. They only had enough time to get some of the instruments down on analog. They would most likely be trying to keep within buget.
Click to expand...

I do believe that Paul could probably have all the studio time he wants. Budget? whats that?
 
They must have used two super-eight cassettes.........

The reason why many studios now do this........ Even many of the large studios, those with 6 figure plus consoles, now track to disk, especially as high-end converters now allow for a dynamic range which far surpasses anything possible in the analogue domain.

So why the analogue machine? Well, easy really, its the only way you get the good'ol sound of tape compression (if you know how to use and calibrate an analogue machine properly). I have an 8 track tape machine which is used very often, but I often use it purely as an effects processor. For instance, when recording drums, snare, toms and kick mics run through the 8 track, and out to disk, thereby providing us with the analogue benefits, but none of the hassles.
 
ZEKE SAYER said:
"the drums, bass, guitar and piano was recorded onto 16-track analog tape. then it was loded into logic for the overdubs."

ok, so i know that when you record to analog tape, you get a warm and puncy sound. so why don't they just record all the tracks on tape and then lode it into logic for editing and stuff?
Click to expand...

Because the drums, bass, guitar, and piano are usually the nucleus of most of his songs. All other tracks are ancillary. What's the use in firing up the 16-track when you're just overdubbing a 2-5 second guitar fill or tamborine part?
 
C'mon, guys. Isn't it obvious?

Analog tape gives him better access to the current Dolby NR build.


Sheesh. I have to think of everything.







----------------------
Comment followed by the sound of cyber attack using blunt, heavy objects, such as a series of "eq-equipped" Optimus amplifiers. They fling pretty well.:D
 
sjoko2 said:
They must have used two super-eight cassettes.........

The reason why many studios now do this........ Even many of the large studios, those with 6 figure plus consoles, now track to disk, especially as high-end converters now allow for a dynamic range which far surpasses anything possible in the analogue domain.

So why the analogue machine? Well, easy really, its the only way you get the good'ol sound of tape compression (if you know how to use and calibrate an analogue machine properly). I have an 8 track tape machine which is used very often, but I often use it purely as an effects processor. For instance, when recording drums, snare, toms and kick mics run through the 8 track, and out to disk, thereby providing us with the analogue benefits, but none of the hassles.
Click to expand...

I borrowed an old Sony to try just that. Unfortunately, it was in bad shape and sounded like crap.. But it was worth a try :)
 
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