I have what might be a stupid question, but I was told there is no such thing Ok, I record on an Akai DPS16 which is a 16 track digital portable studio. I of course want to move in to the analog domain as soon as I can afford to do so, but my question is; After everything is said and done recording wise, would it make any sort of difference mixing down to stereo on a 2 track master reel to reel, then, taking that and dumping it back on to computer so I can make a cd? Or would it not make any sort of difference, and I should just skip the analog tape and go straight to computer. I know that if I mix down to master tape, I will be able to have that physical media that I can store away, and will have forever, but aside from that would there be any (positive) sound changes.

Thank you in advance to anyone who replys to this thread, I would also like any insight in the best way to mix with what I have.

Akai DPS16
Akai Pro master 2track reel-reel
computer w/adobe audition 1.5
EV 16 ch mixer


Thank You,
Jason

If you're happy with the sound of your mix, stay digital. If you want to add the character of tape to the mix, try the dump to your 2 track.

bandneil wrote:I know that if I mix down to master tape, I will be able to have that physical media that I can store away, and will have forever

Don't go to analog tape for the sake of archiving a digital project. That's like using Silly Putty to preserve family photos. If it's ultimately a digital project, archive it to both a hard drive and cd/dvd. You'll be fine.
-kracor

Thanks for the input, have you ever heard the sound of a digital-analog-digital project? I guess I can just give it a try and see what comes out of it.

bandneil wrote:Thanks for the input, have you ever heard the sound of a digital-analog-digital project? I guess I can just give it a try and see what comes out of it.

We do it all the time.... when making mixes from Protools we go through a board and outboard gear (compressors, plate, preamps, etc) then back into the computer to a stereo track. At the same time we send the mix to a 1/2" deck which hits tape and sends it back to the computer to another stereo track. This way we have two mixes to choose from. Sometimes we choose the tape-back-in mix. Sometimes it is the one that went straight back into the computer from the board. Sometimes we end up using the 1/2" tape. I wish I could tell you one sounds better all the time but that is not what I have found.

Thanks, Mayfair, so what kind of sound do you usualy get from doing this? is it a warmer sound?

bandneil wrote:Thanks, Mayfair, so what kind of sound do you usualy get from doing this? is it a warmer sound?

It really depends... some quieter stuff works better from the direct back in. Some bassier stuff gets the bass tamed more on tape.... we do them both and close our eyes and choose the one that sounds better to us. It is often a very slight difference but enough to continue doing it this way.

I would say you should try it. Experiment. Find what works for you.... it may be very different than what works for other people.

Personally, I like the sound of the analog stereo master better. But these days the digital version can sound pretty good.

The most important reasons to mix to analog are for:

1. Archival stability. You will be able to play back your analog master in 50 years. Good luck spinning up that hard drive (or finding a machine that knows what the hell Firewire, USB, ATA is) , or reading a 50-year old CD or DVD.

2. If your stereo master is on analog tape, you will be able to extract future higher bit-depth, sample-rate consumer formats or different (non-PCM) consumer formats. If your master is a digital file at 24-bit, 96kHz, that's it. You can't extract 32-bit, 192-kHz (or whatever) from that in the future without interpolation. You won't be able to take advantage of any improvements in consumer delivery formats.

bob

Any recommendations? I've been kicking around the idea of buying a 2 channel tape machine for mixing as well...