Analogue In A Digital Format

[ACEtone]

DAT is not before computers. Before computers became widely used perhaps. But come on - this is a lame argument.
Everyone has their preferred way of doing things and their preferred equipment to use.
I started making music on multitrack cassette. Not ideal, but it is what I had to work with and could afford. DAT is just a storage medium. A digital one at that. What makes you so attached to that clunker? Or perhaps there more to it than I'm willing to accept!

I use computer for recording and mixing and real instruments as much as possible. If I could afford the money and time I'd love to add more analogue gear, but if I want to record music I have to use the available resources, right?

I think you have a disproportionate amount of disdain for 'computers' and a lack of awareness of the fact that the very DAT you're lauding wouldn't work without the chipsets that control the transport and almost every other aspect of its operation.

[stepping razor]

DAT is the most closest reproductive sound that is sounding like when you first recorded it live in real time too playback. The DAT format can not be recorded on to computers not compatible unless you do it in real time. That`s is why so much music today is so polished, even if it was recorded live in real time, why then put it through computer software just to over produce fiddle about with the real timing cleaning up live musicians mistakes, perhaps one can`t play the live keyboards and bass lines right through in real time without making mistakes. Computer software sorts that out.

peace

[water slinger]

i preffer digital dancehallhall to digital roots.digital roots is quite lame,boring,annoying they should revert back to old styles.but the dancehall and digital go together quite well imo.

[ACEtone]

...allo Leggo!
glad you could make sense of it all - wink -

bein' a blinkin' musician I can geh it plain as day any day of the week - you mark my words - Mary Poppins...
er...no that's not what I...

Did a bit of messing around with samples of awful sounding casio ala Sleng Teng toninght. Cool shit. Make it bigger pump it up.

It really doesn't matter - it is all about the production and the mastering. And actually enjoying it...

[stepping razor]

There is a difference between digital music and digital music run through a computer sofware programme. I`m not against computers but the software they use for music editing. You can`t recreate king tubby on editing software. Look at the state of reggae. So many good digital tunes from the 80`s and 90`s which were not put through a pc. Then the music went down hill once the music was recorded using a pc. DAT does not compress the sound as much as cds, which means better sound, better production. If you put a digi reggae tune from the 80`s and 90`s through a 31 band analogue graphic eq you can pick up everything. Digital tunes made via the pc are compressed so an analogue sysstem can`t pick up the frequencies as well. so analogue in a digital format is meant for sound systems to put their own production on.

No one can get their siren sounding like Jah Shaka`s siren. All the other sound system sirens sound the same. And its not about which siren box you use, it`s about production.

One of first computer music software was Qbase in the ealry 90`s to record on to Qbase from a keyboard you had to have a midi keyboard if not then you would need a midi convertor. Whilst in the 90`s that all cost money the pc and software was bypassed. When DATS first came out there was no recordable CD machine and the industry was worried about piracy that an analogue signal could be recorded staight into a digital format. The thing about real timing is that it uses the least amount of compression. CDS use more compression than DATs,pc music software is totally compressed to how small can you go packing in the information. Bass how low can you go PE. If as a producer I think it`s important to keep music as live and alive as possible then my productions will stand out from the productions of today. That`s how you get different productions for each tune you make instead of the pc productions. They say it`s cheaper using pc music sofware but the art of sound engineering has been lost. Name me new tunes made on the pc you would actualy buy and spend money on?

Everyones productions sound all the same perhaps thats because the pc has taken over from the mixing desk.

peace

[stepping razor]

Recording music one take real time live.
Drums one take, bass one take, keyboards one take, any other real instrument one take and all live. Why would we want music editing software!!

peace

[stepping razor]

Oh yeh the production team messing about with it on the pc.

peace

[flashman]

Oh yeh the production team messing about with it on the pc.

peace

Well part of this is the attitude and mode of operation of the engineers and musicians, right? I mean, you can record live through amps and mics and run it through whatever kind of effects you want and record it onto a computer without any additional computer software based sounds, and you can decide to play through a whole take and not loop or edit the performances. So, is recording like this directly onto a hard drive, with only external effects really different than recording onto a digital multi-track?
I really don't know. I'm an amateur home recorder and I record onto Logic Express at home and I can just go straight in 'clean' with out selecting any kind of software based sound, or I can record through an amp with a mic and just use external settings and keep the software effects out of it. So is that still worse than a digital multi-track?
I'm not saying it isn't, I just don't quite get it. As I said, I only barely know what the hell I'm doing, but I still have fun doing it!

[stepping razor]

RC circuit bent Altai 505 drum box put through an analogue home made echo delay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-JTqBiN ... re=channel
Caution high and low frequencies all hands on no software which would cost hundreads on pounds to even get close to what`s happening.

To get a wide range of choice of instruments on computer software would cost a lot. A good digital multi track recorder has it all there in one box with 200 bass sounds that have numerous ways of changing each bass sound or guitar etc.

To use a computer as a multitrack device, the computer must have an analog to digital interface, and multitrack recording software must be installed.

peace

[ACEtone]

@Leggo - of course we knew you were a McFanboy!

@Stepping Razor - I don't know how tweakable the sounds and presets in a digital multitrack are but the fact that on a computer you can get the sound editing down to actually redrawing the waveforms goes a long way for me.
What if one just didn't like the sound that come with the multitrack?
Back to my first drum machine I have never 'trusted' the out of the box sounds that come with any hardware or software. So regardless of the medium, computer digital multitrack, tape deck etc. it is up to the producer to do what it takes to get the sound the way he thinks it should be.
of course there are thousands of cloth eared clods that will jump at the latest and greatest bit of studio magic software that they believe will make their music sound great.

You mentioned a guitar sound on a digital multitrack. I do hope you are not using fake guitar in your tunes!