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Analog Tape
Recording
Set up consist of preparing the machine and is
accomplished prior to your visit:
Clean heads, demagnetize the tape path, alignment, and
calibration.
The signal path is kept as pure as possible with
slight compression only on bass and vocals. The
rest of the tracks are recorded hot enough to use
saturation on the peaks.
Once levels are established, the recording begins and
runs to the end of the song. Mistakes are
punched in if needed to fix parts.
Transfer
and editing of tape tracks on the DAW
This is for individual editing of tracks, add many
more tracks, and finish mixing using Nuendo. The
transfer to digital retains the quality of analog
(nothing lost or added)
Mixing
of tape tracks
To stay out of the
digital domain (as a purist) we mix straight to
1/2" analog tape. This is done by hand, or
using the old Mackie UltraMix Automation which
regulates the volumes within the special patch bay
connected to the mixer designed by Mackie. It
also has an auto mute feature that mutes empty tracks
to eliminate an accumulation of tape hiss due to
multiple tracks without audio. The result is a better
sound than digital, although not as elaborate as the
DAW since the Mackie automation is volume related
only.
Mastering:
Transfer the stereo
tape tracks to Nuendo @ 96 kHz/24 bit.
Work Equalization and
compression just enough to make the songs work with
each other for a good overall sound. Heavy
compression can be done at this point, but that
defeats the purpose of tape recording.
Final
Product:
CDR:
The standard format (for now) is a Redbook CDR for
replication. From that, MP3s, WMA, aa3, ac3,
real media, and many more formats are available.
Vinyl
Record:
Turntables are easy to buy these days since a surge of
interest in records by consumers and DJs has generated
sales. Most people who prefer vinyl do so
because of the sound which, as stated earlier, has
more to do with preserving dynamics (you can't master
too hot for records, the needle jumps out) than the
type of medium used.
Tape
Restoration:
Some brands
deteriorate and come apart (shed) which destroys the
recording and gums up everything.
At
Pyramid, we have the equipment to restore the tape
long enough to transfer the audio to digital for
archiving or mixing.
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