tape emulation plugins
I've been curious about how much difference tape emulation software makes on tracks, so I demoed a few. I grabbed three plugins (Waves J37 Tape, Slate Virtual Tape Machines, UAD Studer A800) and A/B-ed them against each other on individual tracks and decided the UAD Studer A800 was more pleasing to the ear. Then I demoed the UAD Ampex ATR-102 and put that on the Master Bus.
Using a rough mix of a song I'm working on, I created two mp3 files. One with the tape plugins, the other without. To my ear, the mix with the tape is much less brittle on the top end and has a smoother feel throughout. The only difference on the two tracks is the tape plugins being bypassed. I think it's makes a pretty big and positive difference, enough so that I'm probably going to lay out the cash to grab these. This is a rough mix because I only have a limited time to demo these plugins, but I'm curious to hear what others think. For anyone who's interested, this is a song I wrote after I read about the high divorce rate among combat veterans who return home from war zones too mentally damaged to cope. |
What mic and preamp are you using?
Ty Ford |
Try it on non-compressed files (WAV, AIC, FLAC).
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Very nice tune and performance.
Both sound good. The differences are pretty subtle. The one with the tape is about a decibel or so louder with a little boost in the lower frequencies. Very low frequencies are coming though so you might want to add a high pass filter (say around 35 hertz or so). |
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Hey the song is outstanding kudos
I was only listening on laptop ear buds I'll give a listen in my studio later. But first impression was it simply eliminated some of the top air Is that smoother or is that just less info and slightly less air ???? As a general note I have mixed feeling about Tape emulations and saturation plugins in general . When Slates Virtual mix console came out I got it an for about 6 or 8 months thought is was the bees knees. But honestly I have stopped using it completely. |
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Somehow it seems on point: :D
http://www.in2guitar.com/images3/aesxmas.png I've still got Sony analog tape machines back in my machine room! Bob |
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Seriously though, Do you still get clients who want to record to tape ? |
Emulation:
roll off the highs, crunch the mids and create tape hiss. Yes, I know that there's more to it than that. Kev, what was your discovery process that led to you first liking and then not liking the plugin? When I read that, I thought about how frequently we can be wooed by something new only to find that, in the end, it's not so great. Regards, Ty |
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http://www.in2guitar.com/myhistory/tapedeck2sm.jpg That's 24 tracks of Dolby SR noise reduction above the APR-24 multitrack, by the way. My favorite combo is 15 IPS with Dolby SR. The bass is more solid than at 30 IPS and I like the saturation better. Quote:
I've always dreamed of adding the CLASP system to our operations but as long as the clients aren't crowing for it it is hard to justify it. Clasp uses your multitrack as a closed-loop analog processor. You just put up a tape and punch record on the workstation and the CLASP loops it out to the tape recorder to be recorded as you see fit (saturated or clean) and then brings it back in off the playback head and aligns the clips properly. Analog warmth with digital convenience! Bob |
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I usually use the UAD Ampex plugin on my solo guitar tracks. It probably adds 0.01% of something, and even that may be my imagination, but to me it sounds better in than not. Just a tad warmer and smoother.
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Sonar's Pro Channel has a Tape Emulator built into it, which is quite interesting, it has record levels that can boost up the signal to get a really strong signal up to a distorted signal, or anywhere in between. At the right setting it does add a nice touch, and spruces up the sound quite a bit. I just listened to some acoustic guitar with it applied and it did indeed sounded better. I had to fiddle with the settings a little but it didn't take long to get a nice sound. I'm sure it doesn't compare to a $5-10,000 dollar plug-in, but for me it's nice.
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