I grew up with a variety of tape machines and I've always thought they were so cool.
I still have my Tascam 8-track recording machine and a 2-track Tascam mastering machine. I have not used either of these for quite a while, maybe 10 years, maybe longer. The heads on my Tascam 8-track machine need to be replaced and I have never been able to face up to that when I have such good digital equipment at hand. I do still have some unopened packages of recording tape. I have not had the experience of working with the highest quality analog tape machines like Bob Womack has.
I do agree with some of the comments from Brent Hahn. Some of the very best recordings I have heard from analog machines seemed to be very easy on the ears and yet sounded incredibly good. I'm sure it's not just the tape machines but the quality of everything else in the recording chain, as well.
For myself, never having had this kind of quality at my fingertips, the digital workstation I currently have gives me probably better overall quality at way less cost and much greater convenience than I have had before this. But a good analog machine can be much more forgiving.
- Glenn
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