Allergic to Analog

An interesting trend - younger music makers (and listeners) may actually be averse to the sound of the classic analog equipment slightly older users revere - hearing it as muddy, distorted, lacking transient impact, and generally more lo-fi sounding than the digital tools they have grown up with.

Limits Trigger New Skills

• master with digital eq only for a while

• master with analog eq only for a while

• master in the box for a while

• master with no limiter for a while

Then incorporate all you’ve learned into your regular workflow and enjoy the gains in your arsenal of solutions.

Comfort noise

In the world of radio and wireless communications, comfort noise is the term used to describe a subtle background noise intentionally added to modern digital systems. Turns out listeners don’t like it when systems go completely silent in between program material.

When I had my first recording experiences on 4-track as a teenager in the early 90s, hiss (and sometimes lots of it) was unavoidable, and it became part of how I experienced music and the recording process. The hiss that preceded the music was like an invitation into the world of that recording. The day I made my first digital multitrack recordings I was astounded to hear guitars and drums roar at full volume out of utter silence, and yes, it made me a little uncomfortable.

I never forgot that experience, and many years later (and also somehow many years ago) I made a recording of the tape hiss from all 16 tracks of a 2” machine, my own comfort noise to add as a bed to multitrack projects that were feeling a little too clean.

I shared these files around a bit, and even made up a little doc full of flowery blather describing how to use them:

What is it?

A stereo mix of all 16 channels from a pristine 2" 16-track analog tape machine.  The tape has been recorded with no input (blank - just ultrasonic bias), under the exact same conditions as tracking to the tape itself.  The 16 tracks have their volume and panning set to simulate a typical 16 channel analog mix.

How do I use it?

Add the hiss track as a separate stereo track in your DAW mix.  Start with the existing level, then adjust to taste relative to the mix.  You'll hear it when the level is right.  

What does it do, and why does it work so well?

The hiss does not change your mix itself, but it does change the way the ear interprets and reacts to it. 

The 16 tracks have their volume and panning set to simulate a typical 16 channel analog mix. This panning reveals subtle frequency dependent phase shifts from channel to channel (which is normal with tape but non-existent in the DAW), lending an increased sense of width and depth.

The hiss provides a fixed foreground for the recording, allowing the instruments to fall into perspective relative to this, resulting in an enhanced sense of front to back depth.

The high frequency content in the hiss is like bias for the ears, and it enhances the perception of the high frequencies in the recording, allowing you to achieve a smooth, warm, yet clear high end without needing as much high frequency eq as with an all digital recording.

Low frequency modulation noise causes subtle L/R phase differences in the low frequencies, resulting in a wider sounding low end.

Enjoy!

Funny stuff. But sometimes a little comfort noise is exactly what you need.

A Re-occurring Theme

Ballpark the level.  Set the eq if / as needed (hint - this is also a form of setting the level).  Fine tune the level.  95% of the time that’s really all there is to it!

Then Put It Away Till Tomorrow

Close the door and leave your work in the studio.  Don’t listen in the car on the way home. Don’t check it out on headphones that evening.  Don’t talk with family and friends about what you’re working on. Leave it all behind, have a life outside of the studio, and come back fresh and rejuvenated the next day.

Stop When You’re Tired

This should be obvious, but being tired leads to mistakes.  When you feel your focus waning, give yourself permission to call it a day.

Most digital equalizers use the same math

Forgetting for a moment the special cases that set out to model analog non-linearities, nearly all digital equalizers are capable of identical results if tweaked to match curves.  So why choose to use one over another?  

Because ergonomics matter.  

The eq that gets the best results fastest wins.  Not only because it saves time, but because it gets to the target while the first impression of what the user set out to accomplish is still vivid, without confusing detours into unexpected results.

Virtual tape machine plugins will never sound like tape

… because the best part about recording to tape is not what it adds, but what it doesn’t take away.  

Sure you can use a tape plugin to add noise, distortion, head bump, saturation, flutter, eq anomalies, etc, and sometimes those processes can make a source sound subjectively better.  But no process can undo what’s lost in the initial conversion from analog to digital.  Good argument here for using the best converters possible.

A corollary to the above is that re-recording a digital source back to tape in the mastering process does not have nearly the same benefits as mastering from an analog tape derived from an analog source.  In fact more often than not a tape layback of a digital source sounds no better than the source, and often worse.

Tape is best used when recording a source that is going to be in the analog domain anyway, not to add “that tape sound”, but to preserve the real analog sound of the source:

1. tracking
2. output of an analog console
3. output of analog mix buss processing (instead of back into Pro Tools)

In the case of 2 and 3 the tape is what should be delivered to mastering.  Re-recording the tape back to digital defeats the purpose.

There is no shortcut

Any music that deserves your attention as a listener is the result of effort expended by the person who created it.  Effort during the creation process doesn’t guarantee the end product is worth hearing, but worthwhile work cannot be made without it. 

Your limiter is trying to tell you something

Sometimes the inability to get the level up cleanly is actually just a warning that your eq balance is not where it needs to be.

Nail the eq balance and the level comes easily.