> I understand most mastering is done with a program called Sonic Solutions
> and the media is something that looks like a video cassette, but is
> actually a very high-res digital media. You can still retain analog
> "warmth" through the mastering process, though, if you track to tape.
> The tape that you track on compresses a bit, boosts some low end, and
> cuts off a bit of the highs, and does all the things we love about tape,
> but even though the mastering is digital, it's so high-resolution that it
> becomes almost completely transparent (not counting what you add during
> mastering, of course. ie compression, etc.) and is able to adequately
> retain the sound of the tape. I think it's a misunderstanding that
> allowing the signal to touch anything digital though the entire process
> necessarily robs the recording of analog characteristics, and you hear
> this all the time.
Yeah, I think that basically most people who complain about digital (&
most people in general) haven't yet heard higher-than-16-bit-resolution
digital audio yet. It's still a newish, somewhat obscure thing. I don't
know exactly what resolution the Sonic Solutions thingies work at, but I
know that my experiences with 24-bit audio have been magnificently
satisfactory. Most folks don't realize how extremely accurate & listenable
24-bit audio is & that, pretty much after that point, all you lose out on
with digital is the colouring that analogue produces, which like you said
can be achieved by just dumping the musics to analogue tape at some point
during the recording/mixing/mastering process.
Marc Poirier
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org