The line between raw and badly produced

[hhans]

No, you should have asked "what brand and model of tape machine would I need to do this" instead of "what is the process?". They're two completely different questions.
Anyways, buy one of these and some tape, probably a mixer and a few cables, and there you go...[/quote]

How does one go about "running something through a tape"? Like what equipment do I need/how exactly do I do it? ...etc.

All sarcastic remarks aside, thank you for your help.

[twilitez]

I guess this was posted already but try FerricTDS.

[hudson]

No, you should have asked "what brand and model of tape machine would I need to do this" instead of "what is the process?". They're two completely different questions.
Anyways, buy one of these and some tape, probably a mixer and a few cables, and there you go...

How does one go about "running something through a tape"? Like what equipment do I need/how exactly do I do it? ...etc.

All sarcastic remarks aside, thank you for your help.[/quote]
Er, dunno what you mean by sarcastic, everything I said in that post was intended to be taken literally.

[OfficialDAPT]

I hate and I mean fucking HATE when a mixdown takes all the life out of a tune. But I listen to stuff like Bluezr, who is lo-fi as fuck with his productions - turntable, Boss SP-303 and all bounced out to tape AND THATS IT. Fucking lushness. Grainy as hell, sure, but I love that sound, character, warmth, whatever you want to call it. Makes a tune sound alive, much more than any polished identikit piece of shit I hear 100 times a day online.

Case in point - http://bluezr.bandcamp.com/track/5150-211

10m27s of lo-fi gloriousness. Shitty sound quality but tbh that just adds to it IMO. The amount of times I see people talking about sampling white noise/vinyl crackle, even going so far as to use vinyl crackle emulation VSTs, and for fucking WHAT??!?! Get it right on a tape deck, end of.

Not meaning to sound naive, but that really doesn't sound professional and it doesn't sound like the producer spent more than 5 minutes on it. I see what you mean by that warm feel but that just sounds like crap, it's skipping and there's random sounds everywhere. It's way too unorganized IMO. But that leads to my point, I think that the line between raw and badly produced is extremely subjective. At some point, for this particular example, I think the low quality takes away from the recording as a whole.

[wub]

Fair comment, I can see why this sort of thing might not be to everyone's tastes.

It's an overall aesthetic that I like though tbh...I'm big on the whole tape vibe and this sort of thing always has me properly listening for techniques/sounds etc.

[nowaysj]

... Er, dunno what you mean by sarcastic...

It was the prevalence of these types of regrettable questions that made prod unreadable. Can guarantee that these kids couldn't even take to a nipple, it had to be forcibly inserted and milked into the back of their throats for them to take any sustenance at all. Their children will probably find it too difficult to breathe, and thus will simply pass from this earth, we will be able to hear the wind again.

And then the subsequent post by that dapt person

[Lucifa]

Christ, don't buy a fucking reel-to-reel if youre a hobbyist making tracks from their bedroom. Recording to professional tape like that will be so subtle you'd be hugely underwhelmed given the investment.

If you're going for the cassette feel like in that audio above, easier to just use mixing techniques. Roll off the highs, degrade the bitrate, apply variable pitch bend, and add some hiss. Do it properly and people will genuinely not hear the difference.

[skimpi]

I hate and I mean fucking HATE when a mixdown takes all the life out of a tune. But I listen to stuff like Bluezr, who is lo-fi as fuck with his productions - turntable, Boss SP-303 and all bounced out to tape AND THATS IT. Fucking lushness. Grainy as hell, sure, but I love that sound, character, warmth, whatever you want to call it. Makes a tune sound alive, much more than any polished identikit piece of shit I hear 100 times a day online.

Case in point - http://bluezr.bandcamp.com/track/5150-211

10m27s of lo-fi gloriousness. Shitty sound quality but tbh that just adds to it IMO. The amount of times I see people talking about sampling white noise/vinyl crackle, even going so far as to use vinyl crackle emulation VSTs, and for fucking WHAT??!?! Get it right on a tape deck, end of.

Not meaning to sound naive, but that really doesn't sound professional and it doesn't sound like the producer spent more than 5 minutes on it. I see what you mean by that warm feel but that just sounds like crap, it's skipping and there's random sounds everywhere. It's way too unorganized IMO. But that leads to my point, I think that the line between raw and badly produced is extremely subjective. At some point, for this particular example, I think the low quality takes away from the recording as a whole.

How old are you? lol

[fragments]

EDIT: I realize my post is kind of mean spirited, but meh...ya'll people need to learn to figure some shit out on your own. A lot of this stuff isn't rocket surgery, what would you do if you could come drop you questions on a forum? FWIW VHS decks do nice things to drums and you can push the signal harder into the tape, also, way less noise than cassette (unless you are going for that).

I re-read this whole fucking thread to realize it was necro'd by some kid who doesn't understand the first thing about actual audio signal flow. I think 99% of people on this forum would really benefit from buying an interface with a few I/Os and a cheap guitar pedal and little outboard synth to learn about audio signal paths and gain staging.

How to record to tape machine from computer and back:

Send audio signal out of your DAW/'puter via the audio interface into the INs of the tape machine. Press record. Reverse the signal flow, send the audio signal from the tape machine into your 'puter via the audio interface and press record in your DAW. Really if you can connect a DVD player to a television you should be able to work this out. Just a matter of using the right cords and plugging them into the correct I/Os in each case. Couldn't imagine a simpler OTB project.

Your interface will need a set of stereo, audio Ins/Outs. And you'll need a tape machine. Research tape machines to figure out what will work best.

[hudson]

... Er, dunno what you mean by sarcastic...

It was the prevalence of these types of regrettable questions that made prod unreadable. Can guarantee that these kids couldn't even take to a nipple, it had to be forcibly inserted and milked into the back of their throats for them to take any sustenance at all. Their children will probably find it too difficult to breathe, and thus will simply pass from this earth, we will be able to hear the wind again.

And then the subsequent post by that dapt person

Yeah I have no idea what's up with this place. Maybe I'm just being a dickhead now that I've gone through school and stuff, but it can't have been this bad when I joined a year or two ago. Jesus, it's been over a year since I made anything at 140 anyways so I have no idea why I still hang around in production.

[OfficialDAPT]

I hate and I mean fucking HATE when a mixdown takes all the life out of a tune. But I listen to stuff like Bluezr, who is lo-fi as fuck with his productions - turntable, Boss SP-303 and all bounced out to tape AND THATS IT. Fucking lushness. Grainy as hell, sure, but I love that sound, character, warmth, whatever you want to call it. Makes a tune sound alive, much more than any polished identikit piece of shit I hear 100 times a day online.

Case in point - http://bluezr.bandcamp.com/track/5150-211

10m27s of lo-fi gloriousness. Shitty sound quality but tbh that just adds to it IMO. The amount of times I see people talking about sampling white noise/vinyl crackle, even going so far as to use vinyl crackle emulation VSTs, and for fucking WHAT??!?! Get it right on a tape deck, end of.

Not meaning to sound naive, but that really doesn't sound professional and it doesn't sound like the producer spent more than 5 minutes on it. I see what you mean by that warm feel but that just sounds like crap, it's skipping and there's random sounds everywhere. It's way too unorganized IMO. But that leads to my point, I think that the line between raw and badly produced is extremely subjective. At some point, for this particular example, I think the low quality takes away from the recording as a whole.

How old are you? lol

19, probably has something to do with my tolerance for certain producing styles.

[fragments]

I also think its important to note there is usually a difference between rawness due to ignorance and raw on purpose...these usually sound different in my listening experience.

[nowaysj]

... Er, dunno what you mean by sarcastic...

It was the prevalence of these types of regrettable questions that made prod unreadable. Can guarantee that these kids couldn't even take to a nipple, it had to be forcibly inserted and milked into the back of their throats for them to take any sustenance at all. Their children will probably find it too difficult to breathe, and thus will simply pass from this earth, we will be able to hear the wind again.

And then the subsequent post by that dapt person

Yeah I have no idea what's up with this place. Maybe I'm just being a dickhead now that I've gone through school and stuff, but it can't have been this bad when I joined a year or two ago. Jesus, it's been over a year since I made anything at 140 anyways so I have no idea why I still hang around in production.

I feel you on that. I learn next to nothing here, I can teach next to nothing, no one has an interest in jokez anymore, unless someone gets their tits out, not much of a reason to hang out here. Honestly don't think it is a lack of knowledge thing here (that can be remedied easily enough), think it is generational moral decay, and I'm not certain that is repairable in a lot of cases.

[fragments]

... Er, dunno what you mean by sarcastic...

It was the prevalence of these types of regrettable questions that made prod unreadable. Can guarantee that these kids couldn't even take to a nipple, it had to be forcibly inserted and milked into the back of their throats for them to take any sustenance at all. Their children will probably find it too difficult to breathe, and thus will simply pass from this earth, we will be able to hear the wind again.

And then the subsequent post by that dapt person

Yeah I have no idea what's up with this place. Maybe I'm just being a dickhead now that I've gone through school and stuff, but it can't have been this bad when I joined a year or two ago. Jesus, it's been over a year since I made anything at 140 anyways so I have no idea why I still hang around in production.

I feel you on that. I learn next to nothing here, I can teach next to nothing, no one has an interest in jokez anymore, unless someone gets their tits out, not much of a reason to hang out here. Honestly don't think it is a lack of knowledge thing here (that can be remedied easily enough), think it is generational moral decay, and I'm not certain that is repairable in a lot of cases.

[hudson]

... Er, dunno what you mean by sarcastic...

It was the prevalence of these types of regrettable questions that made prod unreadable. Can guarantee that these kids couldn't even take to a nipple, it had to be forcibly inserted and milked into the back of their throats for them to take any sustenance at all. Their children will probably find it too difficult to breathe, and thus will simply pass from this earth, we will be able to hear the wind again.

And then the subsequent post by that dapt person

Yeah I have no idea what's up with this place. Maybe I'm just being a dickhead now that I've gone through school and stuff, but it can't have been this bad when I joined a year or two ago. Jesus, it's been over a year since I made anything at 140 anyways so I have no idea why I still hang around in production.

I feel you on that. I learn next to nothing here, I can teach next to nothing, no one has an interest in jokez anymore, unless someone gets their tits out, not much of a reason to hang out here. Honestly don't think it is a lack of knowledge thing here (that can be remedied easily enough), think it is generational moral decay, and I'm not certain that is repairable in a lot of cases.

I dunno man, I learned everything I knew (before going to school) here and I was way ahead of my class in terms of mixing and mastering and stuff, so obviously this place can be great for beginners if they aren't completely retarded. I think now that brostep is the new tween craze or whatever more young kids are coming here hoping to be the next skrillex by the end of the week and are too adhd to actually try learning things. I mean, I try to help out when I can but, like, when people are asking if it's okay to turn their monitors up and mix quieter or posting threads like like that "is there a secret to eqing" one, it's so hard to resist not being a dick because they obviously haven't even glanced at the giant stickies at the top of the page. Not to mention how quick people are to argue when I actually try to give advice or help someone.

[nowaysj]

Well you came here when there were still vapors of a community, and you are actually alive, intelligent, and not spoiled/neglected beyond recognition, so it is no wonder that you have succeeded.

[Sharmaji]

^ respond to the posts that are interesting and ignore-- or even just go ahead and use the "ignore" button-- posts or people that are, to use a uphemism, less-than-helpful.

re: tape, I LOVE my reel-to-reel. It's sat, unused, in a corner of my studio for about 8 years. Everyone who walks in goes "oh wow, tape!" It seems to inspire confidence.

[fragments]

re: tape, I LOVE my reel-to-reel. It's sat, unused, in a corner of my studio for about 8 years. Everyone who walks in goes "oh wow, tape!" It seems to inspire confidence.

Best reason to buy a RTR ever.

[Ldizzy]

any unwanted, painful frequency i would consider non necessary.

poor quality of sample, lots of noise, i find often very pleasing and creative... as long as it fits the aesthetic of a track.. tracks have a purpose. swedish house mafia use clean samples that dont sound so well in headphones cause they play gigantic venues and need as much torque in their mixes as they can... so havaing a raw and poor sample in a clean beat would clash mostly... it would defeat its purpose.. unless u want an obvious clash in a beat (dont think most of us are there.. people usually aim for cohesion in a mix) guess some people might understand what i mean...

but yeah, anything strident and unpleasing... i would think is overkill... if u want to induce unpleasant sensations to the listener there are tens of ways to do it.. but having a piercing frequency that messes ur eardrum up isnt necessary imo

[Ldizzy]

any unwanted, painful frequency i would consider non necessary.

poor quality of sample, lots of noise, i find often very pleasing and creative... as long as it fits the aesthetic of a track.. tracks have a purpose. swedish house mafia use clean samples that dont sound so well in headphones cause they play gigantic venues and need as much torque in their mixes as they can... so havaing a raw and poor sample in a clean beat would clash mostly... it would defeat its purpose.. unless u want an obvious clash in a beat (dont think most of us are there.. people usually aim for cohesion in a mix) guess some people might understand what i mean...

but yeah, anything strident and unpleasing... i would think is overkill... if u want to induce unpleasant sensations to the listener there are tens of ways to do it.. but having a piercing frequency that messes ur eardrum up isnt necessary imo