TapeSound VST - get tape warmth in your productions!

[nowaysj]

So you mean like you are in a place listening to sound coming from a tape player, like a boombox or something?

[Jizz]

yeah, basically I'm lost in a forest and music comes from a tape deck somewhere, music that will guide me to light and safety

[SunkLo]

Overlay some hiss, filter out some HF, add a bit of pitch instability, add in saturation, maybe some crosstalk. You'd be pretty close.

[nowaysj]

Still confused. How would you characterize the sound from a tape? What attributes does it have? Do you want it to literally come from a place, from a real space? Forests have some of the craziest acoustics. Have you ever really listened? I was in a deeply isolated sequoia grove one time, and got really into the acoustics. Like actually really long reverb tails. But with such a nice timbre (no pun, but why not?).

Like if you want it to sound like a tape deck playing some music. I'd move the thing away from you in sound. Highs are easily absorbed, lows travel, penetrate and bend. So roll off highs, soften attack transients. To start with, I'd use an eq with a high and low pass filters kind of squeezing your sound, and then a little more low pass to get that distance. I'd do that sound in mono, and then buss it to a reverb. That reverb can be mono. Try it like that. Mono will be better. If it is too narrow, just slightly broaden it, but keep it thin. Maybe do another buss like a fully wide reverb, but send just a touch, like truly touch to that verb. Eq both reverbs. I wouldn't go crazy with noise and saturation, that is likely not going to be that audible through a forest space. You could try, but def reduce it so you're not hearing it.

In regards to those verbs, perhaps there are some IR - impulse responses from forests, so you can get really accurate with that verb. If not, in regards to that reverb eq, totally take out the bottom, and low shelf the low mids down a bit, and same for the highs. Real soft curves I'm thinking. Real soft sound. Play with a notch up and notch down, taking out one part, and adding a bit of another there in the spectrum. Same for the eq for the sound itself.

Holy cow, don't even know what that reads like. Prolly a mess. I think biggest thing is mono, panned, narrow, really soft loss of highs.

[nowaysj]

Overlay some hiss, filter out some HF, add a bit of pitch instability, add in saturation, maybe some crosstalk. You'd be pretty close.

You quick posted me. Remember here that he is not looking for the sound of something coming off of tape, he is looking for the sound of something played off of tape in a space.

I think it changes things, honestly.

Good point on pitch instability. De La Mancha used to make an awesome plug called Unstable. Take a look at that. Tone boosters has time machine, that does pitch too? Who else, Otium, or Tone Projects now: http://www.toneprojects.com/products/pl ... -stx-1260/ Really dope plug for distress. The STX-1260 (say it with nerd voice).

[Jizz]

yeah I'm really getting into acoustics nowadays, and things like forests are crazy for it! was ina forest for a good couple weeks last month and the sound was just so free man, it was great. i know thats a pretty terrible description lol but im not sure how else to put it.

i've already kinda done roll off high, pitch instablility, fizz. dunno why mono never struck me, its obvious. and i could play around with it going from mono to stereo lolo

what's crosstalk though?

[nowaysj]

Mixing of the left and right channels into each other. But I'd skip it for your scenario, keep it mono. To start with at least. You essentially have a point source for sound.

[Jizz]

I'm losing the plot already, now theres an MRI machine in the middle of the forest making the hihats

[nowaysj]

Haha. SURreal.

[SunkLo]

When one channel bleeds into another. Fairly synonymous with a narrower stereo field.

There's this place by my house that's a big concrete tunnel that goes under the road with a stream running through it. The reverb time is immense, coupled with the ambient sound of the water running and cars occasionally passing overhead. Great burn spot. Sometimes I just sit down there and stomp on the sides to hear the 10+ sec reverb tail. I wanna get a portable recorder so I can sample it. I also wanna take some spray cans down there and cover up the graffiti with better shit. It's like angsty teenage girl graff, "#1 lie: boys rule, but in reality they SUCK!" Not kidding. Kind of wrecks the allure. I like the idea of finding secret spots, sort of like videogame easter eggs. I wanna put up a mural or at least some nice writing to enhance the magic.

[nowaysj]

I like the idea of finding secret spots, sort of like videogame easter eggs.

I am convinced that you and I are related in some very near genetic way. It is unreal. Ever do 23andme? I know you are my cuz. Maybe astralcuz.

[SunkLo]

Nah but I was thinking about it a while ago. Would be nice to know about genetic predispositions to pathologies.

[wolf89]

yeah, basically I'm lost in a forest and music comes from a tape deck somewhere, music that will guide me to light and safety

Buy a cheap second hand tape deck. Record onto it. Record that back into the DAW. Use a convolution reverb plug in on it. Try find IR data for a forest or something. Mess about with dry/wet and decay time and shit to sound like you're moving closer or further from the sound source or whatever. EQ stuff out of the recording of the tape to emulate the non flatness of a ghetto blaster's speakers. I dunno how easy getting IR data for a forest is but yeah it might work

[nowaysj]

Its the internet man. Someone, somewhere has pulled an IR from a forest. There's probably hundreds

[wolf89]

Its the internet man. Someone, somewhere has pulled an IR from a forest. There's probably hundreds

That's what I was guessing. Was just covering my ass just in case as I haven't looked (I want to now though)

[Jizz]

wait, IR? as in Infra-Red? I thought that was an image thing

[wolf89]

wait, IR? as in Infra-Red? I thought that was an image thing

Impulse Response. Sound is recorded at a location and analysed to create data that can then be loaded into a convolution reverb unit that will recreate the reverb of the location

[Jizz]

Ah man, that is sick! Definitely looking into that, cheers

Wolf (or anyone) do you have suggestions for a good convoluter?

[wolf89]

Dunno. Ableton 9 came with a convolution reverb plug in so I just use that.

[Jizz]

Lol fuksake im still on 8, another reason to upgrade i suppose