After decades of computer-based music, many producers are looking outside the box to find warmth and grit that a computer just cant provide.Digital music has a tendency to sound very clinical and even small additions of outside sounds, especially analog sounds, can bring depth and life to your music.Some producers use outboard mixers, preamps, or reel to reel tape to fatten up a mix.The medium of tape, in particular, offers a uniquely warm sound and better dynamic range than most digital formats.
However, most of us dont have a nice reel-to-reel sitting around to fatten up a mix. So as a creative workaround, I want to share a great technique that I recently learned here by our friend Peter Kirn at Create Digital Music and Riku Annala, a producermusician hailing from Helsinki, Finland. Everyone is trying to get rid of the clean digital output of VSTs and digital synths by adding another VSTs to their fx-chains that simulate analog gear. ![]() To create this effect, youll need an old cassette deck and a cassette to 18 inch adapter (the one that plugs your iPod into your tape deck), and some cables of course. First, run the output of your source sound (drum machine, computer, etc.) to the 18 inch end of the cassette adapter (I used 14 inch to 18 inch adapter to make this happen) and then put the cassette adapter in the deck. Next, connect the output of the tape deck to your mixer or speakers. Now, press play on both your source and the tape deck, with plenty of volume coming from the source (the key here is to overdrive the signal a bit). But apparently this isnt the case, the tape head itself will give character to your signal without the use of any tape at all. Recue.nets Riku Annala explains this concept further here. Of course, the character of the sound completely depends on the components of the tape deck you use; the condition of the tape heads, connectors, mic pres, etc. The sound is far from hi-fi, so if youre after that, just go purchase a real reel-to-reel unit. In the case of Hitachi D-230 I use, there are a couple of different options for obtaining a different sound. The audio can be just played back through the tape, but it can also be fed through the live-ins, recorded to the tape capturing its output. With the former method, you can get a moderate crunch with a rather clean sound. With the latter, you get loads of more noise, but also A LOT more distortion and a nice pumping compression when pushed. Learn the well-kept industry secrets of EQ, compression, panning, level balancing, reverb and special effects.
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December 2020
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