When it comes to recording at home using Logic, I’ve been blithering on about tape plugins for a little while to anybody who will listen. They’ve produced some great results in getting some more analogue tones, sweetening the lifeless landscape that is pure digital audio.
However, I’ve just given these software plugins some rather splendid competition:
I’m (way too) pleased to introduce you to the Tascam 38, eight-track recorder. <beams>
I’ve run some mixes through it already and it just trounces anything a plugin can do. If you’re into getting a tape sound then your answer is buy a tape machine. The colour that is present, the smoothing of the harshness – there’s more truth in it.
If the horror stories I’ve heard are to be believed – and I’ve no reason to doubt them – buying a used reel to reel is like going for a stroll in a minefield. They are vastly complicated machines and there is a large chance you’ll end up with something that is only 60% functional and it’s going to cost you 60% of your income to repair. After many hours of use (which machines of the 70s and 80s will have in the hundreds) they all require attention. The ongoing care: clean before use, clean during use, clean after use. Although this part isn’t such a chore. Wiping away at the tape heads with an isopropanol-drenched cotton bud is much more satisfying that it sounds.
Luckily for me I came across an expert in navigating these types of minefields. The machine now in my little ‘studio’ is in as-new condition having been rebuilt from scratch. Its restorer? a Russian fellow by the name of Evi. Not only was he full of good advice, but bloody hilarious too, so I thought I’d make a little film of my visit.
Let the hunt for decent, unworn reels of tape in this country for less than £100 begin…