Home  Articles ANALOG VS. DIGITAL (from a recording perspective)
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ANALOG VS. DIGITAL (from a recording perspective) |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 14 June 2007 |
The following is reprinted from Electrokitty
ANALOG VS. DIGITAL
From the article in Rock, Paper, Scissors, Aug 2, 2001
I thought that this week I'd tackle the infamous Digital Vs Analog debate. I've found that this can be a religious argument for people on both sides of the fence so please take the time to read the entire article before jumping up, and perhaps out a window.
In the past I've owned a 100% analog studio as well as a 100% digital studio. Let me start by saying that I firmly believe that in a perfect situation both should exist hand in hand. I think the debate can be compared to the difference between film and video. Shoot on film, edit on video. Same goes for music. Shoot it on analog and edit it on digital. I use both and have for some time.
The main strength of digital is it's ability to be easily manipulated. This is a huge strong point and is unequaled by analog. With digital, theoretically, you can have an unlimited number of tracks. You can easily edit, change, and experiment with arrangement and then "undo" or "revert to saved" if you screw up. You can align drum hits, substitute sounds, make bug noises out of electric guitar parts, the list is endless. It's easy to compile vocals together to make the best take possible. Digital is the great turd polisher! In a DAW like Pro Tools or MOTU you can automate and then recall mixes exactly how they were months or years ago. Digital is clean and transparent, what goes in comes out a technically faithful representation of the performance.
Mastering is another huge digital strong point. Compiling song lists together, switching orders, level adjustment, changing the time between tracks, fixing bad fadeouts and getting rid of unwanted noises before and after tracks would all be a major pain in the ass, not to mention time consuming, with out digital.
Then there are plug ins. The least expensive way to get a rack of compressors, eqs, reverbs, synths etc. The digital world is proliferated with an armory of these non tangible gadgets. When doing a mix and in need of a quick fix they usually get the job done.
Analog is the world we live in. The way a sound wave travels is analog. Your ears are analog. A live rock band is analog. Analog is romantic. Analog is sexy like a foreign sports car. It's forgiving yet rock solid when you need it to be. Analog is romantic. Analog is sexy like a foreign sports car. It's forgiving yet rock solid when you need it to be. There are no 1's or 0's floating around in the never land of a computer. Your music is safely imprinted on a reel of tape tucked away in a closet for years and years to come.
You hear the squeal of the breaks and the squiggle of the cue as your rewinding to the head of the take. You've seen them, those antique machines that heat up the room and look like they are straight out of an early Star Trek episode. These have been and still are the back bone of the recording industry. I'm not referring to the consumer 1/2 inch 8 track or other swag. I'm speaking of the 2-inch 24-track. Don't do a rock session with out one. Period.
In the hybrid studio the two inch analog tape deck is the best piece of outboard gear money can buy. Analog tape is not transparent and that's good. It gives you back more than you put into it. It captures feeling, delivery and attitude. The Sex Pistols anger could not have been captured by any other means.
Mixing through a great analog console is the shit. Now when I say great analog console I'm not talking about Mackie. I'm talking about Neve, API, Trident, Helios, and Quad Eight. There is a certain depth and richness to the sound that comes from an analog desk. The sound of analog eq is unparalleled in the digital world. Analog functions well and is easy to use. Everything is overbuilt for reliability. If something goes down in the middle of a session, a channel can be swapped out in less than 2 minutes.
In the end, track to analog, bounce to digital, edit and mix through a great analog console.
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