Post by: BSD2000 on October 13, 2013, 10:40:11 PM
I was asked to mix-down a demo song and just for the heck of it, I decided to fire up the Revox A77 and print it to tape, just to compare and see how it sounds. Here's the results:
Digital DAW mix, 48K MP3 -256k CBR
Analog Revox A77 mix, 48K MP3 - 256k CBR
Here's a little background on the recording - the rhythm and lead guitar, bass and vocals were recorded using a cheap, low-end Zoom 8-track recorder. The drum track was created using Toontrack's Superior Drummer. The vocals were recorded using a cheap Behringer C1 microphone. The guitar is an American made Deluxe Fender Strat, going through a VOX Tonelab LE effects processor. The bass guitar is an unknown, generic Fender copy, processed through IK MultiMedia's Amplitube v3.0 plugin.
The source for the analog mix-down was my Audio-gd NFB-12.1 DAC @ 96k/24bit, fed through the Revox A77 and printed to a 20+ year old Maxell UD II tape @ 15ips with Dolby turned on.
The tape was then played back to my Korg MR-2000S DSD recorder set to the 5.8Mhz DSD mode; then I converted it to 96k/24bit using Korg's Audiogate software.
The song is called 'Here and Gone'. It was written, performed (all the instruments and vocals) by Greg Demeter. Here's the lyrics:
Here and Gone
by Greg Demeter
These are the days to remember
Just like your loving' childhood memories
And this, is the time to surrender
Cause baby letting go, is gonna set your soul free
Embrace all your life as a lover
There's really nothing that you should ever have to fear
Keep holding on, one to another
Because yo, you never know, this might all just disappear
Chorus
I've been waiting for this moment
For so damn very long
Ain't nothing easy come and go
when you realize
You're here and gone
Here and gone
Here and gone
Lord, you're here and gone
I'd say we're in this together
So come, take my hand, and trust me as a friend
Cause once we slip into forever
I promise you baby
We will live, love, again
Chorus
I've been waiting for this moment
For so damn very long
Ain't nothing easy come and go
when you realize
You're here and gone
Here and gone
Here and gone
Lord, you're here and gone
Here and gone...
Ain't nothing easy come and go
When you realize
When you realize
You're here and gone
by Greg Demeter
These are the days to remember
Just like your loving' childhood memories
And this, is the time to surrender
Cause baby letting go, is gonna set your soul free
Embrace all your life as a lover
There's really nothing that you should ever have to fear
Keep holding on, one to another
Because yo, you never know, this might all just disappear
Chorus
I've been waiting for this moment
For so damn very long
Ain't nothing easy come and go
when you realize
You're here and gone
Here and gone
Here and gone
Lord, you're here and gone
I'd say we're in this together
So come, take my hand, and trust me as a friend
Cause once we slip into forever
I promise you baby
We will live, love, again
Chorus
I've been waiting for this moment
For so damn very long
Ain't nothing easy come and go
when you realize
You're here and gone
Here and gone
Here and gone
Lord, you're here and gone
Here and gone...
Ain't nothing easy come and go
When you realize
When you realize
You're here and gone
So what do you think about the mixes, which one do you prefer? :)
One thing to keep in mind is that the original source of the tracks is very low quality, so I tried to do the best I could to create a listenable mix, given what I had to start with. Plus, it's a rough demo of the song, so nothing is really meant to be perfect (playing, singing, timing, etc).
My experiment was really to see how printing a mix to tape changes how it sounds, good or bad. 8)
What do you think? :)
Post by: lshin80 on October 14, 2013, 08:03:09 AM
Digital Daw mix: flat, lifeless.
I've come long ago to the conclusion that digital kills the sound. Period.