Analog Mastering #03 | Tape Machine Alignment

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Gavin and Reuben demonstrate how to align a tape machine for flat transfers. This is a technique used to ensure that the sound coming out from the tape machine truthfully reflects the sound recorded on the tape.
#mastering #gavinlurssen #reubencohen #lurssenmastering #mixing #audio #musicproduction

[@davidevans1420]

I've never seen such detail on the ATR Master machine. Extremely valuable even if most us don't have an ATR. Doesn't hurt to have a pair of ATC monitors. Are those Grammy's in the back of the room. I would live to have an ATR, but then I would need a Gavin too. Nice video guys...

[@KB-qv3pb]

Nice video... good attention to detail! FWIW, at 4:33, he points to the Erase head and calls it the Record head, then points to the Record head and calls it the Repro head. Then at 4:36, he points to the Record head again but calls it the Erase head. No biggie for a longtime user, but might be confusing for someone that is new to the machine.

[@IslaGC09]

It's great that your azimuth is spot on. It would be useful to see that adjustment performed

[@lylejohnson7841]

This answered sooo many questions. Thank you!

[@lewisticknor]

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

[@JohnLysonmusic]

Tape rules! I have a mm1200 with RTZ updated Transport cards and a ATR 102!

[@ihcrenrut]

I LOVE you guys!! Thank you for this! New subscriber!! 🙌🏾🤣

[@benjaminshock]

Such a great info on tapes !

[@indieric]

I am late the party on this channel. I love it! I met Gavin at SXSW in 2014. Cool guy and mega talented.

[@anthemmakersmusic]

I named my son Atr 102 i was competing with Frank Zappa smiling.

[@nebstaism]

What he said at the end was gold

[@Rscanlon322]

Hi I was wondering if you’d have any idea why my 2 inch machine isn’t erasing fully. After aligning the machine both repro and record I can get a good strong recorded signal but I’ll still hear what was previously recorded. I.e. the alignment tones. On some tracks it’s more faint and on others it’s louder. What is the cause of this? Is the amount of erasure linked to how much you over bias? Is it just supposed to not erase fully? I don’t understand how punch in and overdubs could be done if that was the case. I’m a 20 year old starting an all analog studio in Ireland (a very small country) in 2024 so as you imagine I’m clueless as to where I’d even begin to find this info. I mean finding the correct nwb/m for the basf 468 tape I have was hard enough and I still don’t know if it’s right! Help

[@voiceofjeff]

I've worked with reel to reel decks since I was 15 years old when I worked at my first job in radio. I'm 61 now. I've never seen a deck where the REC head was on the left, and ERASE head was in the center! ???

[@blakghost2023]

This generation will never know what its like to record on analog

[@zesh47]

Lot of bands record analog. And many studios in LA have tape machines. In 2022

[@Blumenwurst]

That's wrong !!!

[@erikmolnar6585]

TBH, I think they're gonna understand better than the past generations with all these videos! But I'm just a tourist so maybe that is a dumb statement?

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

I still use analog. Started with cassettes, and I just got a Sony TC 252. I’ve recording all my bass parts through it, and there’s so much more headroom when recorded to garage band.

[@dougleydorite]

Who’s fault is that?

[@kikedrummerfucker]

I think you are confusing the order of the heads in the tape travel from the supply reel to the takeup reel, it should be first erase then record and finally repro head.. the same in all tape machines

[@rb032682]

Cool stuff. Thanks.

[@LurssenMastering]

Glad you liked it!

[@rikyjacho9653]

So lemme see if I understood correctly; in this context the process of passing the track through tape was done before actually going to the mastering process (using eq, compression, limiter, etc), correct? Although I also heard that when the track is passed through the tape u guys use some compression and eq; I'm guessing maybe to control the tonal balance a bit, or sudden changes in dynamics; is that correct? Greetings from Ecuador guys!

[@Andreas_Ko_]

классное видео, спасибо за инфу)

[@sethmcfarland377]

Great content guys

[@LurssenMastering]

Thank you for watching!

[@lewisticknor]

Do you guys have a lathe?

[@FireTigerBand]

Awesome, thanks for making these videos! What are your thoughts on using the tape machine to add color and warmth to a digital mix?

[@LurssenMastering]

Our analog console already gives that warmth to digital mixes and we don't run the digital mixes through the tape machine for the sake of adding color and warmth. But doing this in the mixing stage on individual elements of the mix can be a cool way to get sounds.

[@calk5575]

Hey, would love to see a video on stem mastering Vs normal ! Thanks

[@LurssenMastering]

Coming soon!

[@JmieYoutube]

0:59 glitch?

[@anuragvermav6008]

Wow cool can you guys please tell me at which channel I put my tape machine I put on master or individual channel and what effect it will give to sound? and i really don't know about the linear phase stuff and loudness hope you make video on these stuff and please use some type of meters in loudness tutorial

[@LurssenMastering]

Can you please clarify your question? We are thinking of doing a video of shaping sounds with a tape machine and different tape machine heads.

[@anthemmakersmusic]

Its my favorite tape machine Ok so I only have the virtual smiling.

[@crostofor]

Cool stuff :)

[@LurssenMastering]

:)

[@richardfinch1789]

We shouldn't say things like this, People are starting to realize that music has always sounded better on analog formats... I, For sure, will be doing my best to make a difference by helping the trend return to authentic analog

[@MayankShenoywassup122333]

Are there any benefits to recording on tape except the analog flavour and if so, would you like recommend/advocate using tape machines more??

[@reubencohen6476]

Aside from the pleasing sonic characteristics of hitting tape, there are many things to consider. Whenever you do anything to anything, there is loss. If you transfer to and from tape, there is a degree of loss under the best of circumstances. So, like anything else, one must understand what they are trying to achieve. Again, outside of the sound characteristics, the benefit of analog tape is maintaining the analog integrity of the sound without introducing a digital converter. Analog tape can maintain the integrity of the frequency spectrum that cannot be achieved with digital, even when introducing high sample rates such as 192k. In digital, there is still a cut off point, with analog, there is no cut off point. Now, these opinions can be argued on their merritt because what digital does bring is so integral to how records are made today. All in all, you have to understand that going to and from tape requires a digital to analog converter, a good maintained tape machine, good quality tape (hard to find these days), and then an analog to digital converter. You also need to understand gain structure through all of this, which is an art in and of itself. That is a lot of processing! So, unless you’re looking for the sound characteristics of tape, it’s really not advantageous because the tape becomes a storage medium for the digital file at that point. Aside from the sound, the real benefit to going to tape is if you were recording direct without any digital processing at all.

[@MayankShenoywassup122333]

@@reubencohen6476 Thank you so much!!