Making Records with Eric Valentine - Hardware Vs. Plugins (Analog Tape)

[@1Reg0]

The fact that this content is free is incredible.

[@easymix8109]

unspeakable.

[@pepe7drum]

That is because you probably dont have the studer

[@francolaria]

Eric. I just discovered your channel today... and I am totally gobsmacked by the content you produce. I've already learned so much from the 3 videos I have watched so far: Tuning speakers and room acoustics, Sie Q plugin vs the real thing, and now the J37 comparison. But it's not just the comparisons that are enlightening - it's everything else you talk about along the way too. Love your channel. Thank you.

[@Imprimiss]

This was awesome Eric. The one thing I found is exactly what your saying, its there, almost but not glued or smooth, missing lows and the sizzle at top end. My fix is creating the missing parts. My chain is J37, EQ, SSl Comp, EQ, SSL comp. First EQ brings in the lows and highs, 1st compressor glues like in mastering, slowest attack, fastest release, lowest comp, analog in, just touching the needle. 2nd EQ fixes the mid range, 2nd comp same, just to glue it all. In some cases (extreme) will use 2 of the J37's. One picks up the sound, think dark, then the second picks up the saturation and detail. This proved to me my ears wasn't tricking me. Thanks. Braven

[@galihgori]

I will try your suggestion

[@sejuyz]

Hey man, I´m kinda starting out and would love to hear an example of what you described above. Of course, I´m going to try it myself regardless but still, being able to hear it from someone who already does it makes my life easier. Have you tried messing around with the plugin Saturn ? I´m obsessed about this thing. Thank. My email is [e-mail] just in case.

[@MrCool144]

Bro just switch to uad or t racks at that point.

[@LeonTodd]

"You can't record drums with one mic!" EV - "Hold my beer."

[@GodsOfAudio]

A bit off topic but I just had a nice 15min cry listening to Grace's version on repeat! Lost both my parents in the last two years, both unexpectedly and couldn't help feeling like I'd rather be blind than to have watched them leave. She did an awesome job! I hope I get to record something so powerful someday!

[@TonyAndersonMusic]

BRO!!!!!!!! I am learning so much! You’re an incredible teacher.

[@tisbonus]

Good stuff and great topic Eric! The J37 is a sonic treasure trove!! Glad your channel came up in my recommendations. You definitely got soul brutha!

[@DomSimpsonDrums]

That arrangement is absolutely killer. Tones and panning too. Voice (obviously) is crazy good. Also, Thanks so much for doing these video's! Every engineer/producer/mixer/musician that gets great results has a unique way of getting there and it's really cool when top tier dudes such as yourself are open to sharing the techniques you've created and accumulated over the years.

[@steveg219]

PS- thank you, this is an amazing tour of incredible skills and insights!!

[@christopher6673]

I just absolutely enjoyed this video so much. Thank you! You are not alone in loving tape!

[@christianheymanzinckernage5546]

Hi Eric. Love the video, you have always been a great source of inspiration for me. I would love to hear more in depht about the track! Also I love running things thru tape machines myself! I have a Studer A80 24 track 2". I heard you mention a little bit about how you do it in an interview, I would love to see a video about that process! How you measure the delay and how you snap it back so it plays tight with the rest of the song. :-)

[@fiddlefolk]

The guitar and vocal was way more apparent to me the difference between the real thing vs plug-in. That grainy bloom the machine gives to vocal and guitar was amazing. Thank you!

[@bdunn315]

Eric, just a suggestion but would love to see your Altec 1567 against the Soundtoys Radiator. You're one of the only guys I know who's got the hardware. Been looking to pick one because I enjoy radiator so much. Thanks for the great vid's!

[@MrJamesGeary]

I use both fairly frequently and can say that while radiator is great, it seems to shine best when you just need a little extra bump. The actual altec goes off into a world of its own. Its a beautiful dirty piece of shit and is much more heavy-handed with the sound it imparts. Push it hard and it turns sounds into a trashcan of noise that somehow manages to still work in the mix with some eq after the fact. As with any piece more on the extreme side, its not gonna fit every mix and especially with older tube gear theres quite a variance between units. I know im two years late here but if youre still debating picking one up, id say go for it. Theyre tons of fun to have on hand.

[@colewilliams9716]

@@MrJamesGeary beautiful dirty piece of shit is exactly how i would describe my 1567

[@jackmunro7]

I look really look forward to these videos each week, absolute gold! Some of the tips ive picked up have made an real impact in my work. Thanks Eric!

[@danielpicard3994]

All the knowledge you share with us is always more than appreciated. This channel is incredible. Premium content. Keep on the good (and very inspiring) work!

[@Tnevels]

Now I understand exactly why I end up spending so much time in the mids on guitars all the time to get them to sound real. Thanks for this, Eric. Great vids!

[@seanemmettfullerton]

Hey kids, listen to this guy... he knows where of he speaks :) High Fidelity is still an ideal for some of us. In a world of distorted, mangled vocals, horrid digital fakeness and noise for the sake of noise, it's refreshing to listen to sweet music from a bygone era-it's like from another planet, really. My friends, Eric is a living saint among us...

[@jimdavignon]

Thanks Eric. Great demo and real world example of tape vs plugin. Love to hear full breakdown of the song. Learning so much from this series. Really appreciate your time

[@rome8180]

"I'd Rather Go Blind" has always been one of my favorite songs from that era. Love the cover too.

[@johnzadeh7981]

Man, your videos are fantastic! I love your production, and your musicianship! Thank you for sharing your professional and artistic knowledge! Much more success your way!!

[@ragingchimera8021]

Holy crap! So glad I found this channel. Looking forward to all the wisdom and knowledge you share.

[@outrunnermusic]

Hey Eric, Fantastic video and thank you for this valuable information. I met you in 2012 at the first pensados fest in LARS at Hollywood and boy o boy it was a joy learning from you. Fast forward some years and now being able to follow your youtube channel is just a delight, appreciate your work so much. Knowing your love for tape machines, have you heard or try HANDSOME AUDIO'S ZULU? If you haven't, you are in for a real treat. God bless man

[@bdunn315]

would love to see the full rundown of this song! I was in Nashville a few years ago and drove down w my wife to tour Fame and go see Muscle Shoals (was being reno'd at the time). Such a great vibe in the fame room. Love the iso "sheds" they built in there...so funny, but effective. The workers let me peek my head in to the Muscle Shoals building. Surprised the ceilings were as low as they were. Anyway...getting excited walking down memory lane. Great album and would love to hear the session broken down if you have time. Thanks Eric.

[@benvanvlissingen8994]

Fantastic video, thanks for sharing. I’ve replaced the J37 plugin with Slate’s virtual tape machine and it’s made a world of difference. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that plugin as well.

[@tomasshannon6537]

yeah, an EV vid comparing different tape sim plugins would be amazing. like a J37/Studer/Ampex/Slate/Softube tape vid with EV's thoughts about all of them and how they compare

[@thevomitorium3850]

You really nailed that sound. Thank you for sharing so many great techniques in your videos. It is much appreciated.

[@johnvelasquez9176]

So great Eric! Such a great ear and style. Please keep these coming. Inspiring concepts I've already used with some of my clients.

[@Frank.Zimmermann]

Thank you so much, Eric!! This was such a great experience.👌 I love the sound of the 60s and 70s so much, and it's so cool to hear all these excellent recordings/performances. And Grace's voice is awesome-I got goosebumps. And, yeah, the J37 brings it all together in a very nice musical way-what an ear candy... Waves did a great job again, I'm very surprised how close the plugin version comes to the real thing... I'm totally interested in knowing how the entire track was recorded and mixed!! 😀 I'm looking forward to watching your next video.🙏 Thanks again, and warm greetings from Berlin!

[@rowegardner9673]

Please do a breakdown of this track! Sounds amazing. Thanks for all this. Really fun to watch.

[@timjonesguitar]

Great video, thanks so much Eric for showing us inside your studio!!!!

[@spost26]

Thanks Eric! I LOVE the m160 and the one-mic drum recording!

[@brockfehr]

I fully sang (in my head) "Used to spend my nights out in a bar room" when that song came in.

[@SOUNDinPATTERNS]

Always great. And yes please flesh out tracks for I'd Rather Go Blind :)

[@m.i.stapes]

Cool comparisons. Thanks for sharing Eric. This is so excellent for those just getting started on the outskirts of the industry :)

[@tgod2000]

That recording is simply incredible.

[@ArturTadevosyan]

Thank so much Eric for sharing these great content with us!

[@frankedge]

Hi Eric, thanx for the video, it's always a pleasure to watch it. I love the idea of sending the signal through an amp again and recording the room sound, this is as simple as it is ingenious. It would only interest me if you did that afterwards or at the same time. Thank you for the insights and that you share your knowledge with us...

[@mrwev]

Good question! I sent the signal to the amp after the drums were recorded into the computer. I have done it the other way on other projects but this one was after.

[@frankedge]

@@mrwev Hi Eric, thanx for your quick response. I've also sent the drum signal through an active speaker into another room and recorded the room sound there via a microphone. But in this case with one mic it probably makes more sense to record the same space again... I have another question about the j37 plugin? I use it regularly but it's always after eq and compression in my plugin chain and then maybe delay, modulation, etc. Is there a certain reason that you probably always use the j37 plugin in your plugin chain first? Thanks in advance and have a nice day, Frank

[@louisian101]

So inspiring, like all of your videos. Learning from you, the real thing! Thank you Eric!

[@bryondean6264]

Now everybody wants a J37.

[@noyesplease9522]

No way I could afford the real deal, but went and got that plugin today for 83% off. It is just fantastic.

[@adammusic1124]

Absolutely "So MUCH" insight, thanks so much... I'm really glad that you can hear that difference in hardware also, I had an album of mine mixed and mastered at studio by a top Sony mixing and mastering engineer and when I started to learn recording and do things myself, I always heard that "indescribable" thickness, clarity and gloss that hardware has to it... I have never been able to mimic it 100% I thought I was going mad or had ears that didn't hear properly, but now I know "it's the hardware" imparting that sonic character that only hardware can, and it's absolutely incredible... But for this mere mortal I will have to settle for plugins haha... But there's always access analog and access analog which I guess gives us access to the hardware if we're up for it... All in all, I've learnt so much from your video, thanks for sharing and being so generous with your time and knowledge, greatly appreciated!

[@mxvidstosee]

Awesome !!! Awesome !!! Awesome !!! Thank you so much, Eric, for your work !!!

[@OverdriveMusic]

Plugin is close! I love the slap delay effect for vocals. Thank you Eric, you're a living legend! Love the Good Charlotte records and All American Rejects to name a few!

[@mcmSEA]

what a great dissection and comparison - thanks! I know it is veering off into esoterica to want to hear a shootout between one of the great tape machines and the Anamod ATS-1 tape device, but a Studer J37 is pretty esoteric to begin with... so maybe not a crazy request? We're going to shoot out between a real Ampex 351 and the Anamod M-351 emulation at some point in the next few months... would be pretty amazing to hear you have a whack at that comparision!

[@spost26]

Would love to hear more about the recording process for this track!

[@VangelisApostolou]

Great video as always. I believe the m160 is hypercardioid rare for a ribbon though, but that’s making better sense for the positioning. Keep up the great work and keep providing us great albums!

[@the13thTone]

It's not even close, and I'm on my laptop speakers. Great, great video as always, with depth from hell, no pun intended.

[@moralpaniken]

Great job man. Love your touch on the drums. Always learn alot.

[@JoaoRelego]

Didn't the vocals got the unfairchild in mixing the track of the real j37? The plugin version only got EQ, no compression, maybe some fairchild like plugin would bring it closer. Tks once again, great comparison, and coming from someone really knowledgeable. A huge tks

[@jsnell126]

Incredible stuff. Anybody have a guess at how many db of GR he might have had going during tracking the vocals? It sounds quite compressed.

[@DavidDiMuzio]

"...more in the technical sense, not in the carnal sense." haha ...you're a funny dude.

[@hoojamaflicks]

hi eric thanks so much for these videos. there's a couple of new tape emulations out that you might be interested in trying - acustica taupe, and IK Tape Machines. both are excellent.

[@nichttuntun3364]

Thank you for this very interesting "workshop" video. The J37 plugin is too transparent for me. I tried it out on some material but I think it's clean and the saturation isn't so musical, maybe it's a lack of internal oversampling. I am missing the gluing rounding off character. I see this plugin more than a sound design tool when abusing it. I get great results with uhe Satin and Hornet Tape. I really like the dirty little room you created for the drum set. Sounds awesome. Reminded me on older Tom Waits records. I often process the send - return reverb with all kinds of distortion or saturation. I enjoyed the video and liked foremost your calm and differentiated approach in comparing real tape and the plugin. Looking forward for new videos. Cheers. PS. Beautiful song indeed. I think you totally nailed it in the final mix.

[@danb1942]

Magnetic particles rule man... great vids!

[@ElegidArts]

Eric! Your content has been amazing! I'd love to see an episode of making records on Semi-Charmed Life and Gives You Hell!

[@yobhsiFehT]

I JUST got the J37 plugin a few days ago, and I was pretty excited about it, used it on a voiceover track already and loved it, but now I'm seeing this and hearing it compared to the real thing... and... :[ mehhhh lol I still think what it does is sort of fairy dust that I'll use whenever possible, but now I'll always have the original in my mind's ear... and hating you a little bit :P lol Thanks anyway ;) lol I echo the statement that getting content from you for free is pretty mindblowing! Thanks again!

[@adamnewcomb130]

Thanks so much Eric for these videos! Would love to see a mix breakdown on this song. Your wife sounds incredible on this track btw :)

[@cao77]

Very nice comparison. It’s unbelievable how plugins are sounding so good. Although The real tape machine is unbeatable in terms of sound (specially on higher frequencies), you can get super interesting colors with the plugin. Eric, please break up the full song. It’s an amazing sounding song. Cheers!

[@buhlir]

Hey I had a question.Im assuming that there is a good amount of tape saturation happening on the tracks that you ran to the hardware j37. From what I can gather driving the input on the plug in is only saturation from the tubes. and the saturation knob on the plug-in should really probably be turned up to get an accurate comparison. idk just my thought. I could be wrong and please tell me if I am! but this is such. cool video and what a incredible sounding song.and those vocals! I can't believe how good one freaking mic sounds on the kit. haha way cool. thanks for the video

[@DomSimpsonDrums]

Thats a really good point! I think you're probably onto something.But then how would you do a comparison? i guess you'd just have to bring up the Saturation knob until it sounds closer?

[@mrwev]

You could be right! I was only adjusting the little thumb wheel on the plugin to match the amout harmonic distortion between the two.

[@diegoromero2769]

What a great channel and what a lovely community you have fostered through your content Eric! I would love to see a rundown on the entire recording/mix session for this song, its a beautiful song played and engineered with heaps and heaps of musicality that provided a fresh yet familiar take on a classic 60s recording. I have a very small question on your time adjuster delay moves in relation to the noise gates, how do you reach those sample delay values? Is it a "fiddle" with the timing slider until it feels right kind of move? Or is there a precise way you are calculating that delay?. It seems to be such a vital move in to maximizing your drum sound coherency and so its made me infinitely curious after seeing this mix session and your last Greg Holden gated room drum sound! Anyways, thanks in advance for sharing all of this knowledge with all of us. This is such a gem of a channel, so inspirational!

[@mrwev]

What I find is that there a periods in which the low frequencies are either cancelling more or adding more. I check each period for the one that sounds the best. I start by setting the phase so it sounds like it is cancelling then slide later until it sounds like the low end it adding up. Then I flip phase so it is cancelling again and slide to the next spot that sounds like it is adding up. This way you hear every possible delay point that could work instead of only half of them. I'll make note of the ones the feel good and then chose the best of those. Ultimately it is done by ear.

[@indeloon85]

Anybody in their right mind these wouldn’t record a kit with just one mic. The thought would be backing yourself into a cord, BUT Eric Valentine is not anybody. He is a genius!! Absolutely floored every time one of these videos pops up. Thank you so much Eric for constantly pushing the envelope, and putting modern day approaches on old school techniques. I’m inspired

[@jaimebringas8275]

Great video, great channel! I would love to see a session from Good Charlotte or Taking Back Sunday, it would be incredible, thanks for sharing!

[@steveg219]

Feels like the real tape machine actually adds some lower energy, almost like undertones of some sort. Reminds me of a MiniMoog when you drive the output back through the mixer and at some point it generates more low energy

[@AndrewBawitlung]

Interesting to me it feels like Waves Tape Machines adds more lower energy, and a warm fuzzy feeling.

[@steveg219]

Andrew Bawitlung to me the plug in did to some extent but the real J37 much more so

[@AndrewBawitlung]

@@steveg219 Damn.. The plugin feels so much better to me.. I guess to each his own..😀👍

[@steveg219]

Andrew Bawitlung yup ! 👍🏼

[@PorchBass]

This is a great comparison. The real tape sounds much more real, really. Thanks. Nice drumming

[@ejmarti]

it would be cool to hear some of these A/B moments in loop using solo, then selecting both channels, then muting one and holding shift while pressing M to toggle back and forth and truly A/B the signal that would help us close our eyes and hear the difference between the plugin and the hardware.

[@mrwev]

Yeah goos suggestion! When I am getting into some really intense critical A/B listening I always try to do it blind. I came up with a somewhat crude technique that allows me to do a blind listen in the moment in pro tools and not have to get derailed from working on music. I'll do an episode about that!

[@ironoxide1759]

So if you’re running these to tape and back in various instances and speeds, how are you locking the time together to account for the slight variances in tape speed? Beat detecting a guide metronome, or??? Thanks for cranking out these great videos!

[@mrwev]

I had documented what the timing differences were based on tape machine/ips/sample frequency. At a certain point a very clever assistant (Cian Riordan) put it all in a google spread sheet. In the spread sheet you could select the tape machine, ips and sample frequency and it would calculate the offset. I would then simply enter that value in the "nudge" value in pro tools and select the tape traks and nudge them back with one key stroke.

[@bookey1126]

Hi Eric, I recorded multiple guitar tracks to a two track machine. Monitored off of the machine electronics then recorded the takes off of tape back into the DAW. I lined up the tape tracks with the "electronics" tracks and noticed a drift between the two sections of music. A vamp that was harmonized for a few minutes. That being said the time alignment for the seperate sections get wonky! Phase to Chorus to Slap Back to a Short Delay as it progresses. Is this because of the program material? Or did you really have to chop things up in your DAW to compensate for phase and polarity issues?

[@filtafacta]

That was cool. Would love to hear the track by track analysis too!

[@Somebodysomewhere2]

would love to see the breakdown of the recording and mix

[@kn0btwister]

all observations on point and sure I’ll take one of those breakdowns...cheers Eric...🍺

[@SPLMixing]

Have you tried using the VST version of J37 hosted within Metaplugin by DDMF and oversampling it? I wonder if that would get you closer to the real thing because it'd remove most of the aliasing / inter modular distortion caused in digital.

[@amdenis]

Nice recordings and more power to you! It was a great day and age. Up until several years ago, it was the only way to get "that sound"-- although it got hard to justify the tape costs for most people. The last time I used my old ATR-124 was like 8 years ago. Anyway, you sound like you are totally into analog still...want to it one cheap? I'd sell it for around $19K, complete with 50 pounds of tape that is all well kept and less than 10 years old. Ran fine, although would obviously need to be cleaned, as it has been covered since it was last serviced about 2014 (had a AMPEX MM1000 that I got rid of last year for $11K with 8 boxes of 2", so this is the last of my old style analog gear).

[@rogerploch1251]

Yo Eric! You are killing it. I love the j37. But have you ever tried cassette tape? I have a tascam 424 that can have some cool sounds pop outta it. You should try it. Thanks for the free education!

[@Eventual420]

What to do with the clipping signals? The plug in shelves and discards them. The tape machine distributed them outward to include a boost to neighboring frequencies. So the tape handles clips better. It at least tries.

[@buhlir]

Yes Definitely interested in hearing more about this track. like all of it! also where can we go to listen to the track itself?? maybe if you make another video about it could you see what turning that Sat knob up would do in comparison to the real thing I'm just curious to get that comparison either way

[@mrwev]

You can find the song on Spotify if you search for Small Town Big Sound Muscle Shoals. Yes others have mentioned the saturation knob. I wish I had tried that... damn it!! haha!

[@rollingtones1298]

Question Eric (this is the problem I deal with) When overdubbing through a tape machine into a DAW (pro tools), the first take is no problem. But how do you sync up the Repro head, (output) back into the DAW with the original material..is it not a few ms behind? Thanks

[@GordonGidluck]

Single M160 on drums. Sounds good Eric!

[@alainmarna713]

Great song and what a performance! About the hdw vs plugin, I should say the latter has a globally more "acid" and brighter sound. The tape provides a warm and thick mojo and a more balanced and homogeneous sound. I own a J37 myself, a very low hours item. I have to say listening to all your examples featuring "the beast" makes something I can hardly describe, it's deep inside the sound, maybe in the mids, don't know. To say it simple, it provides a huge and charming ear pleasure, but that's me ;-) That said, I was wondering what kind of tape you're using on the machine. I had an interesting experience here, starting with RMG SM900. Switching to SM911 has been a reveal then. Thanks for this great video! Alain

[@mrwev]

I'm using Qunatagy GP9. I have a bunch of it because I bought up as much as I could when heard quantagy was going out of business. I would like to hear 911 on it. I bet the machine loves that tape.

[@mbell609]

It would be super useful/interesting to be able to do some blind listening with the real J37 and the plus-in! Much like what you talked about in a more recent video about how you what your told about sound will bias your listing experience

[@suereed]

Nice one. I enjoyed the guitar bit. The vocal sounded top draw. Thanks.

[@billyhughes9776]

The biggest difference I hear (on pretty decent headphones) between the real thing and the plugin a slight bit more density/weight overall (especially the lowend) on the real J37. But like you said,...pretty close. Great stuff.

[@VicHightaian]

I've been messing with a 1 mic drum kit, but its from an iPhone recoding. I ended up triggering samples for the kick and snare and toms, and blend it together with the original. now i need to find a way for everything else to vibe with it

[@BullyMaguire4ever]

Eric, I know this is an older video but I wondered if you have ever tried the Anamod ATS-1 hardware tape simulator?

[@3str]

Amazing stuff - thanks for doing this! One small correction if I may: The Beyer M160 has a hypercardioid response pattern, it's not "figure 8-ish". So you weren't nulling snare :)

[@mrwev]

Hey! yes others have mentioned this :) I think you're right I probably should have just said hypcardioid but I think figure 8-ish is not totally inappropriate. The hypercardioid pattern is created by combining the omni signal and the fig 8 signal together with the fig 8 signal typically twice the volume as the omni signal. So, hypercardioid is mostly figure 8 signal. I may be wrong here, but every graphic I've seen of hypercardioid clearly shows two null points that are 90 degrees from the front of the pattern. That seems to indicate that there would be a cancellation of some sort where those null points are facing and I wanted to emphasis that in my comment. Still, I think you're right... I should have just said "hypercardioid". "Figure 8-ish" is not a thing haha! Thank you for the comment! You all will keep me on my toes :)

[@lmrecorders]

Regarding context of that time adjuster plugin; what sample rate is the session? I like your videos. They're very comprehensive.

[@busted_sky]

Very interesting! Thank you Eric so much!

[@jasonvrabe]

I subscribe to mix with the masters and this is just as good if not better. Thanks dude!

[@RealHomeRecording]

I am curious how you got your start in the industry. Thanks for the videos you have put out so far!

[@zebastianswartz1772]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2K8nGdpe5aAhsU

[@alejandroraia]

great the channel! you could show some session of "Outrage! Is Now"

[@lorenzobellia]

Great video, some tape parts are louder, I suggest wievers to level match for proper comparison. Getting some good saturation and tone from plug ins is possible, my problem is getting the size, the dimension of the sound

[@davewestner]

I'm a little late to this party. Hoping you have a moment to read and answer this. I have been doing some tests with various plugins and hardware to see what kinds of distortion various units had to offer....even or odd. One thing that sort of surprised me is that the J37 only does odd order harmonics, which seems like it may be a bit inaccurate, because if I'm not mistaken, real J37s are tube machines, so in theory, if you overdrive the input, it should give both even and odd harmonics (even for tube, odd for tape). Unfortunately, I don't have a real J37 to test with here. Curious if you've ever had a look with some tones and a frequency analyzer to see if your J37 will actually do both. Perhaps I'm not understanding how harmonic distortion works, so if you happen to know, would love to hear what you have to say. Maybe this question is for a later WTF episode. Thanks!

[@richardglobisch64]

Awesome video! More info on the recording, please!

[@TaureanMixing]

I always appreciate a good A/B comparison but one must get levels under wrap and have a reference. Both tracks then need to be measured and matched exactly in order to make a real assessment. It can be seen fairly easily just by meter activity alone the plugin track was lower. Also, I'd try some of the other offerings of tape over the Waves.

[@michaelanderwald4179]

I use the J37 plugin from Waves all the time, but in this case, the actual machine sounded snappier and more saturated to me. I think if I were trying to get close to the original I'd also add some subtle saturation in addition, but not from the J37 itself. Something simple and clean like the Reviver from Fielding DSP.

[@twocents5043]

Another perfect example of how plugins don't do the same thing in the 'real world'. He's being polite about the quality of the Waves J37. Anyone else pick that up ?

[@jamesdoctor8079]

Are your monitors broken? The drums sound almost exactly the same, easily within 90% range. The only difference I heard was in the guitar. He even said the drums were close

[@ZozillaThaGreat]

@@jamesdoctor8079 Focus on the transient of the rimshot ....and you will see the light ;)

[@dino_not_dyno]

Hi Eric - Dino from Dredg here, long time! Thanks for posting these videos - unbelievably informative, how much do I owe you :) In regards to the tape/plug-in compare around the 27 min mark, the tele/tweed amp section: For me, I noticed such a difference in "personality" behind the voice of the instrument and its performance, almost like a different musician was playing in each of the takes you auditioned (tape vs plugin). Any insight you can share about the importance of vibe or subconscious influence that happens during the recording process, and how to (or not to) always be aware of this, regardless of specific recording methodologies? THANK YOU

[@mrwev]

That is a great question. Not sure if this is part of what you're asking but, in case I didn't make this clear, that is the identical performance in each of the examples I was playing. The difference we are all hearing between the delivery of the performance is created by the effect of the harmonic distortion from the tape machine vs the plugin. I hear what you're saying, the real tape machine version sounds more like he is gliding along with the song and the plugin version feels stiffer to me. This really can be an issue when actually capturing a performance, especially with tape machines. The playback can feel quite different than what is being monitored while capturing the performance. Fortunately, in most cases the playback is an improvement :)

[@dino_not_dyno]

@@mrwev Hey Eric - yes, you made that clear indeed. The gliding along with the song description you mention is exactly what I'm talking about. it's just sounds more fluid, and by effect, feels different. I hadn't considered the difference in vibe and sonics between playback and live monitoring you mentioned. So I guess you're saying the tape machines make us musicians sound better? Ha. Awesome stuff Eric, thanks.

[@BrockBarr]

Eric, with regard to the guitar, could you get closer to the tape machine work something like an LA2A to help with the compression?

[@TobyEllis]

Wonderful comparisons. Thank you so much. One thought and a question. It seemed the most dramatic difference in tone between tape and plugin was on the guitar. Why do you think that is? Is it the midrange content of the guitar or the sheer gain going into the machine vs the plugin?

[@mrwev]

That is good question. I'm not totally sure why that one was so dramatic compared to the others but I've noticed it before. Guitars REALLY sound better coming off of a tape machine. That particular guitar example worked really well because it was a very "spiky" sound to begin with. The attacks REALLY poked out on the digital version and I think that is one of the things tape machines are exceptionally good at... handling transients.

[@TobyEllis]

@@mrwev Yeah I've recently gone back to listen to some of my old sessions tracked to tape (Otari 1/2" 8 - before I had anything digital) that were then dumped into Pro Tools and quality of the transients is much more pleasing. I'm working with those old tracks to develop some plugin presets. Thanks for posting these videos. I really dig your approach.

[@edupereyra3189]

Eric, how do you calculate the delay that the duplicate drums tracks with the giant low pass should have? Or you do it by ear? You videos are trully gems!!! Thanks!

[@mrwev]

Edu Pereyra it is typically just done by ear. I just slide the timing around and play with flipping that phase back and forth until it feels right.

[@edupereyra3189]

MAKING RECORDS with ERIC VALENTINE thanks genius!!!

[@godofgore6667]

Love the videos, thanks taking the time to make them! Waves tape emulations are great, Softube also has a nice tape plugin that has some interesting features. Those plugins use substantially less CPU than the ikmultimedia tape emulations, but I am seriously loving those so far. It's a CPU hog, but it's the sound I would expect from tape. They all have their place though.

[@cao77]

Yeah, Totally agree. I’ve demoed ik’s tape machines and they are the best tape emulation so far, they sound so good, but they’re definitely CPU hog. Wich makes them almost unusable. I use softube Tape a lot too and been digging j37 as well. As you mentioned, they all have their place.

[@godofgore6667]

@Lewps Hekla Cool tip, I've actually never heard of either plugin. I'll have to check them out, always looking for a great tape emulation. Thanks

[@taekim3941]

Thank you so much! Learing from a true master

[@morissemonty3674]

Thanks for this Eric!!! I spend some time today trying this out. Had a minimal drum setup in a isobooth with a beyer 160 setup in a similar way. Although the kick was short and and thuddy there were still to much overtones from kick and toms. If I listen to your source track again, the kick has a very specific sound, I would love to learn if you tuned/dressed it a specific way at all :-) I cranked the api 1608 hard since I don't have tape and was hoping to get some of that breakup from the preamp.. Any hacks to get similar breakup ? Thanks again! Keep inspiring us man!

[@Fenekucci]

Hi Eric. Thank you so much! What would you suggest trying to add processing-wise in order to get the plugin a little closer to the hardware?

[@DK-qe6uo]

Any Richard Swift fans here? He was a Studer guy. So many great sounds. Super missed

[@mrwev]

Richard was amazing!! Love his records. That is such a huge loss for all of us :(