Reel To Reel Tape / Cubase Hybrid Setup

[@Bville-E]

Nice video.....That porn music track @ the intro is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🚒.......

[@Featherlightstudio]

lol, thanks!

[@theblowupdollsmusic]

The tape machine sounds fantastic.

[@Featherlightstudio]

There's is nothing quite like the magnetic chaos of real tape.

[@carlos-pratspratsonthebeat1145]

Thanks so much fot this video is amazing explanation ,and The results Are so Good , may God Bless You So Much

[@adamznaidi]

Could you explain how you got the tape machine to perfectly sync with Cubase? All the information I've found so far talks about using the DAW as a slave to smpte info from the tape machine, but not the other way round. I'm trying to find a solution for tracking through tape into an already existing project, without having to timestretch in post. Cheers!

[@Featherlightstudio]

ON the average 3-4 minute song, our tape bounces haven't needed to be time stretched to sync when we line them back up in the DAW. This is assuming the transport board, torque board, capstan motor, and logic boards are all in good working order and the tape is in decent condition. The last produced model MCI JH-110c we use here at the studio was made way before devices like the TimeLine Lynx 2 and other tape machine sync devices were made so, not really an option for us.

[@drumhead96]

I have a Teac a6100. Could you tell me which button on this deck would be equivalent to the reproduce mode button on yours? Thank you

[@PrestonHazard]

idk man the 456 and 499 I find absolutely doesn’t shed like that. If it did, I’d toss it (then again, I am multitracking and live mixing off of the tape so it’s a different application). I have a lot of experience using NOS tape bc I loooove the rich earthy tones of 456 for acoustic/softer tracks and the punchy, quiet and massive amount of head room 499 provides for heavier more hard rock driven tracks. When I buy NOS Ampex or Quantegy, I always make sure it’s sealed in its original dust bag, and the box is free of visible mold and water/moisture damage. Using that logic, my heads rarely get that clogged… especially with so few passes. Then again like I said, I use my 16 channel machine as is, so any major amount of shedding would destroy the recording.

[@a.l.recordingstudio1163]

Thanks for this video. I'm not sure, if the effort taken as well as the money to buy and maintain a real to real tape machine nowadays really makes the difference. But to have some kind of "outstanding feature selling point" in the competition to all the other "purely digital" recording studios, this could make sense. But anyway by the end - the song makes the difference - I think.

[@Featherlightstudio]

Its always the song for sure. This works with a lot of tape machines, not just rare or vintage ones and can be an alternative way to get a real analog audio path in your mixes. The first machine I got was an old Teac 1/4" deck I got in a Portland thrift shop for $75 and still use it as well.

[@matthennagersguitarlessons]

Great video Steve!

[@Featherlightstudio]

Thanks Matt!

[@owenkitto27]

@@Featherlightstudiocan this be done with a 1/4 revox a77 high speed deck ?

[@Featherlightstudio]

@@owenkitto27 Technically, it can be done with any tape deck as long as you put some kind of sync markers at the beginning of the recording.

[@DynamicRockers]

Very interesting scenario! I used to track to tape for certain groups in Cubase to get the magnetic modjo as well. But in a different way. I just create a new External FX (vst connections) going to the hardware and inserting it as a VST on the Drums Group or Master for exemple. It's easier to control the Input and output levels to/from tape and also no need to solo/mute tracks, also no need to nudge the event thanks to the ping delay detection in the small vst window. do a test pass to ping the tape machine once, it should be compensated almost perfectly by Cubase. And to print it, I use render in place "real time" in C12.

[@Featherlightstudio]

I do this with newer tape stock like ATR and create an external FX Vst, works pretty well as long as the tape machine is well behaved lol.

[@DynamicRockers]

@@Featherlightstudio no wow & flutter allowed :) Is there some kind of MMC transport control available for your MCI tape machine? That would be awesome to sync to cubase.

[@Featherlightstudio]

@@DynamicRockers not really, I would probably have to go the other way around and stripe SMPTE but I kind of like the old school vibe of the MCI and just tracking into it, its easy enough to nudge up and it makes me slow down and listen to the track lol

[@DynamicRockers]

@@Featherlightstudio Of course, those tape machines are incredible, it's worth any efforts. Thank you for your excellent videos. Keep up the good work! Damien

[@patlecat]

@Featherlightstudio How do you compare the real tape machine with tape plugins withing Cubase or Arturia?

[@Featherlightstudio]

I have most of the current tape plugins ( Slate, Arturia, Kramer,UA Studer, ect ) and most are pretty good at capturing a 'snapshot; of what some tape sounds like...but that's where the comparison ends. Its really the way an analog tape machine behaves and fluctuates. Analog tape never does anything consistently and the constantly changing level you can hit the tape with gets you dramatically different amounts of tape compression and tonal difference. Ive yet to hear any plugins capture that difference.

[@patlecat]

@@Featherlightstudio ic, have you also looked at the new Tape MELLO-FI from Arturia?

[@cmopro]

This was awesome...

[@billymack4258]

Great info and what a difference! night and day in my opinion. For those of us that don't have a tape machine, is there an online mastering service that we can send our mix or stems to that can perform this? Thanks

[@Featherlightstudio]

A great resource for all things analog tape wise is Chris Mara over at Mara Machines. maramachines.com/services/

[@billymack4258]

@@Featherlightstudio Thanks

[@LearnWithStephen]

Very cool. There are companies that sell new Real to Reel magnetic tape. I know you're using new old tape. Any suggestions as to how to obtain some? Got an old Sony Quadrophonic I want to use this way. Thanks!!

[@Featherlightstudio]

Both Recording the Masters and ATR currently manufacture tape in a variety of styles. You can buy direct or thru Vintage King Audio as well.

[@LearnWithStephen]

@@Featherlightstudio fantastic! Thank you!

[@tomswagner]

Can I do this with Cubase Elements?

[@ferenclucas2842]

Can you do this process with a cassette 4 track recorder like a 244 or an mt4x which I have ?

[@Featherlightstudio]

Theoretically yes, you would just have to manually line up the returning audio with the existing project audio each time.

[@theprogrammerrolandmc3039]

Cubase does not slave to smpte that is a signal you record on one track of your 4 track cassette then sends midi signal to start recording from your cassette multitrack but reaper does there are videos how to do it on youtube

[@Urfinchannel]

If i will do that with every take do I need to record this also on tape? But than it’s not in sync on the tape machine. I have a Akai 4 track tape machine.Do I have to solo each track on the tape machine I want to record than in Cubase ?

[@Featherlightstudio]

I usually just bounce the master 2 buss to tape and back but...If you want to bounce to tape for every track, you would want to put track beeps/metronomes clicks at the very start of each track so that you can line them back up in the DAW after they return from the tape machine.

[@Urfinchannel]

It’s not what I want , DAW is only for midi ,all audio has to be stay analog on cassette @@Featherlightstudio

[@ButcherGrindslam]

Tape VST plugins do this thing. Notably, Slate Digital and Waves J37.

[@Featherlightstudio]

Not really even close. Tape VST's do a good job of capturing a 'snapshot' of the color, but not the constantly changing analog character of a real tape machine.I have both the J37 and the Slates's version as well as the T-Racks 80 and Teac. They are all pretty subtle when compared to the real thing.

[@orientmob]

Never …the real one ist better

[@G_handle]

​@Featherlightstudio I'd love you to show a shootout with various Tape Emulations vs the real thing. And elaborate on the point you made here!

[@G_handle]

@dannydaniel8975 What's a "theft" "store"? That must sound Incredible!

[@dannydaniel8975]

Digital is absolutely perfect for televisions and cameras, but not for music...

[@johnkaplun9619]

That tape is completely shot. Shedding like that is not normal, bad for your heads and motors, and a huge pain in your ass. You’ll also end up with drop outs and serious audible probelms as all the coating comes off the tape. If youre looking for that AMPEX kinda sound, do yourself a favor and try ATR. It scratches that itch, very similar compressed low-mid heavy kinda sound. And it wont shed.

[@Featherlightstudio]

We have several formulations in stock at all times, new formulations like SM900-SM911 in a variety of calibrations as well as vintage NOS Ampex, Scotch and others. All depends on the sound the client wants. Whatever it takes to achieve that is fine by us.

[@johnkaplun9619]

@@Featherlightstudio I mean, I think that's really overstating how much an impact the type of tape has on the overall 'sound' of a recording. No client comes into a studio like 'I'm looking for that scotch 206 sound.' In fact engineers spent decades engineering tape machines specifically *not* to have any impact on the sound. At any rate if you must use old Ampex tape, at least bake it beforehand. All that crap on the heads will dramatically reduce the life of your heads and eventually cause drop outs (at which point you can forget caring about the small differences between formulations). I'm not trying to bust your balls, just giving genuine advice here.

[@thallrudedjentstorm1756]

Dude buy some new tape or bake the old tapes. That tape shedding is not normal and is very bad for the heads. Ampex 456 is sheit. Every studio that still uses it is just unprofessional.

[@Featherlightstudio]

We have several formulations in stock at all times, new formulations like SM900-SM911 in a variety of calibrations as well as vintage NOS 456 and others. All depends on what the client is after.

[@G_handle]

That's a bit dramatic. I think Most studios that still operate Tape Machines (especially a half inch MCI) know WTF they're doing. We've all discovered ATR & RTM, and I saw an MRL Tape in the video. So maybe tone down the lecture or make your own KZbin video. I'm actually restoring a TEAC 80-8 into a Tascam M35, into a Tascam BR-20T (with a couple of Hi-Fi R2Rs on the side). In addition to new Belts & Rollers plus Calibration, I also bought all the new Tape formulations in both 1/2" & 1/4" to go along with the BOXES of brand new, old stock 456 I've had in storage. I haven't yet bought a dehydrator, and I likely won't. What I'll most likely do is exactly what was done in this video: print to it, see what happens, clean everything, and embrace the imperfections.... If I like how it sounds. If not, I'll do something else. Like all professionals.

[@thallrudedjentstorm1756]

@@G_handle So you think it's perfectly fine that those tape heads and guides get so dirty? You kinda missed my whole point don't you think tough guy?

[@G_handle]

Nobody missed your point. Or your pointless attitude. Everything you think you were saying was actually addressed In The Video, before you said anything. Toxic unconstructive criticism may be the norm for Gearsluts and KZbin comment section trolls, but it was never tolerated in real studios. That's the only Unprofessionalism here.

[@thallrudedjentstorm1756]

@@G_handle Unconstructive? Sure buddy.