Thoughts on Adding Tape to the Recording Chain

http://www.fabfilter.com/products/saturn-multiband-distortion-saturation-plug-in
 

If I had an option to do so, I guess I'd record everything that can be recorded directly to tape and bounce whatever else (Virtual Instruments) before re-importing it.
 
But then, as I'm easily carried away when I start feeling inspired, I'd probably drop the idea and record directly in Logic. Though, if needed, I do have the option to have a stereo bounce printed to tape.
 
I absolutely love Kramer Tape too, by the way. I keep telling myself that I need to try and set it on an input channel so I can do some tests and record through it...

I use my Tascam 3440 tape machine. I record everything in Sonar and then make a stereo mix to tape. The tape is then played back into Sonar and recorded as the final mix for burning to media. I'm sure it is a downgrade to the audio quality, but I love the result.
 
I bought the Waves J-37 and love what it does but it's just not the same sound at the end.

Just got it home.  A Tascam 42B:

i'm done with tape.
 
no more tape.
 

Hi Dave,
 
I'll give you my take for what it's worth. Personally (not that this helps you at all lol) I think you're better off without tape and you should try to obtain the right eq and compression settings that control the part of the digital sound that you may not be down with. Warming things up is easy today. For the saturation thing, check out the UAD stuff as nothing (in my opinion) saturates like the stuff they put out. I'm talking saturation, not digital distortion like everything else. There's a difference...but everyone buys into the hype. Most of the dudes coding these plugs weren't even around to know what actual tape saturation was capable of. But....that's neither here nor there....to answer your question, here's what *I* do.
 
I have one tape machine left. A 16 track 1 inch Tascam. I sold the 24 track 2 inch because it just needed a bit too much work and a good friend of mine needed it badly. But when I need to use tape and digital, I stripe a track on the Tascam with SMPTE and it plays right with Sonar in real time. So in actuality, I have 15 tracks of 15 ips I can use. I've done this when I've needed guitars and vocals to sound a bit less modern. I absolutely hate drums and even bass on tape due to the darker tonality. At first the whole digital thing had to grow on me. But now that I'm living with it and we have so many options to control the environment, I'd not waste a second on tape.
 
Honest when I tell you, look into the UAD stuff. Their Studer tape machine and Ampex tape machines are incredible. Add in a Fatso compressor with power it has to darken and saturate and honest, I can't tell the difference. Remember....anytime you hear a digital distortion from a plug that claims it's saturating....it's not saturating at all. When we clip tape the right way, the sound wasn't ugly until you really pushed it to distortion. Even then...that distortion sound was NOT the sound of digital clipping like most of these VST's give us. The UAD stuff does NOT do that. I have the EK tape machine. It's decent....but my heart belongs to the UAD stuff for THAT type of processing.
 
So in my opinion, get a decent tape machine (go at least 1 inch if you really want to make a difference for the better) and use SMPTE along with Sonar or try the UAD stuff. I know you want the tape thing happening and I didn't mean to try and send you away from it. I just don't think you really need it with the tools we have today man. Not to mention, I sure don't miss cleaning my tape heads, storing the tape, demagnetizing, and that rubber conditioner smell.....uggh! AND....the price of tape for a machine like mine is rather disturbing. However, the difference between 1/4 and 1 inch is so drastic, the 1 inch tape sacrifice is worth it if you have to go that route. 2 inch is even better, but the price doubles as well. Best of luck.
 
-Danny