Topic: What does a good tape sound like?

[Brian Skalinder]

What did you tape a cappella?  Was it a group, choir, or solo?

Group my father runs and in which my father, brother, and sister (and previously uncle) sing:  Coriolis.

[CQBert]

I have great recordings of mediocre shows that I hardly ever listen to and mediocre recordings of great shows I listen to religiously.... frustrating sometimes...  

What is a great recording?  What is the meaing if life?  

When I started I loved my giant squids > minidisc sound for what it was....  then my ADK > V3 > D8... have great stuff there too.... now its borrowed Schopes stealth, my u89's all 24 bits.

They are all good to someone - you may love your recording of your favorite band and it may sound like crap to someone else, does it really matter in the end?

This is a hobby/obsession that generates different results from different equipment in different environments every day.  We are lucky that so much is recorded, there is a much better chance of catching the gems that pop up.  

I for one know that I am thankful that I can track down my favorite bands recorded in different locations and still be surprised by what I hear - good and bad...

Relax and Enjoy - everyone is out there doing the best they can with what they have.

CQBert

[eric.B]

I have great recordings of mediocre shows that I hardly ever listen to and mediocre recordings of great shows I listen to religiously.... frustrating sometimes...  

What is a great recording?  What is the meaing if life?  

When I started I loved my giant squids > minidisc sound for what it was....  then my ADK > V3 > D8... have great stuff there too.... now its borrowed Schopes stealth, my u89's all 24 bits.

They are all good to someone - you may love your recording of your favorite band and it may sound like crap to someone else, does it really matter in the end?

This is a hobby/obsession that generates different results from different equipment in different environments every day.  We are lucky that so much is recorded, there is a much better chance of catching the gems that pop up.  

I for one know that I am thankful that I can track down my favorite bands recorded in different locations and still be surprised by what I hear - good and bad...

Relax and Enjoy - everyone is out there doing the best they can with what they have.

CQBert

righto..  its all about the gems..

[itook2much]

What did you tape a cappella?  Was it a group, choir, or solo?

Group my father runs and in which my father, brother, and sister (and previously uncle) sing:  Coriolis.

Thanks for the link.  That looks really interesting.

How do you approach those recordings...onstage, stagelip....?

[willndmb]

a "good tape" will sound just like it did live
if you can capture the sound on tape as it sounded live you will have a good tape, unless it sounded like crap live 

[RebelRebel]

Check out Moke's recordings, VA_Taper (search for chris berryman at archive.org) skalinder, many others.

Hey, a thought struck me. I have been thinking that the stuff tapers do inherently must sound bad. I mean, down at the lawn among noisy people, taping stuff going out of those stinking PA stacks, how can it ever be any good? I guess I am wrong, but need a bit of help. Can you point me to an mp3 (or whatever) taper stuff that you think sounds really good that I can download and use to change my opinion?

Gunnar

[baustin]

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=960

[RebelRebel]

http://www.archive.org/details/glen2005-08-30.dsd.flac

[RebelRebel]

I hope it sticks around too. The fact that the converter companies and DAW folks are creating DSD/DXD compatible gear is encouraging. I am not so hopeful about SACD, but the DSD/DXD medium will be around for a long time, I feel. DSD/DXD is especially great for acoustic music, as it reveals every little nuance. High Res PCM is great too. As long as the audiophile folks keep demand up...

DSD is an amazing format. :keeps fingers crossed for a Tascam portable:
The first song that I posted "doesn't suck", was mastered in DSD. And the version heard here was an analog transfer, DSD->Analog out->722@2496->resample->mp3

http://www.archive.org/details/glen2005-08-30.dsd.flac

[JiB97]

http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=960

...probably one of my favourite tapes ever

[Jhurlbs81]

http://www.archive.org/details/glenphillips2006-06-29.mbho.flac16

http://www.archive.org/details/sts9-2006-04-29.MBHO.flac16

Here are two of my gems.

[udovdh]

I agree completely...especially the banter by the band.  I can NEVER understand what bands are saying between songs, go home and listen to my recording and can hear every word clear as can be.

Use earplugs.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I hope it sticks around too. The fact that the converter companies and DAW folks are creating DSD/DXD compatible gear is encouraging. I am not so hopeful about SACD, but the DSD/DXD medium will be around for a long time, I feel. DSD/DXD is especially great for acoustic music, as it reveals every little nuance. High Res PCM is great too. As long as the audiophile folks keep demand up...

The HUGE difference there is that PCM is a completely open format.  I can build my own PCM playback gear if it comes to that (both because it is simple and because I won't get sued).

DSD/SACD are closed and proprietary.  Even if you could figure it out, they'd sue you. For that reason I will never use it. No way am I putting my recordings into someone else's closed format.

In 50 years, PCM will still be easily decoded.  But DSD/SACD?

[RebelRebel]

Yep, everything is backed up to PCM. Youve decided that it is not worth it to you to have DSD compatibility. Many echo that feeling. But for me, anything I can do to squeeze one more drop of better sound out of my recordings is worth it to me. 1200 bucks for a machine with good converters seemed like a no brainer.

Not to mention that when I start my own business, DSD/DXD compatibility is good to have. A lot of Classical Titles go to DSD/DXD/SACD/HDCD

I hope it sticks around too. The fact that the converter companies and DAW folks are creating DSD/DXD compatible gear is encouraging. I am not so hopeful about SACD, but the DSD/DXD medium will be around for a long time, I feel. DSD/DXD is especially great for acoustic music, as it reveals every little nuance. High Res PCM is great too. As long as the audiophile folks keep demand up...

The HUGE difference there is that PCM is a completely open format.  I can build my own PCM playback gear if it comes to that (both because it is simple and because I won't get sued).

DSD/SACD are closed and proprietary.  Even if you could figure it out, they'd sue you. For that reason I will never use it. No way am I putting my recordings into someone else's closed format.

In 50 years, PCM will still be easily decoded.  But DSD/SACD?

thats why we backup to 2496pcm
2.82mhz@1bit->analog->2496pcm

[momule]

I think My recent Gregg & Warren From red Rocks last weekend Turned out pretty well .

Taped from about 60' from the stage DFC front row in the section
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=500010

Dont judge the book by its cover.