Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/11

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Subject: Re: [Leica] for sale as a result of our studio going digital
From: John Brownlow <deadman@jukebox.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 15:18:55 +0000

on 11/3/00 2:57 pm, Jeff Spirer at jeffs@hyperreal.org wrote:

> I've seen this analogy used before and it just doesn't work.  At the
> production end - where the music is recorded - it's almost all
> digital.  

I don't want to argue, but my experience is different. Your first point is
true-ish. In fact many studios dump their digital tracks off onto 2" tape in
some point of the process for the tape-type saturation.

> High quality 1" tape is just about impossible to find - a friend
> of mine has to hand-select lots and hoards them for use in his studio.

1" is not a standard format, so I'm not surprised. The standard format for
24 tracks up is 2", and this tape is widely available. I can think of four
places within five miles of me who have all the different flavours in stock
continuously. I've often bought it with no prior notice.

> And 
> even he uses all digital after the initial recording (the equivalent of
> shooting on film and then using digital darkroom) for his
> recordings.  Other than a few die-hards like my friend and the extreme low
> quality end, everything is digitial start to finish, usually using
> Didigesign Pro Tools.

I don't think this is at all true. Your friend is not at all exceptional. In
London analog recording is thriving in exactly the way you describe.
> 
> Also, I don't know anyone in the music business using anything other than
> DAT in the field.

That certainly is true in my experience. And no bloody wonder. Anyone who
has ever tried to shoot a fly-on-the-wall film with the aaton chewing
through kodak every 11 minutes and  a stereo Nagra running out every twenty
minutes knows why.

- -- 
John Brownlow

http://www.pinkheadedbug.com