Are Nashville audio engineers still recording to tape?

[brianbfw]

I spent a few hours listening to country last night, which i don't listen too often. one thing that really stood out to me was how fabulous all of the recordings sounding. I know they've got top notch session players, but just the overall recording was amazing. It was consitent from track to track.

The recordings all had that similiar "warmth" too it. not the case when i listen to the average rock or pop track these days.

anybody have a guess if there recording to tape or pro tools?

I'd love to have my recordings sound like that!

brian

[JeffBarnett]

It depends on which recordings you are talking about, and by which engineers. Some people still do record to tape. Others to Pro Tools. Others to both. There are a fair number of engineers in Nashville that use neither, preferring some other digital recording solution.

Regardless of the recording medium, what you are probably hearing is just good engineering. Good mics in a good room, mixed well by an engineer with great ears.

[michaelhoddy]

I'm sure there are some, but the majority of stuff is to Pro Tools, or at least that's the feeling I get when I talk to the people I know in that scene. No one has brought up 2" tape in a conversation about a record in several years, but they all mention Pro Tools or some equivalent DAW. Most of the studios there have a 2" machine, but like the ones here, they don't use it much.

One of the unique things about the Nashville scene is that most of the records (country, CCM) done there are done by straight session players rather than bands themselves, and therefore, they almost always work very quickly compared with your typical band record date. It's not unusual for a session rhythm section to do a WHOLE RECORD of 10-12 tunes in a day or less, usually an average of two takes per tune with a few overdubs. Any flubs are almost always fixed with punches rather than re-takes.

You can see how Pro Tools would be a boon to that whole style of working. I would expect that if and when 2" is used, it's mostly with band records.

As for the sound, well a lot of that has to do with the quality of the players, the quality of their gear, great signal chains on the recording side, and the quality of the acoustics of the studios, which is generally all at a pretty high level.

I would tend to say that the players and studio acoustics make the record. Give me great mics and preamps and converters to record bad players in a crappy room, and it'll still sound like bad players in a crappy room. Give me average gear to record great players in a great room, and it will still sound like great players in a great room.

[Audioholic]

yup

lots of REALLY GREAT players who have tuned thier sound and gear after session after session, equals consistent awesome sound, by people who have probally recorded the same players over and over and know thier gear, how to get great sound, and of course a killer sounding room and chain.

[brianbfw]

that's what i figured. any ideas as to what type of console their using?

i'm assuming their using some kind of large format console (Neve, SSL) and run with converters into pro tools.

[DAS]

that's what i figured. any ideas as to what type of console their using?

i'm assuming their using some kind of large format console (Neve, SSL) and run with converters into pro tools.

It's all over the map. Yes, Neve and SSL come to mind. Trident and API are others. More and more engineers are mixing in the box or using things like the Dangerous summing boxes.

[crucialrecording]

Depends on the session. Some will record to tape, and fly into Pro Tools for editing/mixing. You get the tape sound with ease of mixing in Pro Tools. There are a lot of engineers that still use Radar and will not touch Pro Tools for tracking, only to mix. There are some that mix only in the box too.

Different engineers have different styles.

[dodgeaspen]

I have been told on other sites that to keep the better analog sound you should record and mix and with analog equipment then dump it to digital as the last step.