The “Goodbye, Hello Experiment”

Ever wonder if you can hear the difference between digital and tape, and what the difference is? This experiment may give you a little insight. Brad McGowan at Little Red Wagon Studios has taken our song and done some stuff to it. I’ll let him do the explaining…

“A thread had developed regarding the sonic differences between recording to tape and transferring to a DAW versus recording to the DAW and bouncing to tape. Somewhere along the way I just thought I would bounce a song to multiple tape decks to demonstrate the difference between them. I think a lot of misconceptions exists out there regarding the sound of tape. I think presenting a digital mix bounced to multiple pro tape decks gives the general listener, unfamiliar with tape, an idea of what tape brings to the table when used to “process” a whole mix. Even though I believe the best way to use tape is as a recording/storage medium, I find there is much benefit to be gained by having your audio hit tape if recording digitally is involved.”

Here’s a description of what he did, in his own words:

“I upsampled your mix to 96k using Voxengo R8 Brian Pro (minimal phase setting…highest quality). I then sent that to the following tape decks and recorded the output back into the DAW at 96k. Conversion was Mytek 8×192. I increased the gain to tape by +4dB in each case by using a test tone and adjusting the record gain of the tape deck. In the “Hot Studer” version I hit the tape at +7 and backed off the repro gain by 3dB. Next to each tape deck name will be the gain adjustment you should make in your DAW to RMS level match to the original mix. (Noted next to the list of files)

I should note that the MCI machine is not stock. I’ve done many upgrades to the audio electronics including replacing all 5534 opamps with TLE2071A’s and OPA604’s. I also upgarded all electrolytics to Nichicon HE’s, and replaced film EQ capacitors with Wima FKP-2’s. All decks have been recently aligned and calibrated meticulously by me.”

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You can download the files here. I’ve named them “A” through “E” so you can listen to them without any bias. You can see the answers here. (But don’t peak if you want to hear for yourself) The following files represent the original unmastered mix, the original mastered mix, and the mix bounced to a Studer A807, an MCI JH110A, and an Otari MX55. The order of the clips has been mixed up and answers are here.

The audio files

• Goodbye, Hello A
• Goodbye, Hello B
• Goodbye, Hello C (Gain adjustment: -4.32)
• Goodbye, Hello D (Gain adjustment: -3.93)
• Goodbye, Hello E (Gain adjustment: -3.86)
• Goodbye, Hello F (Gain adjustment: -3.70)

Again, the answers are here.