1/2" mix tapes - variation in sound

[24-96 Mastering]

In Germany, delivering mixes on tape is not as common as in the US or the UK even, so maybe those who get 1/2" tape on a very regular basis can share their views / experiences:

How much variation in sound (saturation, amount of LF, amount of HF, track speed, general "vibe", etc) do you perceive on the tapes you get?

The reason I'm asking is that we get most mixes digitally, so changes in sound between revisions or even from a vocal up to a vocal down mix are not something I usually have to consider. When we do get tapes however, I'm very aware of fluctuation/variation and, having started in mastering when digital was well established, this inconsistency is somewhat of a nusance, especially with regards to recalls/revisions.

From your previous experiences, can you relate? Do you get variation in tapes? Is it unnerving to you? Generally speaking, do you treat each tape print as a completely new entity or do you try and replicate one version's sound when you find a second print varies? Do you think the variation you get is mainly due to the nature of analog tape or slight variations in how the tape is hit?

[Franco]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

Do you think the variation you get is mainly due to the nature of analog tape or slight variations in how the tape is hit?

Assuming that there aren't dropouts on the tape (which can be caused by the clock ticking, really), In my experience, you do get slight variations of course with how hard they hit the tape (more tape compression should be obvious). Most of my personal experience in handling tape is dropouts, and there's not much you can do but try to balance the parts where the tape drops out (and this is where I'm thankful for automation).

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

In Germany, delivering mixes on tape is not as common as in the US or the UK even, so maybe those who get 1/2" tape on a very regular basis can share their views / experiences:

How much variation in sound (saturation, amount of LF, amount of HF, track speed, general "vibe", etc) do you perceive on the tapes you get?

The reason I'm asking is that we get most mixes digitally, so changes in sound between revisions or even from a vocal up to a vocal down mix are not something I usually have to consider. When we do get tapes however, I'm very aware of fluctuation/variation and, having started in mastering when digital was well established, this inconsistency is somewhat of a nusance, especially with regards to recalls/revisions.

From your previous experiences, can you relate? Do you get variation in tapes? Is it unnerving to you? Generally speaking, do you treat each tape print as a completely new entity or do you try and replicate one version's sound when you find a second print varies? Do you think the variation you get is mainly due to the nature of analog tape or slight variations in how the tape is hit?

A very enlightening thing to check out is Jack Endino's graph's of various professional tape recorders frequency responses - Response Curves of Analog Recorders

As you can see from glancing at the curves there's huge variations in response over various models of atr's even when all the standard calibration tones (i.e. 100Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz) are set to playback at 0dBVU.

How hard the tape is hit after a certain point also can have a big effect on the sharpness of the transients, harmonic content, and presence of distortion - sometimes this can be desireable - a lot of times not.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[MarkRB]

I occasionally get "bad" tapes, but hardly ever notice the things you mention.

Certainly never get the same mix sounding significantly different on the same tape.
I never get Insts done on tape anymore. Who can afford a reel of tape for an Inst and TV mix?

[Adam Dempsey]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

Generally speaking, do you treat each tape print as a completely new entity or do you try and replicate one version's sound when you find a second print varies? Do you think the variation you get is mainly due to the nature of analog tape or slight variations in how the tape is hit?

Generally, yes. Although not so much within a project, but equally it's various machines and their particular calibration, or simply the mixes... Just last week: 1/4" mixes from an MCI JH110 (the very machine used for the mixdowns), 30 ips, no NR, but the mixes varied & hence the gain structure required; backing tracks were not the mixes minus vocals but completely different mixes.

[jdg]

sounds like you're getting tape from someone with a poorly setup/maintained machine. tape machines require diligence.