I like to peak my music to take the stray peaks off a mix
I hear peaking using tape doesnt have the harshness of digital .. who can give me some first hand insight?

+ what are some good (and reasonable priced )stereo tape recorders? ..

+ will standard cassettes do the trick?

i think the best sounding recorder is tascam 414mk2.
it saturates your peaks the nicest ive heard.
you never ever want to peak to the red on digital.
tape is ok. these sharp spikes or peaks are called transients.
they spaced out more, too but still contain all the audio going on,
even though its being smashed thru with the transients (spikes).

researching i found this plugin, it is a transient designer, it should
hold you off untill you get a good tape machine,

http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.p ... &subItem=4


i heard (dont quote me) you should never use consumer recoring
equipment for anything pro. it will totally screw up everything and
make your audio unusable real quick. sometimes it sounds ok, depending on the quality or make of the deck.. I would invest in a pro unit, get it over with then you got it.


here is more reading on, digital / analog transients.
http://recordinglounge.blogspot.ca/2013 ... gital.html

http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/Pages/Balance.htm



i think people compress the shit out of their stuff is to smooth out the spikes, just because they are ugly, but they are essential to get that smack without messing up you sound too much.

the distortion on tape sounds good, and stretches your spike out so it looks less spikey. this is why drums on tape are good and usually work well.

Hello,

tascam 414mk2 is tuned to use only chrome cassettes for recording - type II or high bias cassettes.

you may listen all kind of cassettes on any deck but any deck tuned to specific casstettes types.

chrome cassettes - less noise, less distortions, more clear highs
normal cassettes - more noise, more distortions, more muddy highs

100% quote
normally chrome is the best for all 4tracks cassettes
i have an yamaha mt120 and an mtx4, they go like that...

much respect for the feedback ..

I jumped the gun and bought a consumer tape deck off amazon .. seemed a good price .. I purchased and bought 20 tapes aswell .. just to fuck around with

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technics-Cassette-deck-RS-B565-player/dp/B00382762W/ref=sr_1_18?s=receiver-speakers&ie=UTF8&qid=1391295274&sr=1-18&keywords=cassette+recorder