a/d/a conversion vs. analog bounce - a question

[lance]

Ok, so this has been in my head for the last week so I thought I would ask. From what I have read, the main reason for mixing \"in the box\" besides convenience is to avoid sound degradation from multiple a/d/a conversions. Now, my question is. How is this different than bouncing tracks back and forth on a tape machine? I mean wouldn't tape hiss and distortion build up after enough bounces to the point of degrading the sound? I know, they are both very different and it would depend on your converters as well but I've been wondering about this. Anyway, just a question for anyone who's bored. - Lance

 

[BTLG]

Well, yes, there's something to that.

However when you go D/A/D, you're actually changing the sound from one format (digital) to another format (analog) and then back to the original format. You're actually changing the makeup of the source and then attempting to change it back to what it originally was.

Think of it like reheating left over chinese food. It's never the same as it was that first time. In fact, it's much much worse than when you paid 3 dollars for it at the Lucky Panda Dragon yesterday. That's what bad conversion does.

Tape is a little more forgiving. Obviously, the more you bounce, the less fidelity you have, however you're not reconfiguring the make up of the sound like you do when you digitally recreate those 1's and 0's.

just my 2 cents. I mix in the box because my indie clients can't afford to put me in a real room. There's no real reason beyond that.

 

[lance]

3 dollars? That's almost as cheap as \"monkey meat on a stick\" - ahh memories. Anyway it's a shits and giggles question thanks for the answer. Things just pop in my head and keep me awake at night and heard of and done some crazy thing with tape. (The first record I did Icould only afford one reel of tape so my buddy grouped the tracks into groups of 8 and stacked the songs on top of each other.) So I was wondering if it really be that bad, if you had decent converters, to add an extra conversion or two.

 

[BTLG]

truth be told, I think it mattered a lot more in like, 1999 or 2000, maybe up until as recent as a few years ago. Remember how terrible those 888's sounded?

 

[lance]

Unfortunately no, I spent those years in jungles and deserts with a machine gun and when I got back to \"the world\" everything had changed. I'm trying to catch up. Hell, when I left ADATs were still popular.