Working with analogue tape wasn’t all good, but it did impose a discipline on recording sessions that was hugely beneficial — and which our DAWs have made optional.

A recent chat with producer Steve Osborne (New Order, U2, Elbow, Doves, Happy Mondays and more) prompted this article. We were discussing techniques he’s carried over from the days of tracking bands to analogue tape to his current DAW‑based work, and it struck me that, despite advances in technology, the basics of his approach haven’t really changed that much. It seemed to be a conscious choice too: he sees real benefit in the approaches that working with tape imposed on both engineers and artists, and he’s very clear about the importance of making and committing to creative decisions as you go.

I’ve recorded to tape many times, as an engineer and a drummer, but when I started as an engineer it was already yesterday’s technology. Steve, on the other hand, was working on big sessions when tape still ruled the roost; he has vastly more experience with it than I do, especially when it comes to higher‑end commercial sessions. So, wanting to explore this in more detail, we had further chats and in this article — which is less of an ‘interview’ and more a co‑authored feature, really, with lots of input from Steve — I’ll discuss the ways in which DAW‑based engineers and artists might benefit from getting into a bit more of a ‘tape mindset’.

Ready To Roll?

You probably know something about analogue tape: its sonic qualities, the limited track counts or even that edits entailed using a razor blade. But something Steve stressed that’s often overlooked is that working with tape imposed a different mindset on a session, right from the very start. Engineers needed to ensure that the machine was properly aligned and biased. The tapes had to be organised, ready to be put into action quickly. On every session, someone needed to operate the tape machine — not just hitting Play, Record or Rewind, but also loading the reels and locating sections of a song quickly for ‘punch‑ins’. They needed to know what was recorded on which tracks, and which tracks to arm for the next take. Filling out track sheets, keeping notes... the list goes on.

Steve reckons this was all really important in creating a sense of focus and attention. For any session to run smoothly, everyone in the production team had to be present and actively engaged most of the time. Today’s tech gives us so many ‘safety nets’ that we risk losing that sort of focus and control, which means we need a good dose of self‑discipline!

Track Counts

Back in the days of tape, there were significant technical limitations compared with our DAW‑based setups, and one was the number of tracks available to work with. There were mixing desks with vast numbers of inputs, but the tape machines would have only 16 to 24 tracks, at most. In most recording sessions, therefore, you were limited to recording to 16 or 24 tracks (fewer in some smaller studios), and you might have to reserve a track for time code too. It was possible to synchronise two machines for more tracks, but good, low‑noise tape machines were expensive, it used twice as much tape, and this wasn’t really a desirable or very practical way of working.

All this had a huge influence on how studio sessions were run. It was necessary to mix some parts together and record them to the same tape track, and choosing what should be mixed (there was no ‘undo’!) influenced other decisions: what needed to be recorded when, for instance. Even with the best‑laid plans, a need to add more parts would often arise, and to free up the necessary tracks you had to ‘bounce down’ multiple recorded parts to the last one or two remaining tracks. Again, such decisions were destructive, and the more times you bounced things down the more quality you’d sacrifice. So, great care had to be taken that sounds being committed to tape were in phase and generally as close to a ‘finished’ sound as possible.

In short, it was necessary to plan ahead and to commit to lots of decisions as you went along that, today, could seem tempting to put off. DAWs offer us unlimited tracks if we want them, but while that freedom can be a good thing, it creates a risk: because we don’t need to plan ahead, it can be tempting to keep our options open ‘just in case’ — in which case, our projects can start to drift along a bit aimlessly.

You don’t have to stick to 16 or 24 tracks, but planning a project as if you do can be very helpful. It ensures you’ve really thought about what a project should sound like, and that will help you to remain more focused throughout the project. Also, when it comes to mixdown and you ‘pull up the faders’, you’ll probably find the mix is already halfway there, with the sounds already working together and being at roughly the right level. So mixing becomes quicker and, because you’re freer to focus on the vibe and the creative side of mixing, much more fun.

Takes, Drop Ins &...