DAT request

Hello.
I have read so much about DATs and I'm really curious what gives you bouncing final mix to DAT and back to the computer. Some of you said that it adds punch, some that it does nothing so is there anybody who has DAT and is able to make a/b comparision?
I mean final mix straight from the DAW and after DAT.
I haven't found any real comparision like that and probably i'm not the one who would like to hear it.

sadzik wrote:Hello.
I have read so much about DATs and I'm really curious what gives you bouncing final mix to DAT and back to the computer. Some of you said that it adds punch, some that it does nothing so is there anybody who has DAT and is able to make a/b comparision?
I mean final mix straight from the DAW and after DAT.
I haven't found any real comparision like that and probably i'm not the one who would like to hear it.

DAT is just one of the first affordable digital recorders that came out around 1990. Because it's one of the earliest digital formats that surfaced, it has first gen ad/da conversion and offers a warmer sound than current digital media.

I still have a DAT recorder because some of my earliest masters are still on tape. I prefer having one around just in case someone is in need of transfers from one format to another.

Some confuse DAT w/ Adat, which is a whole different tape medium.

dat tapes are tiny, isnt the actual tape even skinnier than a cassette tape, it might not be, but its real skinny anyway. i dont think your gonna be adding that much warmth to your final mix by using one, if you want to add warmth you need to add harmonic distortion to a nice 2 inch reel to reel.

like dab said, it was just one of the first digital recording mediums that was widely affordable for anyone getting into recording.

damien907 wrote:dat tapes are tiny, isnt the actual tape even skinnier than a cassette tape, it might not be, but its real skinny anyway. i dont think your gonna be adding that much warmth to your final mix by using one, if you want to add warmth you need to add harmonic distortion to a nice 2 inch reel to reel.

like dab said, it was just one of the first digital recording mediums that was widely affordable for anyone getting into recording.

thickness (measures) of the tape doesn't change the quality of the recording when it comes to digital. The amps and the converters mankes the difference.
IMO a digital tape cannot be compared to any analog tape recording device because on the digital tape the informations are numbers (1/0) just like on a floppy disk or a HD. The analog tape atually has the musical information on it not just a representation of it by 1s and 0s.

A "warmth" of a DAT can only be provided by the converter- or the amplifing stage inside the recorder. You probably can overdrive the amp and maybe its got a limiting function build in to avoid digital clipping. That would give you a compressed and/or overdriven sound. You dont need to record this on the tape tho.

peace

Thanks for replies, you have cleaned up my mind
I will probably buy one and use it just as a/d converter.
Peace.

DAT is cool because...
1) it is cheap now. Tascam DA's can be had for $100... and tapes are $1.
2) It is a great means for storage, as Dab suggested.

Some pro's I know use it to record at lower bit rates in order to get that sound instead of 16bit 44.1khz.
Another guy I know collects DAT recordings...a few artists came out with DAT albums as well as cd and vinyl. He swears they will be worth money some day. He also has lost recordings from his days working at studios, and there are a bunch of geeks that collect and rerecord these lost DATs and brag that they have RadioHead's unreleased songs.
I have a DAT as a back up...I do not think the sound is special but it is cool that you can record your mixes really quick when you have it around. I recommend the Tascam DA sets that came out with the ability to copy protect and not copy protect the recordings. (Note some machines have copy protection only)
Peace
ICF

peterpiper wrote:thickness (measures) of the tape doesn't change the quality of the recording when it comes to digital. The amps and the converters mankes the difference.
IMO a digital tape cannot be compared to any analog tape recording device because on the digital tape the informations are numbers (1/0) just like on a floppy disk or a HD.

oooooh yeah, i dont know wtf i was talking about, never thought of it as 1s and 0s, but i guess that is what it is because its digital.

thanks for clarifying.

Ian Canefire wrote:DAT is cool because...
1) it is cheap now. Tascam DA's can be had for $100... and tapes are $1.
2) It is a great means for storage, as Dab suggested.

Some pro's I know use it to record at lower bit rates in order to get that sound instead of 16bit 44.1khz.
Another guy I know collects DAT recordings...a few artists came out with DAT albums as well as cd and vinyl. He swears they will be worth money some day. He also has lost recordings from his days working at studios, and there are a bunch of geeks that collect and rerecord these lost DATs and brag that they have RadioHead's unreleased songs.
I have a DAT as a back up...I do not think the sound is special but it is cool that you can record your mixes really quick when you have it around. I recommend the Tascam DA sets that came out with the ability to copy protect and not copy protect the recordings. (Note some machines have copy protection only)
Peace
ICF

Since the A/D converter is still a 16bit converter the actual bitreducing is done inside. Its the same as if you change the bitdepth (bitrate is a wrong term) inside an audio editor.
There are a few DAT recordes that can record in LongPlay mode with a reduced samplerate and bitdepth (32kHz / 12bit). I guess that is what you've ment, and since the converters are old the sound might be a bit different tho. But not that much and def not the kind of LoFi that someone might think by reading numbers like 32/12.

peace