You have to remember that Pro Tools is just one option for digital recording.
My brother, who has more experience than me with these matters, swears by
Digital Performer. There is also Neuendo and loads of others that are in use.
One of the advantages is you don't have to buy the Pro Tools hardware, which is
one of the reasons PT is so expensive. He sez you can save the Performer files
as a Pro Tools session, to be used on that format if needed.

My big concern with hard disc recording is storage. What are you gonna do to
save all that stuff. I guess DVD discs will help. There are so many digital
formats now, and many are obsolete. Too bad if your stuff is on one of those
formats. The talk of removable drives sounds ok, but we've all had drives
crash. Are you going to get them to work in 20 years. Yeah, tape does shed and
fall apart, but that's mainly a problem from the 70's. I have reels that are 35
years old that sound like they were recorded yesterday. There are stories of
bad PT documentation, where no one is really sure where the masters for very
expensive big time albums are! Record labels usually like to know where their
$500,000 investment is.

My brother also thinks I'm crazy for sticking with analog as my main tool. I
tell him that it makes bands play better. Sure there are times when it would be
handy to patch up a mistake. We have a song that has a small mistake on the
drummer's part. It would be a breeze to fix, but we can't. After thinking about
it, I came up with a whole new way to play that first verse, which will make
the song better, and I didn't have to buy a new computer set up to solve the
problem.

I do use the computer for some recording things. It is also the only way to go
for editing. I can cut tape just fine, been doing it for 35 years, but I like
taking the fear factor out of those critical cuts. I often mix songs in
sections, and then assemble the parts. If you get done, and just need to remix
one section, it's no problem. Remix what you need and paste it in. It's great
for dropping in that one good chorus every time you need it.

I don't want to have to move into the present, but it's looking like I'll have
to make the jump sooner than later.

Bobby is right... good preamps will make more difference almost anything else
in the chain. I finally sprung for nine high quality channels  (four different
units) and the improvement is very apparent.  Get rid of you Alesis compressors
while you are at it, and get something decent. I don't have to go through the
board except for mixing now,  as everything is going straight to tape.

RS



Robert Sutliff wrote:

> Hey Michael!
>
> I don't use Pro-Tools mostly cos I can't afford the pro set up but I do
> definitely record via hard disk in my studio. I love tape and have
> considered going that route but ultimately, once you've gone non-linear you
> just don't want to go back. I had a recent long conversation with Mitch
> Easter and he told me I'd be insane to revert to tape. I do a whole lot of
> editing and digital beats a razor blade by a large margin. I'm happy with
> the sound I achieve but better pre-amps and mics are always on the horizon.
>
> Anyone have a nice ribbon mic they want to contribute to my studio?
>
> Bobby Sutliff
> NP - Richard Thompson - Henry The Human Fly
>
> >
> > Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 02:52:02 +1000
> > From: Michael Carpenter <Stagefright@msn.com.au>
> > To: audities@smoe.org
> > Subject: Pro Tools (for dumb fools)
> > Message-ID: <000201c3911e$76a9ed00$3e93fea9@endx18b1yaw4so>
> >
> >  "Billy G. Spradlin" <bgspradlin@cablelynx.com> wrote..
> >
> > >Glad he didnt
> > > try to update his sound with midi, drum machines, samples, pro-tools
> (for
> > dumb
> > > fools) and other digital automated crap.
> >
> > I don't know why i'm going against my better judgement and asking this, or
> > even why this bugs me...
> >
> > Why Billy, is Pro Tools for 'dumb fools'? As a full time studio owner who
> in
> > the last 12 years and over 300 projects has been through analogue tape and
> > desks, digital tape and desks and now works with Pro Tools every day, why
> am
> > i a dumb fool now? Did you just fall for the 'Pro Tools is evil' bullshit
> > that people like to spin when talking about 'the good old days' or do you
> > have a bona fide reason for labeling PT users both 'dumb' and 'foolish'?
> It
> > is after all, just a recording medium, but one that, from my point of view
> > has seen the quality of my records, as an artist and as a producer,
> > generally go through the roof sonically, artistically and creatively in
> the
> > last 2 and a half years.
> >
> > Not meaning to sound flippant, or in any way accusitory, or to start a
> > fight. I'm just fascinated by the psychology behind such statements....
> >
> > Tweak out..
> >
> > MC (who once got into a 'pushy-shovey' fight over digital vs analogue
> > tape... and hopes he doesn't have to equate the ridicule of technological
> > progress to calling Les Paul, Joe Meek, George Martin and Phil Spector to
> > name only 4 innovators in the studio 'frauds')
> >

-- Ronald Sanchez
Director Of A&R
Career Records
 www.CareerRecords.com

The Donovan's Brain Web Site
 www.Donovans-Brain.com