Over 20 years ago, all the mixing I was doing was off analog 2-inch, 24-track tape and onto 1/4-inch stereo tape. I'd started with recording to DAT (digital audio tape) stereo decks for mixdowns, but I was concerned that their built-in digital converters were not of the highest quality (I was correct), and I was sure that any tape-based digital recording device was a bad mechanical idea (it was). I was a bit of an anachronism for that time, as DAW recording was becoming prevalent and taking over the studio world, but I held out for longer than most and kept tracking artists on tape and mixing analog.
These days, the idea of setting up a studio to only record on analog tape sounds like a pretty rough economic decision. No one is building new 2-inch tape decks, though Mara Machines and a few others can help you out if you want one, and there are a couple of tape manufacturers still around. But if we're thinking about the purely analog recording process, what is it about tape that we are really missing now? I'd suggest the main thing I liked was the (usually) transparent limiting that tape does. When I've done mixes off my console through tape and also direct into Pro Tools, I can actually see the difference. Peaks are comparatively pulled into the mix, the average vs. peak volume goes up, and the mix generally sounds more "done." But other mysterious things happen via tape, like how the channels are under- or overbiased, how the record EQ high frequencies are set, and certainly the sound shifts when the tape gets hit harder – it can even get to the point of extreme compression, with an audible release time sucking all the good out of your tape tracking or mix.
So, driven by these same thoughts, Spencer Walters set out to design an audio processor that sounds like tape, or at least what he likes about tape! He built the T805 as mono, all-analog channels with the "discrete transistor circuitry of a Swiss tape machine" feeding a magnetic energy transfer device he designed with his Full Spectrum Magnetization™ research called the Tape Element™. He claims it mimics the bias of a tape deck, plus the magnetic compression of high frequencies, and even the head bump of a tape machine. "What's head bump?" you might ask. We don't have the room to fully discuss it, but it's an effect that causes irregularities in the reproduction of low end off a tape playback head.
The T805 has a simple set of knobs labeled Gain, Bias, HF, and Out(put), plus a bypass button and a simple meter with LEDs for -12, -6, 0, and +6 dB. Luckily, Spencer sent me two units so I could muck around in stereo. Someone once told me, "If you don’t understand the knobs on a piece of audio equipment, just set them all to 12 o'clock." So, that's what I first did. I was running my console mix through the T805 while printing another version direct in, using the exact same converters, then level matching on output. I was unable to get a full null cancellation with one version's polarity flipped. This is understandable… the processed version should be different, right? It was different. Listening to the two mix versions months later, these differences are even more pronounced. Drums thump a little heavier, textures feel just slightly richer, and it sounds as if it's slightly mastered already. To get the best results, I think I should have mixed through the T805 and listened to what was happening and adjusted accordingly.
On a later mix session, I wanted to add some presence and high end to a pair of acoustic guitar tracks. I ran them into the T805 and boosted the HF all the way up, but it was pretty subtle when buried in a mix. I could swear there was something about this unit that responded better when recording through it than when processing with it. Spencer told me I was correct: "Analog tape and the Tape Element™ have a source-dependent frequency response, because high-frequency energy (audible and ultrasonic) acts as a dynamic bias signal. When ultrasonic content is removed during A/D conversion, there’s less dynamic bias and therefore less of what we perceive as tape compression."
With something this unique and ever so subtle, what are we talking about? I know people are buying these, and it is a unique technology he's worked up. Is it necessary? Maybe for people who need that extra touch on a mix or while tracking, it could be. It definitely did what it said it would do. Do I need 24 of these for multitracking? How do I set the kick versus the overhead mics? I'm not sure my studio and all of its freelancers are ready for it, but I found the device intriguing and unique, and I just kept thinking about it and wondering if I needed it or not during the months the T805s were in our rack. If this intrigues you as well, I'd suggest looking into a pair of T805s.