Despite the obvious strength of the DAW and the ongoing innovations in PC and plug-in development, analog tape remains a viable and often-desired format for audio recording.
“There’s been a renewed interest in the marketplace for quality analog recording,” says Mike Spitz of ATR Magnetics. “ATR now not only can support tape recording re-manufacturing, but is also supporting analog with a brand new super tape. The super tape is ATR Master Tape; it is a very high-output formulation.
“We don’t have a number designation on it,” Spitz explains. “It is our only formulation—designed from the ground up to be made in small batches to meet the current market size. We realize that we’re not dealing in 1970 anymore. This is a tape we can make in small batches and continue to make in the future as long as we have reasonable support. It won’t be a constant issue of ‘when are they going out of business, because we know they’re way too big to continue to make tape for a smaller niche market.’”
“Tape is alive,” agrees Don Norris of RMG International. “We’re actually seeing an up-tick in the business. A lot of people recording strictly digital are going out and purchasing their first tape machine. In a lot of cases, they’re using half-inch for mixing, in particular.”