Analogue concepts
James has a very clear agenda for this video session. “I want to talk about analogue sound; why it’s so important to us as human beings; why there’s a resurgence in analogue technology; most importantly, though, how we can take the processes and sound of analogue and then recreate that inside modern DAWs using plugins.
“First of all, let’s think about what we mean by ‘analogue’. It’s imperfections; chaos; things changing constantly with an infinite number of values. What I’ve always thought about any analogue system – audio, photography, visuals – is that it seems like a circle: you have an infinite number of places within it, with no lines or stepping. We are ‘analogue’ people…
life itself can be considered analogue! “But what is ‘digital’? It’s a ‘stepped’ system that has defined numbers and places within it. When we talk about digital audio, it’s the ability to take analogue input from a source, then say at any point ‘what number is that input wave?’, then measure that, then the next point, and so on. We’re taking finite degrees of measurement, then either storing them as information and recreating them; or generating them as oscillators, as sound sources within a digital program, using DSP code to create the frequency of a waveform at any point throughout the cycle.
“If you think about that, everything within a digital system is linear; it’s an exact number, or the difference between two numbers on a certain scale. The intersection between these two worlds is where all of this gets interesting. Even if a circle is ‘analogue’, you can take any point and draw a straight line across it. That interaction is what drives our entire modern world. Every form of entertainment – TV, film, music – has been digitised, and runs on digital systems through digital devices.
“Now look at the cycle of analogue in audio. Right at the beginning, the only recording equipment available was valve-based. Even though we went solid state with transistors, everyone realised we could go back to the valve for a fatter, warmer sound. So there’s something intrinsically important in how we respond to the ‘art’ in analogue sound.
“Think of how we interact with photographs. Who uses a digital photo as-is? Everyone flips on a filter that makes the image look like it’s been taken on an old analogue camera. We’re all obsessed with trying to get things back to this grungy, crusty, analogue feel with imperfections and chaos.
“Another example is the Star Wars reboots. They’ve gone to great lengths to replicate the 35mm film quality from the original films, making these digital films stand apart from other releases – say, the (questionable!)
Assassin’s Creed movie: a fully digital film, which looks like a computer game, whereas the new StarWars don’t. So it’s fascinating how we can apply processes to digitised signals, and help breathe life into digital.”