DAW TO REEL TO DAW

1

To start with, we need to take a bounce, either of the full song, or the instrument track, with a good clean signal, and output that via your interface to your tape deck. Be sure to use a bounce, rather than playing from the DAW, to ensure there are no latency issues that could interfere with the recording. 2

With the deck connected to the interface, we set input levels to ensure no clipping or distortion, turn off any noise reduction, then hit record. Listening back shows that the noise levels intruded, so we re-record with noise reduction on. This deck has recently been serviced so mechanical issues like wow/flutter are minimal but not gone completely, which is what we want.

3

Next, we connect the deck to the input of the interface and record back into Logic, ensuring all audio is lined up with the Logic project. Some tape isn’t accurate for speed so timestretching could have been needed. The resulting effect adds some noise tape saturation and a hint of flutter from the playhead friction. We then EQ the recording to fit the rest of the track.