Open call to artists to please back up your multi track masters digita Options

[Mach-X]

The reason I ask is I recently read that Jack White says he only records using analog tape citing "the pen never leaves the paper". I fully understand this from the romantic straight to vinyl aspect pure analog approach. But what about 30 years from now when you wish to remaster or re release your material? Theres already been articles regarding horrific treatment of analog masters leading to lost or damaged reecordings.
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=w...X9dMukhWHhGcCSQ
I have the Led Zeppelin Complete Studio Recordings from 1993 and there are obvious tape issues despite brilliant remastering work by Jimmy Page. 20 years later those tapes cant be better. With pre 1950s recordings they used hard acetates which dont degrade like tape but repeated use of them still leads to friction breakdown. With high resolution digital you can copy and back up endlessly without loss. Pink Floyd have recently released "immersion" editions of their best albums including quad mixes in dolby digital, all from the original master tapes. Problem is, discerning listeners have found tape dropouts not present in earlier cd releases, meaning that the master tapes have degraded between then and now. As great as todays tech is, it cant replace lost audio. period.
Point is, Mr. White, please keep a digital high res capture device running next to your analog studio tape recorder if you care at all about the posterity and integrity of your recordings.

[db1989]

Also, Mr. White: Your analogy is hopelessly flawed.

I agree that there are nice aesthetics about recording to/storing in analogue; it’s a nice thought, and it can have tonal qualities (i.e. potential alterations to the input, not necessarily better or worse) that may be appealing in some contexts/to some listeners. But so many people cannot mention innocuous things like this without tying them to some denunciation of digital, often melded to fundamental misunderstandings of the relevant theory. Digital by itself does not alter sound. Which is what one should want for archival! So, as you’re saying, Mach-X, even if one prefers the edges imparted by analogue processing, one should not dismiss digital storage as a far safer means of backup; if not, it could be disastrous.

This post has been edited by db1989: Jan 20 2013, 05:01

[timcupery]

Mr. White's flawed analogy reminds me of Calvin's dad's logic about black-and-white vs. color in this comic strip:
http://i.imgur.com/4rPGp.jpg