Analog Tape Provides Key Ingredient

Danny Combs and Solid Air Records have been consistently impressed with our recordings of Danny's solo acoustic guitar compostions. We're proud to have earned their repeat business for all of Danny's projects over the last two years.

During our most recent collaboration with them, our 1960's Ampex 440 tape machine provided a key ingredient. How to make it warmer but not necessarily darker? Bright and involving yet not shrill or harsh? There's nothing like tape for that! We recorded our completed mix to quarter inch two track tape and back into Nuendo at high resolution, giving us the choice between mixes with or without the special touch of analog. The difference was subtle but rewarding: bright transients were softened while the overall brilliance and clarity was retained. Both Danny and the folks at Solid Air preferred the tape version.

With dBx noise reduction available on both of our tape machines (2-track Ampex and 8-track Tascam) the unique warmth of tape is also clean and modern. If a project calls for more than the gentle oversight of the analog angels, then more aggresive techniques can unleash the demons of vintage distortion.

Danny Combs' lastest recording will appear on a compilation album for Solid Air Records alongside perfomances by Hall-of-Famer, Tommy Emmanuel, who was named Best Acoustic Guitarist in the May 2008 issue of Guitar Player Magazine, and Oscar Award Winner, Glen Hansard, co-star and co-writer for the soundtrack of the movie Once and musician from the Swell Season and the Frames. The compilation will be produced by the esteemed Disney composers, Richard and Robert Sherman. A big congratulations to Danny for his continued success!