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From: spp@ucbvax.ARPA (Stephen P Pope)
Newsgroups: net.audio,net.music
Subject: Re: Sound quality of CDs
Message-ID: <10272@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 5-Sep-85 13:40:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10272
Posted: Thu Sep  5 13:40:17 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Sep-85 05:46:24 EDT
References: <446@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA>
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
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Xref: watmath net.audio:5754 net.music:9120

So far as I know, only a minority of recording studios use digital
multitrack recording (due to the expense) and even fewer use 
digital consoles for mixdown.  Quite a few use digital mastering.
    There is a good reason for this.  One major flaw of analog
magnetic tape recorders is the IM distortion.  Clearly, this
will show up the most if analog tape is used AFTER all the tracks
are mixed together.  Thus, digital mastering, and digital
re-mastering of old albums from the multitrack tapes.
    As for why artists would give up on digital after one album,
I hypothesize that too many things went wrong the first time.
I heard of one story where an artist -- Stevie Wonder -- did
a digitally mastered track on an early Sony PCM system, at a 
studio in L.A., and after a critical mixdown, a glitch was discovered
on the newly-created master.  Needless to say,  Stevie did
not use the Sony PCM system thereafter.  This was about seven
years ago; clearly things have improved since then.

steve pope (ucbvax!spp)