Digital vs Analogue Recording Processes

1. Digital vs Analogue Recording Processes
Both analogue and digital recordings are created by a microphone turning sound into an
electrical analog signal.
An analogue recording is made by establishing that sound signal directly onto the master
tape (through magnetization) or master record. Copies can be made into cassette tapes and
vinyl records.
Digital recordings take analogue signals and convert them into a series of numbers for a
digital software to interpret.
After the analogue signal is digitalized, the recording can be copied and placed onto a
compact disc, hard drive or streamed online.
http://www.klipsch.com/blog/digital-vs-analog-audio/
Advantages Disadvantages
Analogue  Once recorded to tape, audio is
stored/archived
 Has a theoretically better audio
bandwidth (this is controversial)
 Editing limitations of analogue
tape helps prevent
procrastination
 Analogue tape and disc based
audio is harder for record
company executives to mess
with!
 Analogue tape can be edited
with simple splices
 There are many classic well-
loved analogue hardware
processors available (EQ,
compression etc)
 Analogue is expensive
 Tape is expensive and
vulnerable to deterioration
 Tape is becoming increasingly
hard to source
 Tape recorders need
constant looking after
 Copying deteriorates sound
 The electro acoustic
problems with vinyl are vast
and there is no way records
can reproduce a hi-res studio
stereo mix masters (limited
bandwidth, poor dynamic
range, plenty of distortion)

2. Digital  Very low distortion and
noise/hiss
 Variety of recorder options
(tape, optical, hard disc, SSD,
RAM etc).
 You can access any part of the
recording almost immediately
 Massive range of editing and
processing tools
 Non destructive editing (you can
make copies of data and undo
decisions)
 Highly portable
 Data can be cloned
 Data can be transmitted over
networks
 Computers crash
 Software compatibility issues
OS, (hosts, drivers and plug-
ins)
 Data can become corrupted
 Data must be archived when
hard drives become full
 Editing parameters (such as
when programming a synth
or EQ plug-in) are tiresome
with a mouse
http://www.planetoftunes.com/digital-audio/pros-and-cons-of-analogue-and-digital-
audio.html#.WA59rrBSPIU