Analog
Did you know that Zeitgeist was recorded in analog? Am I the only person that didn’t know this? On XM Artist Confidential, the Pumpkins said that they were set on doing the record on tape, and on the Inside The Zeitgeist DVD they related how they recorded much of the album on the same 24-track analog machine that MCIS was done on.
Wait. What? Mellon Collie was analog too?!
Let’s just calm down for a sec and take a look at a mixing board. (Thanks His Master’s Voice!)
Okay.
So the Pumpkins went with Roy Thomas Baker to do Zeitgeist because they wanted someone who was willing to track on tape. MCIS was famously recorded with Alan Moulder and Flood, and apparently also on tape. After a little more digging, though, I’ve found that MCIS was recorded analog, and digitally manipulated in post-production using early Pro Tools software on a Mac. I had a hunch that an album that sampled Doom wasn’t entirely old-school.
I’m sure a bunch of new stuff is still done on analog tape, but I wonder how much. Digital dominates, but most mastering houses (the last stop before an album is released) can work with either one. Howie Weinberg (who mastered every Pumpkins album before Zeitgeist) apparently works in mostly analog. And I know João Carvalho in Toronto, Canada works with both. He’s done a ton of big-name Canadian releases, and he must keep that analog equipment around for a reason. There are some interesting marriages of the two, as well. MCIS was done on tape and then the post was done digitally, and, conversely, the new Dears record was tracked in Logic Pro and was mixed all analog. Weird.
Does anyone know any other big albums that have been done analog? I think that analog recording may play a big part in the classic Pumpkins guitar sound, but what does everyone out there prefer?
I think that there’s something comforting in knowing that some people will always hold out, and in the future when most of our music is recorded by robots in space, somewhere some of it will still be tracked live, to warm tape.
/jl
