Tape Saturation

Hi! People say in KVR and other sites that Waves Audio Kramer tape is good for electric guitars but not so good for other things. Slate's one is good rated, but pretty sure Waves J37 is what you're looking for. Other good option is Softube's tape. Both are on sale now. I would go for J37, because it looks more versatile.

 

I'd personally advise against a set-it-and-forget-it approach... as that was never the approach we used back in the day when recording on tape. . Using slate's plugin (which does a very good job of adding some decent tape-mojo) means you need to be very careful about gain-staging - as well as the settings you use. (Noise reduction, bias and the like!)
I'm checking out the new softube emu - and so far I'm REALLY liking what I hear. Goes a step beyond slate - though that could just be my GAS talking. have not tried J37... just because I'm not a waves guy (long, old, boring story!)

Tape's cool... but its just one part of a massive jigsaw puzzle - and it may or may not be helpful for a particular piece / cue.

 

Oh - and revival is cool - but i sometimes feel like its messing with things a little *too* much. Dunno... just had a moment with it the other day when mixing in an extremely good sounding room... and although it hit the "ah thats cool" sound... when I started concentrating / listening INTO the mix, I started to question my use of it, and ended up turning it off. It helped I was in a space that had racks upon racks of gear that most of the time I only dream of being able to use daily...

 

I use Slate's VMR and U-He's Satin for this. You'll get plenty of "vibe" out of both. Just remember to turn the noise down, as it can get very noticeable when stacking through multiple mix busses.

I do want to say, for the Slate plugins in general: I avoided his stuff for a long while because I couldn't stand the marketing style. Turns out the plugins are actually pretty damn incredible. I'm 1.8 years in to my subscription with them and it has made a world of difference in my mixes by having access to such quality plugins.

 

Yes I like Slate VTM and UHE Satin (when I travel if I have to) and I also use hardware Rupert Neve 542 Tape emulators on my mix bus as well and they are pretty colorful!

 

Slate VTM is godlike. Like Casey said, go into settings and turn down the noise, these things were loud and they did their best to replicate that hah. iZotope Ozone 7 tape is a close second for me. I hear great things about Satin.

 

I have heard that UAD2 is great for this but I haven't got on board with that platform yet. I love the Slate Plugins and the VTM in combination with VCC is pretty fantastic. Not right for everything though!