Analogue / Digital recordings?

[Lick My Legs]

Does anyone know which PJ albums were originally recorded to analogue tape?

Im pretty sure Dry and Rid of Me are analogue but I don't know about the rest?

John Parish is very into analogue equipment but he does also work in digital.

[bruise]

Watching clips and footage from the various recording sessions, my guess is almost every album has been recorded with analogue equipment up until Let England Shake included. No idea about Is This Desire though

[TheNightingale]

Here's a very detailed interview with John Parish about the recording of Hope Six and his relationship on analogue vs. digital, worth a read:
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/john-parish

[Lick My Legs]

The thing that makes me doubtful is that with the recent re-issues there was nothing in any of the press releases about them being analogue, normally that means they are digital transfers.

Also looking up White Chalk in Discogs, it was mastered at LoudMastering.com looking at their website they dont seem to have any capability of handling analogue tape, they ask only for high quality digital files - though that may have been different back in 2007.

John Parish is very open to using both Analogue and digital but that usually means the final mixdown is going to be digital.

Digital doesn't have to be a bad thing, it would just be nice to know. I think early digital recordings have given it a bad name, I doubt any of us could spot any significant difference between a modern digital recording and analogue.

[TheNightingale]

The thing that makes me doubtful is that with the recent re-issues there was nothing in any of the press releases about them being analogue, normally that means they are digital transfers.

Also looking up White Chalk in Discogs, it was mastered at LoudMastering.com looking at their website they dont seem to have any capability of handling analogue tape, they ask only for high quality digital files - though that may have been different back in 2007.

John Parish is very open to using both Analogue and digital but that usually means the final mixdown is going to be digital.

Digital doesn't have to be a bad thing, it would just be nice to know. I think early digital recordings have given it a bad name, I doubt any of us could spot any significant difference between a modern digital recording and analogue.

Interesting point and yeah, you're absolutely right, it would be nice to know - even though my ears can't really tell the difference. I've been really happy with the reissued LPs so far - clean, nice, quiet, hi-quality pressings - but I have no idea if they were sourced from analogue tape or digital masters. I guess the only way we can learn about such technicalities is if someone asks John through Facebook or something? IIRC he sometimes responds to fans' queries on social media.

[BobSimms]

All the albums were definitely recorded analog up through UHH. I’m not sure about White Chalk (haven’t really listened to the studio album much, only the demos), but generally you can hear a bit of hiss at the beginning or end of songs if they were recorded to tape.

The reissues have used high-res digital masters to create the new editions, at least starting with ROM. Albini supervised the digital master of that one several years ago and said he expected any reissues would use the new digital master, so I’m sure that happened. I’m not positive about Dry’s remaster but I expect it would have been the same situation. Not sure what the thinking was behind it—it’s really not at all difficult to find a mastering house that accepts tape as a starting point for creating masters, so scarcity couldn’t have been an issue. It would be nice to find out why, though.

I agree that the reissues sound really great, so it’s not a bone of contention. I’d love to know Polly’s philosophy, because even today (well, as of the preparation for All About Eve) she still uses 4-track cassette recorders to make demos.