DYING FOR ANALOGUE

摘要

A 13-year-album recorded and mixed entirely without plug-ins, automation or instant recall. D'Angelo might be calling for a Black Messiah, but is engineer Russell Elevado the saviour of analogue, or a martyr paying the price for his craft? The liner notes of D'Angelo's third album, Black Messiah, contain the following striking pronouncement: "No digital 'plug-ins' of any kind were used in this recording. All of the recording, processing, effects and mixing was done in the analogue domain using tape and mostly vintage equipment." It should probably be unsurprising the politically-motivated artist draws distinct lines between things as arcane as analogue vs digital technology. But the sentiment common in the nineties -- when many were convinced of analogue's superior sonics and resisting the digital revolution by battening down control rooms and locking up their Fairchilds -- is eye-catching for its rarity these days. Digital got its act together with the arrival of 24-bit resolution, the maturity of DAWs, and when capable AD/DA converters became the norm, forcing the analogue versus digital war to retreat to smaller battlefields. Almost everyone agrees that today's pro audio digital recording gear sounds as good as analogue chains. Add the obvious and overwhelming practical advantages of DAWs and its small wonder analogue-centric facilities are on the endangered species list.