Both absolutely.
I don't mind tracking to digital (and actually have done so very often for almost 20 years now), although there is certainly something excellent to be said for 2" analogue (especially my 16 track 2" 3M!). But in my opinion, analogue
IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST for mixing! I have done extensive testing of various formats for mixdown media, and analogue (especially 1/2" or 1" stereo) always wins! Recently on a project with Hugh Padgham, we mixed to four formats from Radar multi: 1) 96k/24 hi-res bit-splitting, 2) 1/2" 2 tr analogue, 3) back into the Radar itself, and 4) 44.1/16 dat backup through Apogee A/D. We expected the 96/24 hi-res to be "da bomb" but there was no comparison for silkiness, smoothness, power; everything was better in the 1/2"! There was certainly nothing wrong with the 96/24; it was very usable at the professional level, but it just didn't beat the analogue. And when Bob L. played it back with his tube electronics 1/2", it really was "da bomb." (By the way, the Radar 2 chan mix recordings were not very good to me...another surprise.)
Now I expect to use the dozen or so reels of 1/2" I happen to have in stock for as long as I have to, mixing THROUGH the tape machine onto the best digital I have, and that will have to be the master...but no playing back with Bob or Ted's special playback machines (nothing wrong with mine I guess).
Hopefully we will indeed get a restart of Quantegy, or the ATR thing will work out, or something...but if so, it will be a solid business decision by whomever, based on cost/benefit analysis...and that doesn't bode well for us here in our "real world" of audio. It will almost have to be a boutique type manufacturer, and there will certainly be a high price to pay for the product!
Terry Manning
related link:
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/3246/6490/?SQ=e fdd51b64588a3fae1a9836ce48e966a