Digital Compact Cassette - CU Amiga January 1997


Digital recording for £249 sounds too good to be true. Could DCC be the ideal mastering format for skint musicians?

You've probably heard about DCC before. It was launched a few years ago in an attempt to replace the old analogue cassette standard, bringing it up to date with clean digital technology. For one reason or another it still hasn't made a dent in the home, car or portable hi-fi markets, but neither has it gone away. Around the same time, Sony tried a similar thing with MiniDisc, a recordable magneto-optical format that looks like a miniaturised cross between a CD and floppy disk. MiniDisc failed on its first attempt too, but now both formats are attempting to make a comeback. While MiniDisc four-track Portastudio-stype recorders are now appearing for musicians with small studios and big budgets (prices start at around £900), but DCC remains by far the cheapest entrance into digital mastering.

Price is the key element in the favour of DCC as a digital mastering format. While the cost of industry standard DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorders remains artificially inflated to at least £500 for the cheapest unit, with an asking price of £249 DCC has a niche whether or not it eventually conquers the hi-fi market. This article looks at DCC as a potential digital mastering solution for musicians on the tightest of budgets.

DCC flavours
There are currently five main DCC models available from Philips offering a fairly flexible array of options. In addition to those listed here, there's also a car stereo model available. The packages here are based on prices and deals offered by DCC distributor SRTL (tel: 01243 379 834). A number of free DCC tapes are bundled with each of the models. SRTL also do a few bundles made up of various combinations of two different DCC decks. Bare in mind that Philips have discontinued the DCC range. You will need to obtain enough tapes to keep you going for some time. The discontinued status cuts both ways with prices being low to clear remaining stock.

The basics

First of all then, let's take a look at DCC's basic principles and working methods. It works by recording a digital signal onto magnetic tape. The incoming sound is sampled as a 44.1kHz 18 bit waveform and then passed through a special kind of data compression in order to fit a relatively large amount of data onto a small amount of tape. This is a 'lossy' compression method which removes parts of the sound that it thinks you won't notice. It's very efficient and so it only requires a fairly simple tape mechanism (excluding the compression components), unlike DAT which uses a mechanism that's very much like a miniature VCR.

DCC was designed to wean people off analogue cassette tape and has many similarities to the old format. Its cassettes are the same size as analogue tapes but have their own subtly different design with a retractable metal cover that protects the tape, rather like that on a floppy disk. DCC decks can play analogue and DCC cassettes but recordings can only be made on DCC tapes. DCC tapes can also contain data for track markers and track titles to be displayed during playback. The documentation also says pre-recorded tapes can contain whole lyrics, although we didn't come across any.

Realistic option?

The major factor here is sound quality. Does it match up to DAT and is it good enough for professional mastering? The short answer is yes for both, not that everyone will agree. Technically the quality of recordings is not going to be as pure as DAT because of the compression method that discards certain parts of the sound. However, you would need very good ears and an absolutely crystal clear production system to tell the difference between a recording made on the two systems. Looking at it realistically, DCC is more than capable of doing justice to your musical creations. In most musician's set-ups there are bound to be other areas of production that introduce far more significant noise or colouration of the final sound (such as a noisy mixer, fuzzy effects, bad EQ and so on).

Compensating for the compression, the sound is recorded at 18 bit resolution, which in effect gives you more headroom when making recordings from analogue sources (compared to recording at the 16 bit CD standard). Due to a bit of a cock up with the operating system design this is particularly important, as setting optimum record levels is much harder than it should be, as we'll discuss shortly. But assuming you've got that covered, DCC makes apparently perfect copies. If you use either of the digital inputs (optical or electrical phono) then this is all done automatically.


So it's fine as far as sound quality goes, but what if you're the only person you know who has a DCC machine? At the moment it wouldn't be much use sending out demos to record companies on DCC for the simple fact that hardly any will have a DCC machine to play them on. When it comes to getting your music put onto CD or vinyl you'll also have the problem that the cutting house are unlikely to have a DCC machine. In this case you would have to take your own machine, which may or may not be practical depending on which DCC model you have and how flexible the cutting house is. The portable recorder and playback units would obviously be more suitable for this.

In use

DCC tapes use an A and B side format with an auto-reverse mechanism to switch sides (like a VCR there's only one way in which to insert the tape). Track markers can be inserted as and when you record each piece of music, or you can put them in after you've made your recording. So for example, if you were recording a continuous live mix tape from two record decks in which one record fades into the next, you could add markers on the tape once the mix was finished. Notes or track titles can also be added as and when required.

Setting the recording level should be a very simple affair with a standard volume bar display as used on most analogue tape decks and DATs. However, a rather confusing dual numeric display is used instead. When set in record/pause mode with an incoming signal, the first number displayed is the continuous peak level, while the second number is the amount of headroom you have left before the sound will clip due to overloading. Both measurements are given in 'dB'. While this must have sounded very logical to the boffins who designed the system, most people will find it very confusing. The dB scale can be tricky to understand and the manual makes little attempt to demysify it. This will lead many to simply use the 'Over' indicator which appears whenever the incoming signal is too loud.

Most other operations are fairly simple and straight forward, although the system does have a few quirks. Now and again (for whatever reason) the mechanism has a tendency to thrash around with a newly inserted tape, as if it's confused or maybe trying to get a grip on the information on the tape. One discovery during our tests was that it's quite possible to buy 'bad' tapes that for one reason or another will not work on any DCC recorder. We had a brand new BASF 90 minute DCC cassette that refused to work on four different decks. While a poor quality blank tape will normally still work on an analogue system, digital systems like things more cut and dried: either it works or it doesn't.

Which DCC?

Philips have made a fair attempt at producing a DCC machine to suit everyone. The DCC 730 is fine for anyone with a hi-fi separates system or a home studio set-up. Technically identical is the DCC 951, which offers a new style front panel (and some extra blank tapes) for £30 more. If you want portability then there's the DCC 170, a robust metal-cased Walkman-type unit that offers the same features as the 730. The playback-only DCC 134 is another portable option, but with the lack of commercial pre-recorded tapes this is only worth considering as a complement to a non-portable DCC recorder. The FW 68 is a complete mini hi-fi system which comes complete with speakers, and integral amplifier, tuner, CD player and a dual tape deck in which one is DCC and the other is analogue.
Table of Philips DCC models
Model Description Free tapes Price
DCC730 Hi-fi separate style record and playback unit 5 £249
DCC951 Identical to DCC730 except for restyled front panel 10 £279
DCC170 Portable Walkman-style record and playback unit 5 £249
DCC134 Portable Walkman-style playback only unit 3 £150
FW68 Mini hi-fi system with speakers, CD, tuner & additional analogue tape deck 10 £399

The verdict

DCC may well become the home recording format of the future, but don't bank on it. It's certainly not happening as a format for pre-recorded music. Getting hold of blank tapes could be a problem. You won't find them in many high street shops although most good hi-fi and music shops will be able to order them for you. However, they are available from the hi-fi chain store Richer Sounds, which has outlets all over the UK.

Bearing these shortfalls in mind, it's really the £249 DCC730 which looks the most attractive option. DAT is the ideal choice for anyone that can afford it, but if you don't mind making a few compromises, DCC is well worth looking into at half the price. It has very little '' factor' beyond the realms of your hi-fi system and you might even have to put up with a bit of ridicule from ignorant members of the recording industry. If that bothers you then forget it. However, it's recommended as a stepping stone to DAT. If it's the difference between getting your first record released or giving up or losing momentum due to lack of funds then it's got to be worth considering. Even if you get a DAT soon after with your first royalty or advance cheque, the DCC can still be put to good use in your hi-fi stack.

Tony Horgan - Editor of CU Amiga Magazine


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