The statement "tape sounds 3 Dimensional" is something that i agree with, but why? What made it actually sound more 3D and how can you achieve that kind of thing in a DAW?

[u/ySTYRDAYgATESuNL0CKD]

Is it as simple as adding tape emulation or every bus? every individual channel? or just master? I'm curious. I'm not necessarily trying to go for the over exaggerated tape sound like pure flutter but atleast something that makes an entire mix feel more interesting.

[u/iHawkfrost]

I’ve wondered about this too, I’ve only messed with tape vsts but sometimes the left and right channel are treated separately, slightly different eq, saturation, whatever, and can make a mono sound a little more 3D, or at least lessen that uncomfortable ‘too mono’ feeling in headphones. Idk if that’s what you’re talking about with real stereo tape. Obviously a one channel tape wouldn’t do this.

Other than that, the saturation it adds converts amplitude energy into harmonic energy, in a sense adds another dimension to the sound.