cheers Kevin, no it wasnt convoluted. infact it was simpler than setting up an eq, compressor magneto or similar and a limiter ,cause the tape did all what they did apart from the limiter ,i was suprised to see a natural kind of low pass filter effect from the tape when looking at the eq curve in a spectrum analyzer set to infinite and i could see the average curve for the whole song ,where as before hand when all digital there were a lot more high frequencies ,i think im gonna look at trying out different tape machines to see which i like for mixing down my own stuff ,the tape machine i used for this mix was quite a cheapo when it first came on the market in the early 80s maybe round the £300 mark cant remember.but i also have an old tascam 246 portastudio i am just in the process of replacing the capstan belt, that is a good machine ,an old friend is lending me a sansui sd 5000 reel to reel to try out.he also has an old akai m8 i would rather try that one cause it runs on valves,cheers for the comment on the song .