Whats a DAT?
Digital Audio Tape (DAT) is a digital tape format developed in the mid-’80s by Sony and Philips. With the ability to record 48KHz digital audio, CD-quality recordings can be achieved with a set of good microphones. It is a high-end medium, with blank 2-hour tapes costing $6+ and both portable and consumer decks starting at around $600, and pro-quality decks starting around $1000. Most of the better audience recordings from post-1988 come from DAT recordings, leading to the phrase “DAT-source” being used. DAT-source tapes generally are assumed to be a higher quality recording than an analog-source recording from, say, a cassette Walkman. In actuality there are a lot of other factors in what makes a good audience tape (how good the microphones are, ambient noise, audience chatter around the mics, etc.), but in general DAT-source tapes are more sought after. The use and trading of DAT’s in tape-trading circles continues to grow, because a digital DAT-to-DAT copy, sometimes called a “DAT c
