Sound fundamentally is moving air. These vibrations are interpreted by our ears. The volume range is called the dynamic range. Whether a sound is soft or loud is referred to as the dynamics. Vinyl and tape have a range of 20db and cd’s have a full dynamic range(100db’s). The audible aspect of this range that can be heard is determined by the equipment

Music samples are described as bright, dull, deep and thin. It is not quite as simple as that, we all hear the same sound differently. The accuracy of sound sources is further affected by this. The audible frequency range for the human ear is 20 hertz on the low end 20 kilohertz on the high end.

Analog recording devices use a plastic tape coated with magnetic particles. The tape moves across a magnetic recording head at a constant speed to record and playback. An "erase head", in the path of the tape, erases(re-aligns) the tape particles before the "record head". "two-head" devices have another head for recording/playback. In a "three-head" devices have one head dedicated to recording called a "sync head", and another for playback called the “repro head". Professional machines normally have three heads.
There are limits to what the particles can absorb and reproduce. The devices tape speed and bias affect the ability to record. If the device runs at a faster speed then more area is covered for a given signal (more particles are used to absorb the signal). Professional analog multitrack recorders often run at 30 ips (inches per second). . The magnetic particles can reproduce high frequency sounds better.When a "Bias" when a bias of 100 Khz or so, much higher than human hearing, is used along with the recording
There is a lot that can go wrong with tape recording and the setting is important. Tapes may wrinkle, stretch and master recordings have to be accurate in the first place.

Mechanically this process is simpler and involves a lot of electronics. The input signal is sampled 1000's of times per second and each acoustic slice is given a digital number. The "analog-to-digital converter" (ADC) recieves the analog input converting it into a stream of numbers and a "digital-to-analog converter" (DAC) reverses the process.
The "sampling rate", determines how the sound will survive the digitization process. CD's are sampled at 44.1 K (44,100 times per second) which is the industry standard. Some formats offer 48 K sampling as well. DAC's and ADC's aren't created equally there are differences in how these machines sound, even though the theoretical consistency of 0's and 1's!
Digital tape machines use mechanical transports and plastic tape as a storage medium for the digital information. The Alesis ADAT and Tascam DA-88 are examples of new inexpensive digital multi-tracks. Hard disc recorders are another digital approach, many using computer software as controllers. E.g. Digi-Design and Soundscape machines. Examples of dedicated boxes you plug hard discs into for storage are the EMu Darwin, Vestax and Akai recorders
The size of the hard disc limits the amount of recording time. Locating and editing is easy. When combined with a computer as the interface, you have a powerful word processor for music.