Hey,

currently working on a project that comprises mostly sampled, trip-hop electronica with occasional guitar work (somewhere along the lines of portishead and boards of canada). what are some good ways to get a warmer sound when recording trax? aside from guitars, i mostly record everything else direct. are there any more practical and mechanical methods  of getting warmer sounds (i.e. throwing in a few analog trax, mic techniques, ambient tracks etc.) i'm not looking to mess with tons of filters and applications.  

any help will be greatly appreciated :)

I don't know know if this will work for you or not but on my Protools LE rig I use a plugin from Massey called 'Tape Head' that I use to add a bit of grit or 'warmth' to a track. His plugs are available only for Protools LE and HD though..

If you are compatible the demo's are great and are not very limiting. They are a great way to figure out if it will do what you want. I don't have enough experience with really high-end tape machines to know how accurate it is at creating a 'tape sound' but I use it to fatten up guitars and bass quite often.

I'm not associated with him at all but speaking as a user, his stuff is great and the price is pretty good across the board.

Robert