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    What are your “desert island” tapes…the ones you cannot live without?

    Desert Island Discs allows the guest to choose 8 tracks. The 8 Desert Island Tapes from my personal collection: David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust Michael Jackson - Off The Wall Steely Dan - Aja George Michael - Faith Dr Feelgood - Down By The Jetty Beatles - Sgt Pepper's The Who - Who's Next Dusty...
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    Nakamichi Dragon

    Listening to my Nak Dragon this evening. Mine was overhauled by Alex Nikitin (ANT4066) a few years ago with a full set of ANT 4066 mods. Still sounds much better than any cassette format should.
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    Studer A820 - Looking for service in Europe

    Another great guy is Simon Griffett at Audiorelated.com about 50 km from London in the UK. Simon looks after the machines at AIR Studios and Abbey Road, along with many other recording studios in the UK. He sorted out my A820, when the power supply went.
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    Are there sonic differences between tape transports?

    You'll find it difficult to find a studio (broadcast or mastering) machine, which will play a 4 track commercial tape. A 4 track commercial tape is recorded with tracks 1&3 playback for side A and a reverse recording of tracks 2&4 for side B of the album (just like your cassette but with wider...
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    Record Cleaning Machines

    I use an old Keith Monks RCM. It's an early machine (probably 35-40 years old) and still going strong. Built like a proverbial tank - works really well. What's not to like? This one should see me out. I'm not sure that you could say that about all of the newer ultrasonic machines - how many of...
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    Universal, Sony and Warner Analog Tape Transfer Quality

    Ron, thank you. Nicely written article outlining the key aspect of archiving master tapes. As the article says, optimising the tape transport (preferably precision guidance rather than forced guidance) and line up are crucial to extracting the very best from these valuable masters.
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    How many people check the repro azimuth on a tape before they play it?

    I think you can also do this with a spectrum analyser. Correct azimuth is found when the high freq tone signal is peaked. When azimuth is mal adjusted, the high freqs on a spectrum analyser for music shows loss of HF. When the azimuth is correct, the spectrum analyser shows that the freq...
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    How many people check the repro azimuth on a tape before they play it?

    Thank you. The problem is that you can't tell without line up tones. A muffled recording might in fact be fine, if you could alter the repro head azimuth to align with the record head azimuth on the machine which made the tape. At 15 IPS, 2 track 1/4 inch tape is really susceptible to very small...
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    How many people check the repro azimuth on a tape before they play it?

    Absolutely. But the studio tape labels all have boxes on them to show which tones are included with a standard order. They all appear in order at the head when I play the tape. Here's an example.
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    How many people check the repro azimuth on a tape before they play it?

    By the way, I forgot to add that some vinyl addicts will have a micrometer adjuster on the tonearm to change VTA depending on whether the pressing is 140, 180 or 200 g - that actually only has a modest effect one SQ - yet a small azimuth misalignment on 15IPS 1/4 inch tape has a very big effect...
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    How many people check the repro azimuth on a tape before they play it?

    I'm sure that all of the tapeheads on WBF know the importance of repro head azimuth. I was taught this by my good friend Stewart Emmings, who sadly went prematurely to a studio in the sky 2 years ago at the age of 49. Misalignment of the repro head azimuth leads to loss of high frequency...
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    Archiving vinyl/tape

    Bruce many thanks
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    Archiving vinyl/tape

    Bruce, How about a Prism Sound Lyra 2? I was told that Prism Sound make some fantastic sounding A2D converters. Thanks Charlie
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    Who Still Has A Tape Deck?

    Nak Dragon with full ANT 4066 mods Studer A820; Otari MTR12; 2 x Sony APR 5000s; Studer A807/II
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    Setting repro head azimuth

    OK, I always check alignment tones on the distribution and "safety" (I won't get into an argument today about this, save to say that the provenance of all my tapes varies, but they almost all sound great) tapes, which I buy, and always put alignment tones on my own tape dupes.
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    Setting repro head azimuth

    Now this is starting to be a great thread :)
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    Setting repro head azimuth

    Thanks Fred, so does the peak amplitude on both channels of a stereo play head have to be the same, or just the peak (even if the amplitude is not identical on the meters)?
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    Setting repro head azimuth

    Fred, OK, does that mean that using the PPM meters on mono-sum is ok - i.e. peaking one meter whilst aiming to reduce the other meter to near zero is correct, as well? Thanks Charlie
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    Setting repro head azimuth

    I do A & B. A) i) when I am setting up the repro head on a calibration tape and sometimes ii) when I am comparing the alignment tones on a new pre-recorded tape B) when I am comparing the alignment tones on a new pre-recorded tape (if I am feeling lazy and don't have time to hook up my scope)...
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    Setting repro head azimuth

    I was taught (as a beginner) that getting the repro head azimuth correct is the first part of lining up a tape deck. Incorrect azimuth reduces high freqs and leads to muffled sound quality. So how best to do this? Is it a) using a scope on X-Y and a 10k tone on a test tape b) estimating...
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    Measuring the frequency response of tape playback electronics

    Hi Fred, Have i got this correct? Thanks Charlie
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    Turntables: Vintage or New?

    How about a current production vintage turntable like the Platine Verdier - designed in the 1980s and still in production (although JC Verdier passed away a couple of years ago)? Here's mine with two tonearms - 1970s vintage Hadcock 228 with a John Wright rebuilt Decca FFSS MkIV C4E and a...
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    Brand NEW Reel To Reel Machine from Ballinger in Germany

    Looks like a pair of strapped Studer J37s in that pic.
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    Brand NEW Reel To Reel Machine from Ballinger in Germany

    A Studer A820 was the same cost as a Steinway Model B grand piano, back in the day. A new Steinway Model B is now GBP70k plus (USD 100k)
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    Measuring the frequency response of tape playback electronics

    I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 usb audio interface, a Mac and Audacity. Is this what I have to do? 1) Plug the outputs from the R2R into the XLR inputs on the audio interface 2) Launch audacity from the interface on my Mac 3) Play a test tape, whilst recording on audacity 4) Then review this...
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    Measuring the frequency response of tape playback electronics

    Fred, If I want to do this properly, what else do I need apart from the ST1510A plus suitable MRL tape? It seems quite hard to find a ST1510A in the UK or Europe. Is there another machine I could use instead? Thanks Charlie
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    Head direct out on the Studer A80 RC?

    David, Forget audio reproduction nirvana - just get out and listen to live music regularly :) Charlie
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    Head direct out on the Studer A80 RC?

    Dave, You are quite correct, but make the assumption that everyone is as assiduous in tape line up and machine calibration. Yes, in an ideal world, having external repro electronics would be great, but only if all the other things are done first. Personally I would rather buy some more tapes...
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    TTs with multiple tonearms

    Yes, I have done that on a number of occasions with my Platine Verdier - Schroeder Model 2 + Allaerts MC1B into the onboard MC phone on a TRON Meteor and vintage 1970s Hadcock 228 + John Wright rebuilt Decca FFSS MkIV C4E fine line into a TRON Seven reference phono. My preference varies...
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    Head direct out on the Studer A80 RC?

    I think that the difference is that one should check the azimuth and line up of your machine every day and with every tape, which you play. Every tape should (many don't) have line up tones either at the head or the tail; I check the azimuth and repro levels on my machines against the line up...

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