A few other tape-related areas to discuss?

[stellavox]

Was just over on the Tape Project Website and looked at a few of the most recent questions / comments.

One has to to with the United Home Audio "line" of tape decks. Questioner has one and was asking for "feedback" on them. Anyone want to help him out so we can direct him here?

Other question he asked is where to get tapes - like 15ips stuff. This firmware conundrum is perhaps the biggest "bug-a-boo" surrounding this hobby. Some of us know that there are "vendors" (and potential vendors) of these (master dubs) out there, so how can / should we handle this? Allow / encourage them to "advertise" their existence and what type of material they have - and a Email contact???

Charles

 

[stellavox]

And another thing.....

For the newbies; is there any area that "scares you off". If so let's discuss it! Old(er) timers too.

 

[Steve Williams]

And another thing.....

For the newbies; is there any area that "scares you off". If so let's discuss it! Old(er) timers too.

Well am far from a newbie but the three things scaring people off (regardless of how great tape sounds) that come to mind are

1. Hardware......lack of availability

2. Adequate tech support for modding, repair of machines other than a scattered handful throughout the country

3. Lack of availability of software by multiple sources and cost of software has precluded all but those with the $$$ to shell out for tape purchases

I might add a 4th and perhaps for many who have the $$$ have echoed here in other posts and that is absence of software desired by we end users. This has been echoed by others here. Simply put, many are saying, why shell out $500/tape if you don't like the artist, album or genre even if the quality of the recording surpasses all formats of the same

At TP Forum there is a place to put up your suggestions for future albums which seems to have many albums and artists which I would love to have on tape but I didn't see any of those in Season 2 releases.

I do understand (before everyone starts throwing rocks at me) the inherent problems however of obtaining a license for many or most of these

Finally you alluded to "vendors" who do sell tapes and I for one have to question the legality of some of these tapes

 

[Steve Williams]

One has to to with the United Home Audio "line" of tape decks. Questioner has one and was asking for "feedback" on them. Anyone want to help him out so we can direct him here?

Done

 

[audioblazer]

I for one wish that there is more 15 ips tape available. So far only know of 20 from tapeproject and 9 for aaanalog.de from Germany. Not enough to get a lot of people excited and invest in a good recorder and get it modded to accept external electronic. Unlike vinyl which have plenty of good LPs available

 

[mep]

Audioblazer-you hit the nail on the head. What good is it if you own a $30K Studer deck but only have 20-30 tapes to play on it? Here is what I think needs to happen if R2R is ever going to take off again. There should be a world-wide marketing campaign to try and find at least 100K people who own high quality 2 track decks capable of playing back at 15 ips and who would buy high quality dubs of master tapes assuming we could get licensing rights to the "good stuff" as Steve alluded to above (and I believe you could if you are talking about selling 100K copies). You aren't going to excite too many major recording labels by telling them you want to license 200 copies of one of their master tapes. Better yet, if you could go to the major record labels and tell them you can guarantee them sales of 100K copies of a master tape, then most probably some ears are going to prick up. Even better yet is if you could go to the major labels and give them a list of recordings that you could guarantee them sales of 100K for each title and convince the labels to join forces like they did in the old days with the two major record clubs and open up one large production facility to turn out 15 ips 2 track tapes. If this was done as a joint venture, I think you could see tapes selling for around $200 each if not lower. There is power in numbers. No label is going to get excited about 200 copies which is why you won't see any Beatle tapes or Led Zep or any of the other holy grail tapes that people would like to see (and own).

Mark

 

[amirm]

If you are asking what else should be discussed, then I would love to see three tiers described as far as cost to get into R2R. What is the lowest cost but good, the better, and the best. I might be interested in the first tier and spent some time researching but then gave up due to investment of time.

 

[mep]

Amir-the "lowest cost but good" has to be the Ampex ATR-700. The high speed model is available as low as $200. It is a 2 track deck/15 ips deck with both IEC and NAB equalization available at the flick of a switch. Honestly, that deck is good enough that if I was going to spend more money, I would go right to a Studer where you can do your "good, better, best" comparision. Revox PR-99- good, Studer A810-better, Studer A-820-best.

Mark

 

[amirm]

Thanks Mark. Didn't realize how cheap the lowest cost unit is. I think I paid $1000 for my Teac in 1978!

 

[Steve Williams]

Thanks Mark. Didn't realize how cheap the lowest cost unit is. I think I paid $1000 for my Teac in 1978!

IIRC my Studer A810 new listed for ~ $28K and I bought it for $2K from a library in Switzerland where it had all but 12 1/2 hours on the heads and is in near flawless condition.

 

[mep]

Steve-That was a great deal. I wish I could have lucked into one like that.

Mark

 

[Steve Williams]

You could have. All told we had 6 A810's out of Switzerland that I advertised on TP Forum

 

[stellavox]

Steve,

I keep forgetting about that pesky little footnote called copyrights. It certainly appears to be a show stopper, especially for Rock music.

I'm soooo lucky to have a friend who sometimes stops by to give me a fix. And HE calls ME a drug dealer. Yesterday it was a listen to a couple reels of Turandot with Sutherland, Pavarotti, Caballe, Mehta, et.al. Getting teary remembering. It was a baker - "nothin says lovin like somethin from the oven!".

Charles

 

[audioblazer]

Recently 2 Studer A820 appears for sales in studer yahoo grp for only usd2k- cheap . Ki choi bought 1. Wld have love to buy it if not for it's prohibitive shipping cost to Malaysia . Studer A810 already cost me abt usd700 to ship not including packing . If u take your time , very possible that cheap buy will appear somewhere.
Copy right maybe an issue but I m sure there are sources who sell dub tapes

 

[c1ferrari]

Hi Charles,

I believe tape media, i.e. recorded tapes, are available; however, this can develop into somewhat of a morass as a curious cabal of characters, how's that for alliteration - lol, seem to have access to the prime stuff ;-) Maybe, we can establish some manner of tape exchange to accomplish an increase of available quality software...analogous, hehe - pun intended, to when an album was recorded onto cassette for a friend. I surmise this is legal, but please contradict me should it not be the case. Now, the question surfaces -- is making a dub, ethical?

Vbr,
Sam

 

[Mike Lavigne]

regarding discussion of Gray Market 15 ips 1/4" 'master dubs'. these are 'X' generation dubs of master tapes or even actual master tapes where no rights release has been secured. in other words; they may be legal to possess but not to listen to or copy or trade. just because you find one of these in the dumpster outside a mastering house does not give anyone the right to do anything with the content.

my strong opinion is that any open discussion of these type tapes will 'end badly' for someone. all communications on this subject should be via private e-mail, phone, or person to person.

yes; these gray market tapes exist. some are very good (and some are not what they might be cracked up to be) and people have them. but if, at some point, someone wants to get nasty who owns the rights, a web record of who, where and when is just a Google search away.

and discussion of copying or trading legally acquired (15 ips 1/4") tapes is at least as radioactive as the Gray Market tapes. those rights owners are likely even more vigilant.

too bad, but it's just not a good thing to post about on an open forum.

it could ruin your day and maybe the day of the owners of this forum.

let's keep it private....just my 2 cents. if someone does go down that road i won't go anywhere near it.

 

[MylesBAstor]

regarding discussion of Gray Market 15 ips 1/4" 'master dubs'. these are 'X' generation dubs of master tapes or even actual master tapes where no rights release has been secured. in other words; they may be legal to possess but not to listen to or copy or trade. just because you find one of these in the dumpster outside a mastering house does not give anyone the right to do anything with the content.

my strong opinion is that any open discussion of these type tapes will 'end badly' for someone. all communications on this subject should be via private e-mail, phone, or person to person.

yes; these gray market tapes exist. some are very good (and some are not what they might be cracked up to be) and people have them. but if, at some point, someone wants to get nasty who owns the rights, a web record of who, where and when is just a Google search away.

and discussion of copying or trading legally acquired (15 ips 1/4") tapes is at least as radioactive as the Gray Market tapes. those rights owners are likely even more vigilant.

too bad, but it's just not a good thing to post about on an open forum.

it could ruin your day and maybe the day of the owners of this forum.

let's keep it private....just my 2 cents. if someone does go down that road i won't go anywhere near it.

I absolutely concur Mike! Not cool.

 

[Steve Williams]

regarding discussion of Gray Market 15 ips 1/4" 'master dubs'. these are 'X' generation dubs of master tapes or even actual master tapes where no rights release has been secured. in other words; they may be legal to possess but not to listen to or copy or trade. just because you find one of these in the dumpster outside a mastering house does not give anyone the right to do anything with the content.

my strong opinion is that any open discussion of these type tapes will 'end badly' for someone. all communications on this subject should be via private e-mail, phone, or person to person.

yes; these gray market tapes exist. some are very good (and some are not what they might be cracked up to be) and people have them. but if, at some point, someone wants to get nasty who owns the rights, a web record of who, where and when is just a Google search away.

and discussion of copying or trading legally acquired (15 ips 1/4") tapes is at least as radioactive as the Gray Market tapes. those rights owners are likely even more vigilant.

too bad, but it's just not a good thing to post about on an open forum.

it could ruin your day and maybe the day of the owners of this forum.

let's keep it private....just my 2 cents. if someone does go down that road i won't go anywhere near it.

I agree 100%.

Please let's not be discussing grey market tapes here. Mike is completely correct in everything he said

 

[c1ferrari]

regarding discussion of Gray Market 15 ips 1/4" 'master dubs'. these are 'X' generation dubs of master tapes or even actual master tapes where no rights release has been secured. in other words; they may be legal to possess but not to listen to or copy or trade. just because you find one of these in the dumpster outside a mastering house does not give anyone the right to do anything with the content.

my strong opinion is that any open discussion of these type tapes will 'end badly' for someone. all communications on this subject should be via private e-mail, phone, or person to person.

yes; these gray market tapes exist. some are very good (and some are not what they might be cracked up to be) and people have them. but if, at some point, someone wants to get nasty who owns the rights, a web record of who, where and when is just a Google search away.

and discussion of copying or trading legally acquired (15 ips 1/4") tapes is at least as radioactive as the Gray Market tapes. those rights owners are likely even more vigilant.

too bad, but it's just not a good thing to post about on an open forum.

it could ruin your day and maybe the day of the owners of this forum.

let's keep it private....just my 2 cents. if someone does go down that road i won't go anywhere near it.

Points well-taken and well-received

Vbr,
Sam

 

[Satch]

One of the cool things about UHA modded Tascam BR-20 is the upgrade path. I bought the Phase 1 last December and if I want to upgrade to say a Phase 5, I can send my Phase 1 in and pay the difference in price.

Also, I've made some good recordings from my vinyl collection. Even at 7 1/2 ips I can get a decent recording and with 2400' reels, that's a lot of analog goodness. Plus the fact that it looks cool as all get-out!

Now, I'd love to record some of my vinyl collection with a really good turntable/arm/cart/pre, etc. My have to travel for that one.

I play upright bass with a small blues/jazz combo and I'd like to get a hold of a good pair of mics' and a nice tube preamp and see how well it records live in a small club. Old School.

Ray