If you were going to buy 2-3 tapes, what would they be?

[christensenleif@msn.com]

50 titles in a year was a little more than anticipated, but the sound man!

 

[NorthStar]

the catalogue is growing fast as opposed to my bank balance!

You think the prices will come down fast too one day? Those tapes are the hobby of the rich & famous...just like the better cars from Italy.

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

Im definitely not rich nor famous! at least not yet
It s a matter of priorities
no I think they will stay or even rise...at least for original Safety masters and Production copies
supply and demand curve...limited supply from old studio archives, collectors etc
even new recordings are low volume market...time demanding as copies cannot be made at higher speeds than realtime
then we have the boutique Audio market pricing mechanisms

 

[Tom B.]

+1 for UltraAnalogue Recordings, Edward Pong. Just received Bach Cello Suite #1 (Sietse-Jan Weijenberg), highly recommended! Probably one of the finest, most intimately recorded cello works I've listened to. Edward has managed to capture even the most subtle nuances of the performance.

Tom B.

 

[amirm]

+1 for UltraAnalogue Recordings, Edward Pong. Just received Bach Cello Suite #1 (Sietse-Jan Weijenberg), highly recommended! Probably one of the finest, most intimately recorded cello works I've listened to. Edward has managed to capture even the most subtle nuances of the performance.

Tom B.

Went to research their recordings and the first hit was an interview with Dr. Pong. Very fascinating read so I made a new thread from it: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...-UltraAnalogue-Recordings&p=337136#post337136

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I have never understood the desire to buy music based on fidelity over content.

 

[amirm]

I have never understood the desire to buy music based on fidelity over content.

Me neither. Oh wait....

I want to have the best content that shows off the format. Clearly I am not going to sit there and listen to the same tape over and over again. I have my digital library for that.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Me neither. Oh wait....

I want to have the best content that shows off the format. Clearly I am not going to sit there and listen to the same tape over and over again. I have my digital library for that.

I can understand somewhat, I suppose.

 

[Edward Pong]

With all my tapes, I'm most focused on the musicality of the performance. It is certainly the content that makes one want to listen again.... I would not release a tape unless I feel the performance is captivating. To that end, all the artists are some of the best young classical musicians of this generation. Most have won International competitions & are on the cusp of international careers. Xiang Yu will be playing concertos thru out the US in the 2015-2016 season... Tatsuki Narita in the upcoming tape plays concertos thru out Japan, Asia & Europe.
I have passed a tape to YoYo Ma, however, if I can get him to record with me... How much would the audiophile community be willing to pay??? It will not be cheap... I'm hoping to capture a great sound of the next generation of soloists before they become too famous to have some fun with us.....

 

[NorthStar]

What's the best way to store your tapes so that they last without losing their luster?

And two, how long can we expect them to last? ...When properly stored indeed.

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Edward Pong]

Humidity is an enemy of tape & that's why "old" tapes sometimes has the backing shedding. Storing the tapes in a sealed plastic bag with a desiccant would be good. How long? I have to ask RMGI to see if they have the answer to that?

 

[Edward Pong]

I think one of the factors to keep the tapes in good shape is to make sure your deck is clean & demag frequently . This way, there is less physical wear & tear on the tapes. I heard the Hadron linear accelerator in Europe decided on using tape as the medium to store their enormous amounts of data & not on hard drives or flash media..... Not sure what kind of tape they would use, but it would seem tape should have a long life...

 

[amirm]

What do you use to clean the heads? I think I read in the interview that you used isopropyl alcohol? Do you use q-tips? How about pinch rollers?

 

[Edward Pong]

Use 90-100% iso-propyl alcohol , I use linen so can get some pressure on the heads. Clean after every play. Even if you do not see anything , it will affect the high frequency ... I see it when I calibrate to make the copies... The high freq can be down...

 

[amirm]

Thanks. That is pretty frequent cleaning! You should have seen how much dirt would come off the heads when I cleaned them back in 1980s. They were so caked on at times that you had to really scrub to get them off! Compared to that, my heads look like you can eat off them.

 

[Edward Pong]

Even though you don't see anything, clean them! You will get better response!

 

[Edward Pong]

Also demag often, there will be less noise ..

 

[NorthStar]

I think one of the factors to keep the tapes in good shape is to make sure your deck is clean & demag frequently . This way, there is less physical wear & tear on the tapes.
I heard the Hadron linear accelerator in Europe decided on using tape as the medium to store their enormous amounts of data & not on hard drives or flash media..... Not sure what kind of tape they would use, but it would seem tape should have a long life...

The Hadron Collider! Wow wow wow Ed!

_______

As for the tape deck's maintenance and tapes storage...thx...it's back to when we were young and playing music tape cassettes. :b
By the way most of my commercial tape cassettes are unplayable today...with background music playing during silences!
...About one thousand of them. And when I was buying them I was paying roughly $10 each.
Blank tapes with my own music fare much better...with better quality magnetic composition...and construction too.

Ed, I have no problem with beautiful quality sound from beautiful music played on quality open-reel tapes, from hi-end turntables spinning quality vinyl, and from CD/SACD players and music servers playing hi-res audio downloads quality multichannel classical music from SACDs, and using the best DACs.

Today we can get music from various sources and @ various price points. ...Say, from free to $5,000+ for a rare album.
International music is available online and from various world tuning radio stations.

* I didn't realize that tapes can cost so much; roughly from anywhere starting @ $100 to $500...each!
That's more money than a hi-res audio (176/32) download @ $30.

I know; this is all relative...the world doesn't logically operates that way...logic is a luxury for the poor. ...Way of speech. :b
It's all good...and it's all sad @ the same time because most people will never experience the best sound there is on Earth.

__________

Music taste goes from chamber classical music (my bag) to Iron Maiden. :b

<<<?>>> The Hadron Collider...on tape!!!

 

[Edward Pong]

Great endorsement for longevity of tape storage...

 

[Edward Pong]

It's likely digital tape, but still tape