+1
Can we finally put Reel to Reel out of its misery? Put it to rest people.
The format is dying and too expensive to repair properly. Heads wear out so easy and many out there are all worn.
High quality technicians are either retired or long gone. Its such an inconvenient format that can be equalled by nakamichi easily in tape decks.
Retire it please put them in museums.
High quality technicians are either retired or long gone. Its such an inconvenient format that can be equalled by nakamichi easily in tape decks.
Retire it please put them in museums.
Showing 33 responses by glupson
topoxforddoc, Thanks to Google, I found this website you are certainly familiar with. Clicking on pictures makes it even more confusing. All the available tapes are from very short period. Roughly 1987-1993. Nothing that I could find from decades before that. I did not check those with no pictures, though. Almost like someone decided that nothing after 1987 was worth keeping and everything before that was too good to be thrown away. Puzzling. All are on the same tape (Agfa PER 528) which was probably the standard of the day but I wonder if every major company had really used only those to send to the local pressing plants. https://www.mastertapes.eu/jugoton-masters#myCarousel |
topoxforddoc, I think I understand now where it came from and what copy it was. It was as close of a copy as a local distributing company could get to the original and it served as that to make actual records. That would make it, for all practical purposes, an "original" for that local pressing plant. That is what is puzzling me, why would they give it away? I know it may be impossible to find out about each particular tape. It just does not seem expected. As life gives us surprises where we would never expect them, I got stuck with that particular tape of yours as it brings back a few memories. I visited that room a couple of times and I believe I might have been in it at the same time your tape was (just passing through as a curiosity, not much else). Remembering people there, it is hard for me to imagine they just threw the stuff away. Who knows, maybe they did. |
topoxforddoc, That is interesting. Giving away "originals" seems unusual for a record company when even hobbyists (as your example here shows) are considering them as good as it gets. Could it be that such a tape was, practically, stolen from the company while nobody was paying much attention? That particular place’s vault was not much of a vault, but it was enthusiastically taken care of. Not that you can find it out now, but it would be interesting to know which ways, and when, did the tape travel before it reached you. This is, it seems, what you are talking about... http://www.museumofmastertapereels.org/introduction.html As you mention, it used to be tapes, then it was hard drives, now it may be Internet. As good as tapes may sound, vinny55 may be right, they are obsolete. Not for hobbyists, for everything else. |
uberwaltz, "Now excuse me while I go read up on Elcaset some more ....."So you are the one slowing that Elcaset website I am reading. Now, sleepwalker65 gave me another homework with that TEAC open cassette. I did not forget about it. I never knew about it. After all of this, 8-track seems like a mundane mainstream these days. Not to mention R2R. It is like a fledgling teenager. |
As a small interesting piece, a person who signed off (who signed the arrival of it to the record company and was eventually a responsible "editor") on one of the topoxforddoc’s reels of tape has a story to tell... "Despot attended recording sessions of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (London, 1967), Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed (London, 1969), Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma (London, 1969) and Arsen Dedić’s Homo volans (Zagreb, 1973)." |
cleeds, I agree with, pretty much, everything you say. However, my points were aiming at the fact argued along this thread that R2R is thriving and not dying. Even the Italian poster’s informative description of revamped machines shows the opposite is happening. They redid their machines only to make more viable back-up. For a handful of enthusiasts, R2R may be the best thing ever and there is no arguing about its merits but, as a format in general, it has deceased some decades ago. All of the references about parts involve eBay. Proof that it is great is a picture, or two, of a description of specific tapes from more than thirty years ago. It is, in fact, defunct on any significant scale. Together with a dial phone. Nothing to do with R2R, but the radio station I was mentioning was non-USA located, completely non-commercial with, seemingly, unlimited resources to waste. To the dismay of local crowd that is forced to fund it, but that is a different topic altogether. They, to this day, have occasional orchestra performances in the studio. Just for the heck of it. Speaking of (in)convenience. |
cleeds, I agree, but do notice that tapes were not backed up to another tape but to entirely different (even allegedly inferior) format. That is saying something. Maybe 10 years ago, a few more or less, I asked a person at the radio station to copy a reel of tape with some of the music my friends made in high school (pure nostalgia, nothing spectacular). Basically, to transfer the only existing record of that into some other format. "Great, you came at the last moment. If you came five years from now, I probably could not do it. We have transferred all that we have into digital just in case and tape machines have been dying in the process. We have only one that is good now." Sure, he could have them fixed, but it seems that they had, more or less, abandoned the format. By the way, it is a well-funded and quite serious radio station. Not a garage project. |
Welcome Roberto, welcome Torino, This is to be able to "read" the numerous tapes still present in their archives, digitize them in order to have a security back up. They waited until 2019? The reel recorder is not "dead" or even in agony.Nothing wrong with enjoying R2R, but "digitize them in order to have a security back up" actually implies an agony. |
topoxforddoc, What are those links actually about? Descriptions of what is on the tape? How did you actually get them? For example, even in 1998, you could not go to the store and buy that Jesus and Mary Chain reel of tape. Was someone cleaning the closet? Both are from over thirty years ago. How is the tape? Any problems due to age? |
uberwaltz, I have not forgotten DAT which was, at least for some time, a professional's choice. I had it on my mind when someone implied "tape is better because digital sucks". Not that I think that DAT is phenomenal, but it does exist, it is a tape, and it is digital. Still, my heart goes to DCC. It played regular cassettes, too. I wanted to like MiniDisc (another radio station workhorse), but it does make a case for "digital sucks" more often than not. This Elcaset is intriguing, though. |
It seems that vinny55 is alone in his call to annihilate R2R. Even those who do not see it as a format of any significance at this point, do not call for its forced demise. Still, what do you guys think how many people around the world are actually active with R2R? I am not sure how to get to some ballpark figure. Maybe number of R2R clubs and their members? Actual sales on eBay and similar sites? Does anyone have any idea? Would number be in hundreds, thousands, millions? What are your guesses? |
I thought that having MiniDiscs and DCCs laying around was perverted enough, but you guys are making me consider Elcasettes. Now, when R2R technicians are allegedly not impossible to find, does any of you know a technician that would dive into fixing one of the Unitra (Grundig license) machines? I do not think it is even broken but if someone would give it a clean bill of health, I may revisit some old tapes. Wish You Were Here and such. |
"Revox is/has building/built a new R2R in 2017..."This is puzzling, but not that much. If such thing had actually been produced, ReVox somehow forgot to mention it on their website. Not in the news from 2016 or 2017, not in the history of their tape machines. Internet has many pictures of 2017 ReVox tape recorder. All of them on some enthusiast websites or YouTube channels. Nothing solid, though. No review of a machine that would be expected to be eagerly awaited. No real pictures. Nothing. Well, something... http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=60354 Sad news, ReVox has not been producing tape decks for many years now. Not in 2017. It has not contributed to this revival yet. |
richopp, we must have misunderstood each other somehow. I was replying to your... Can you say (or spell) STELLAVOX? STUDER?which implied that those companies would prove R2R alive and thriving. However, both of them have abandoned the format. It might have been an unfortunate example that you picked which, in effect, solidified the impression that R2R is practically dead on any significant scale. Kind of "See these powerhouses of R2R. Ooooops, they do not want to have anything to do with R2R." When it comes to digital vs. analog, it is not even the point of this thread although it got slid in as "tape is great while digital is bad". Along with "digital is garbage and real musician would tell you". It was also an imperfect example as many, if not most, of the real musicians do not seem to spend much time thinking about it. Of course, it depends on one’s definition of "real musician" and sample size used. Admittedly, my "real musician" sample is small. I have nothing against R2R (I actually grew up with it being my primary source of music for a while), but it is a niche product for nostalgic people. It may sound better to one’s ears, but thriving format it is not. One manufacturer does not make a renaissance. |
This is interesting and it promises to be as good as what you are used to. "Fully authenticated by Studer"! Check the video (lower on the page). https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/special-processing/studer-a800-tape-recorder.html |
What seems to come up as a conclusion is that reel-to-reel is a thriving format on eBay, but not in any other segment of the market. Speaking of real musicians, knowing how to spell Studer, and digital... https://www.studer.ch/en/news/rai-commissions-digital-recording-studios-at-la-scala-milan |
dill, I have nothing against reel-to-reel decks but if every manufacturer abandoned it, it is hard to understand why many claim it is a thriving format. There are people who can restore artefacts from many centuries ago so having an occasional technician who is willing to work on a tape deck hardly shows significant viability. Having said that, I am not sure why OP calls for reel-to-reel annihilation. Let people have fun with their toys as long as they can. By the way, both of your above links brought me to the same webpage. |
"Can you say (or spell) STELLAVOX? STUDER?What is going on here? Stellavox has no reel-to-reel products (http://www.stellavox.com/products.html) Studer seems to be the same (https://www.studer.ch/en-US/product_families) If that is anything to go by, R2R has deceased. |
"...most digital recording is total garbage as anyone who has an ear or is a real musician will tell you."I may know fake musicians, but they actually cannot care less for digital vs. analog. They lean towards digital for convenience, in fact. A few above posts seem to equal tape with analog which is not always exactly the case. |