Tusk master tape and most of Fleetwood Mac brain cells must have been baked in a toaster oven in the studio… @atmasphere Merry Christmas Ralph !
The dangerous world of Reel-to-Reel Tape
It feels like I re-entered the world of tape knowing full well of all the downsides, yet I did it anyway. I spent much of my youth glued to my dad's decks, making recordings. As cassette and digital came of age, I always appreciated the sound of tape.
Whether this adventure is worth it is a subjective exercise. For folks who plop down $500-$1k on cables or those who swap gear often, tape is really not that expensive, relatively speaking. Titles are limited though.
The sound quality and experience is quite something. Before jumping back into R2R, I had 4 versions of Muddy Waters' Folksinger. Hearing Chad Kasem's firm's work on it in 15ips it's just something else. Body, size, and presence are just different than very good vinyl and digital. And this is with the stock reproduce board from a Revox PR99 MKIII. I can only imagine what's going to happen when I rebuild that card, put in a modern one, or run directly from the head out to a preamp.
Maybe I'll see some of you in R2R Rehab, where I'll try to get sober from tape.
Showing 6 responses by tomic601
Well the 993 was supposed to fix the “ Dr killer “ reputation of the 911. …. As to using an HQD ( good as it was at the time, i owned at that time a version of it ) and a 30 year old sonic memory to judge a format….is like the knee jerk throttle lift of a…. dr… i do, occasionally regret selling the 993, except for the wonderful smell of aircooled hot oil and leather, the X-50 was better in every way…. |
@dogberry great and hilarious post… long live the obligatory christmas card ritual |
all 3 ( 4 really if you count DAT ) have merits and flaws…. but the sweeping generalizations are typically those who don’t really know….i call them small sample size audiophiles Since i didn’t go so far as buying my own record lathe, i have very direct experience w comparing the other formats…. Ultimately library size issues across multiple systems / geographies won out w high speed half track tape going by the wayside…but for slam and impact IF the outboard deck electronics can keep up TAPE ( 15 ips half track ) is IMO unmatched… And yes, i had a fantastic A2D… IF it fits your needs and wants… go for the ride… @ghdprentice besides the microscopic commercial tape selection, there is a thriving pirate trade in so called protection copy masters ( n generation )…. akin to messing w fentanyl…. but more $…. ha
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