I was referring to the lifetime of the RECORDINGS ON the tape. I heard that also vibrations (for example keeping it in the car) will erode the quality and reorient the magnetic particles. My VHS tapes (20 years?) have lost pretty much everything, barely useable.
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.
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When my Ampex tapes went bad, I found out they were very prone to SSS (Sticky Shed Syndrome) SSS Syndrome. List Of Known SSS Tapes. |
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…. |
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