Why not magnetic tapes in stead of vinyl records?


My understanding is that previously, original recordings were captured on magnetic tapes. The recording is then transferred to a metal stamper, which then creates the vinyl records we use at home. But, why don't they just copy the magnetic tape to other magnetic tapes and sell us those? I mean the same size and everything that the engineer uses. Then, audiophiles (at least some) would have nice magnetic tape players in stead of turntables.

I know people did use reel to reel for some time. I remember cassettes. But I don't believe people ever had an interface to play the big magnetic tape reels at their homes.
elegal
Kijanki, there was a time when most major studios got rid of those tubed German large condenser microphones. The solid state replacements were supposed to be so much more reliable. The tubed mics are now highly desirable collector items prized for their sonics. Studios also got rid of their large analog consoles and replaced them with digitally controlled consoles. Mixes could be automated and settings saved and recalled. The fact that the newer consoles didn't sound as good as the older ones just wasn't that important a factor. Recording studios are a business and the ones that last understand that they have to compete with other studios. It's a hard sell to tell a potential client who is use to 200+ tracks of instant access ProTools computer audio that a 24 track R2R with razor blades for editing really does sound better. And you need to budget at least $10k for tape costs.

A small number of artist and producers still like to record to R2R and a larger number of them when they record digitally mix down to R2R. They like the sound.
Onhwy61, Yes this technique is very popular in the recording community. They go from digital to 2 channel stereo tape and then back to digital to get the tape "saturation" effect. I think it is getting the worse of tape, and degradation since you are re-sampling twice and the process seems silly to me but what do I know. Now there are a lot of plugins that try to emulate the tape artifacts/character.

Will these efforts make it sound like you are getting analog out from a R2R...NO!
Kijanki, while I find that my clients prefer the analog tape to the digital recordings made from the same mix, its really not relevant as what we are talking about is 2-channel, not multi-channel.
Ralph, that's true, but practicality is important at home as well. I've heard opinion that best analog TVs were better than modern digital HDTV. I don't question that, but it perhaps was very expensive set in studio conditions, plus analog broadcast is gone - no interest to me. Same with the tapes. I had them before and do not wish to use them again. It is silly step backwards IMHO.